August Book Study: Boneshaker

[Fenika]

Hello, and welcome to the SF/F Book Study. This thread is for discussion of Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. (Not to be confused with The Boneshaker, by that other author)

***Spoilers*** will be streaking naked through this thread unpredictably. You have been warned.

If anyone wants to see the previous book studies:

2008:
Ender's Game (August)
Lies of Locke Lamora (September)
A Deepness in the Sky (October)
A Fire in the Deep (November)
Storm Front (December)

2009:
I Am Legend (January)
The Onion Girl (February)
Lord of Light (March)
Small Gods (April)
Beggars in Spain (May)
The Once and Future King (June)
Foundation (July)
The Graveyard Book (August)
Neuromancer (September)
The Last Wish (October)
The Knife of Never Letting Go (November)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (December)

2010:
Battle Royale (January)
Jhereg (February)
Cyberabad Days (March)
Tigana (April)
Next (May)
Perdido Street Station (June)

Thank you to Broken Fingers for starting the book study!

[ELMontague]

I am of a mixed mind about this one and since I just got home a bit too tired to give a detailed comment, so how about a starter?

Spoiler Alert... sort of, I can't remember names at the moment, except Levi, but that was Dad/Husband.

The beginning was better than the end. From the onset to the about the point that they fled the underground bar and the boy got separated from the junkie, it was pretty darned engaging. After that, inertia got me through to the end.

I loved the idea. I loved the characters. The execution didn't hold up all the way through.

And the reporter felt like a bolt on. I hate that.

[NicoleMD]

Hmmm...that's right about where I am in the book, about halfway. If that's the "good" part of the book, I don't know if I should continue on.

I loved loved loved the concept. The introductory chapter had me all but slobbering all over myself. But the most interesting person was the reporter guy, and then he disappears. (Don't know if he comes back, but either way, it seems like a cheap trick.) I never got connected to either Briar or Zeek, and really couldn't have cared less if they got chewed up by rotters. They seemed flat in their single-minded motivation, their dialogue didn't ring true, and they were both whiny.

The world building is awesome though. I liked the rotters, the sap, the wall, the inventions, the airships. It's just too bad they weren't used on a better story.

Nicole

[bethany]

Oh, I read this in 24 hours. I couldn't put it down. However, after finishing it, I don't feel quite satisfied with many aspects of the story. ETA- most of the things I wasn't satisfied with had to do with characterization, as mentioned by Nicole MD.

[Kitty Pryde]

I got 100 pages in, and I was appalled at the lack of anything at all happening. The cover promises airships and zombies and mayhem, but all I got was backstory and moping! What? I think the setup is really interesting, the boneshaker, and sealing off the city, and all that, but it feels like nothing's being done with it at all. It's like the trappings of the story loom much larger than the story itself.

I also couldn't really connect with the characters--they seemed be entirely generic and didn't really do anything to make me care for them in particular.

Why was this book nominated for a Hugo? I'm not trying to be sarky and Comic-Book-Guy-like. Seriously, what makes this book great? (I've read half the Hugo nominees for this year, 1 was genius, and the other 2 really didn't impress me.)

ETA: I had to take it back to the library, but I would consider checking it out again if it's worth it. I gave up around the time Briar was riding in the airship to enter the city.

[ELMontague]

Well, in point of fact, the story is a great idea, but not much more.

I got a little farther with the character of Briar Wilkes; I had a really strong mental image of her, but that may have been more me than her. Zeke was a punk, should have been eaten. ****SPOILER **** The whole faux-Levi thing was a bigger let down that it would have been if it was Levi. And the whole, it ain't him cause I killed him thing walked right up on a Deus ex Machina, maybe not quite a cheat, but it wasn't well set up. That could have made things a lot better. Like maybe Maynard was coming for his daughter because she was a murderess. Or maybe the reporter freaked her out because she thought they were finally tracking her down. It was a bit too much mystery to be an effective out. That might have made it more interesting if he was Levi, the head zombie who lived in a mask to keep his brain from dying after everything else did. Anyway, I didn't like it. She might not have cheated by bringing the answers into the test, but she had a copy of the answers right before the test.

[NicoleMD]

Well, anyone have anything else to add? Maybe some positive things that worked in the story? I can say that the sensory details worked well for me. I got a real appreciation for how gritty it was inside the wall. Makes me want to take a hot shower.

Nicole

[plunderpuss]

Full disclosure: I'm biased because I know Cherie. (Also maybe because I love well-researched alternate history, and if you live in/around Seattle, it's fun to recognize the places you've been and think about what they'd be like if they were all icky and messed up.) However, it's not like I'm posting BECAUSE I know her--if I didn't like the book, I'd just keep my mouth shut.

I didn't have quite the same negative ride it sounds like everyone else did. I agree it was quite slow for the first 100 pages--and I only liked Briar for those, and really wished someone would turn her son into a zombie so the story would only be about her. I hate angsty teenage protagonists. I prefer them to be unrealistically angstless Briar remained my favorite throughout the story, though I liked the airship crew a lot, too.

However, once the director's cut intro ended and stuff actually started happening, I couldn't put it down. I liked how realistic the inside of the closed-off city was, from the gritty details of how people actually survived in the midst of zombies and a creepy tyrannical social structure to the more individual tensions pulling the characters away and toward one another. In that vein, Priest uses dramatic irony in a way I found very satisfying.

