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The Clockwork Century books are among my favorite steampunk series. This book was very slow to get going for me, and it took a long time for the two main characters to come together. The book did irk me with the annoying 19th century cliche of "the harlot with a heart of gold"; too many books in that time period either use women as a doting mother or as a prostitute. Mind you, Priest is an excellent writer, and Josephine's character slowly grew on me. I really liked the male viewpoint, Cly, with his gruff way of looking at the world and his sweet regard for Briar back in Seattle.

The first and most famous book of this series, Boneshaker, darkly portrayed the city of Seattle as a wall-up city filled with noxious gas and killer zombies. As the series has gone on, it's explored the repercussions this had had across America--namely, that the zombie-causing gas can be filtered to a very potent drug, and that drug also turns people into zombies. It creates an interesting ripple effect and I'm curious about where Priest will take that development.

The most compelling element of Ganymede is the titular submarine. This is a subject of particular interest to me. I've been a Civil War buff since I was a kid, and I happened to be living in South Carolina in 2000 when the Hunley rose from the ocean and made its belated return to shore. In the world of the Clockwork Century, the Civil War has dragged on for twenty years, and Ganymede is part of Hunley's lineage. Priest did her research--and certainly twiddled with history--but Ganymede has a sense of realism to it.

In all, a good addition to the series, though the second book (Dreadnought) remains my favorite.