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Maybe I'm just a boring person, but I personally HATE reading extensive chase scenes. Even the most potentially imaginative authors, as Cherie Priest seems to be, can't make the umpteenth "RUNNING FROM ROTTERS!!!" sequence very interesting. More than half of this book involved Briar and Zeke (the two main characters) crashing around underground Seattle running from zombies. It got really boring. I zoned out more than once.

What this book needed was a little more good-old-fashioned dialogue. Priest invented such great characters, which is why I've given this novel two stars. Lucy O'Gunning, the barkeep with a crossbow attached to her mechanical arm! Angeline, the Indian princess and tough old bird! Captain Cly the Giant, Jeremiah Swakhammer the burly sound-gun wielding rescuer! Not to mention Briar, who might have been a very unique and refreshing heroine. And what about Minnericht? What potential for a diabolical, fascinating villain, and he was there-and-gone with a snap of the fingers. Why not more about the little civilization these people carved out in ruined Seattle, and maybe a little meaningful interaction, and fewer rough airship rides?

This was such rich soil, and I feel like the opportunity to create a truly fascinating world and fun cast of characters was squandered. This is probably more a matter of personal taste than an objective criticism of Priest's storytelling skills, but really: I wouldn't have been so tempted to skim if I had cared just a little more about these characters. Why create such a fascinating bunch of people and then not DO anything with them? It's so frustrating to see as a reader, and I anticipate more of the same shortcomings in the rest of the Clockwork Century novels. Which is why I probably won't be reading them.