Speaking of satisfying, there are loose ends to the book, but I didn't feel like they were anything but the result of a universe that's too well-developed for one story. And there are other books. I guess I thought of it more like the Madeleine L'Engle books, where the immediate story was tied up but there was always room for more (and then she handed it to us).

I did get a little confused sometimes about blocking in the city, even with the map and having lived in the area, but those parts were also filled with the cool zombie hordes, so it didn't bother me too much.

So: I think it's one of those books that didn't get edited hard enough in the beginning, but if you're willing to let the world carry you along instead of action, it's worth it.

[Fenika]

I liked it all in all I can't argue the points made above, but I enjoyed this book and couldn't wait to finish. The end wasn't satisfying, but I felt like I got what I could have expected. MAJOR SPOILER (since we are pointing them out) The fact that Briar killed Levi didn't surprise me in the least (and again, I can't argue the point that we are denied this bit of info in an omni pov book, but there were clues good enough for me, FenikaTheDense, to pick up on)

In short, I enjoyed this book for enjoyment's sake, was able to ignore the flaws (unlike any book I've read lately), and only skimmed a hair around the middle.

I will say I was Very quick to fall asleep with it in bed at night, but for me that's a perk since I read to relax and I wanted to read on and I did pick it up during the daylight hours several times. But it does say something about the novel when you keep dropping the book during the action scenes because you couldn't keep your eyes open any longer.

If I had to hazard a reason for the book's nomination, I'd say it did a good job of entertaining and staying true to itself, despite the weakness of characterization and such, as mentioned above. I don't think the characters were 2D or anything, just not full on. I certainly cared about them; I just didn't loose sleep over what might happen to them next

[NicoleMD]

Originally Posted by Fenika

I will say I was Very quick to fall asleep with it in bed at night, but for me that's a perk since I read to relax and I wanted to read on and I did pick it up during the daylight hours several times. But it does say something about the novel when you keep dropping the book during the action scenes because you couldn't keep your eyes open any longer.

I guess that was another thing I liked about this book, and it's still on my nightstand for this reason.

I think I could have gotten through it if I was able to build up momentum, but I kept falling asleep. Not that it was necessarily boring, but just very effective at putting me to sleep, even during the interesting parts.

I'm glad you enjoyed it though. It seems like the kind of book that sticks with you and is fun to think about.

Nicole

[Fenika]

Yes, it's definitely fun to think about. There's a lot of elements that went into this book and lots of paths for my brain to ponder along, if that makes sense. Maybe that helped me connect with the characters a little more than those who didn't like the book, since I was interested in the world and thus them by proxy.

[bethany]

I liked the book a lot. I wished I liked the main characters more, but I kept reading because the plot was compelling (but it would have resonated more if I liked Briar and Zeke).

[LoopyLinde]

I'm in the middle of it now. It's kind of flat, which is weird because things are happening. I don't care for the main characters much. Who is this woman other than the daughter of one man, the wife of another, and the mother of a whiny brat. Why oh why are they still in this place?

Plus, I can't help being jarred out of the story every time the author mentions the ocean. Seattle is not on the ocean. It's on Elliot Bay which is part of Puget Sound. The ocean is on the other side of a large peninsula with very high mountains. Just me being picky I suppose. Still it bugs the hell out of me.

[m.dominic]

I read this book earlier in this year, so trying to remember what I liked/didn't like about it is tough. I do remember it being slow, but one of those books I enjoyed *for* being slow, because I didn't want to leave. I enjoyed the son, I wanted there to be more to him, I think. I also really liked the airship gang and all the people who lived inside of the decayed city.

Great atmosphere and great world building, which are always number ones in my book. I think that's what got me through to the end the most.

[CScottMorris]

I read Boneshaker a few months ago(and reviewed on my blog). And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I can see how some of you thought it flagged halfway through. I had a similar thought, but pretty much on the very page I noticed the story slowing down, it picked up and kept me hooked.
Zeke and Briar were decent characters, not flat, but not as alive as I would normally like. the secondary characters, however, we much more interesting and vibrant than I normally see, and I liked that. Especially the airship crews. And from what I gather about the sequels coming out, one of them is about that very same crew(Clementine).
I read a lot of fantasy, horror and steampunk. I like Cherie's world building, but do wonder why she decided to do an alternate history. In order to get the walled city with a large population, she had to seriously mess with history. Why could she not have simply set this in a fantasy world, where she could have written any history she wanted? It seemed like she made a lot of work for herself by insisting her story be set in 'the real world'. My only thought is that alternate history is much more approachable to many readers than fantasy, thus enabling her to sell more copies. Whatever she is doing, she is doing it right.
I eagerly await Clementine and Dreadnaught.

[NicoleMD]

CScottMorris,

Interesting that you said that about the secondary characters. Now that I think about it, I was a lot more interested in the secondary characters than Zeke and Briar. They were well done and very interesting.

Nicole

[Flint]

I quit this book after 70 pages. I just didn't feel the story was going anywhere.

[GregB]

I enjoyed the book, but it did read much differently from what I expected going in. The concept, in both world-building and plot setup, screams high action and frenetic pace...and the book itself is somehow quite leisurely. It just never felt as dangerous inside the wall I was expecting it to be.