Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: A fairly steady stream of swearing and profanity (150+ instances) throughout the book.  A few racial slurs.

Violence: Two people murdered – throats slit from ear to ear. “Rotters” are described quite graphically with their decaying skin, missing limbs and insatiable desire for bloody human flesh. Briar and other inhabitants of Seattle shoot many of them in self-defense. A brawl involving knives. Briar is hit with the butt of a gun. A shootout in which many die. A suicide by hanging is mentioned.

Sexual Content: “Whorehouse” and “cathouse” mentioned. “Working girls” sometimes make their way into underground Seattle. They can make a fortune in a week, but they have to be pretty desperate.

Adult Themes: Drug and alcohol use, drug trafficking. Strained relationship between mother and son.

Synopsis

Boneshaker, a Steampunk novel by Cherie Priest, is an adventure in intrigue, survival and family secrets. Just in case anyone else shares my ignorance concerning Steampunk, Wikipedia defines it as “a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction. Steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy.”

In 1863, Leviticus Blue, renowned inventor and engineer, creates an incredible bone-shaking drill engine that will allow Russian prospectors to drill through the nearly impenetrable Klondike ice to prospect for gold. The Russians have promised to reward him handsomely if he can build an acceptable piece of machinery, but on its test run, Blue’s machine wreaks havoc. Tunneling under the city and undermining buildings and roads, Blue and his invention destroy downtown Seattle and alter the course of the city’s future. The machine hits a vein of poisonous gas that, when inhaled, turns its victims into the living dead. Survivors flee the devastated city and eventually build a wall around Seattle to contain the lethal blight gas.

16 years later, Ezekial Wilkes questions his mother, Briar, about his father who died before he was born. Faced with painful memories and a maternal desire to protect Zeke from the ugly truth, Briar decides it is best for him to live in ignorance. Zeke knows that his father, Leviticus Blue, built the Boneshaker and is in some ways responsible for the tragedy in Seattle, but he is convinced that the rumors about his dad are wrong. Many people believe that Blue accepted a large sum of money from the Russians and that he also stole money out of the vaults in the collapsed bank buildings. But if that were true, why would he and his mother be living in nearly abject poverty in the Outskirts of Seattle? It just doesn’t add up for Zeke, so in typical teenage fashion, he decides that the only way to clear the family name once and for all is to go into the city and take his chances there. He is convinced that there are clues in his parents’ abandoned home in Seattle that will vindicate his father and his reputation. Crawling in through a water runoff tunnel, Zeke enters the blighted city. He is almost immediately met by Rudy, a defector from the Civil War raging in the east, who assures Zeke that he will help him find his old family home. Rudy is instrumental in teaching Zeke how to survive the “rotters”, the undead roaming the city in hoards who have breathed the blight gas and become hungry for bloody, human flesh. Rudy guides Zeke through tunnels and abandoned buildings supposedly leading him to his parents’ home, but Zeke is not completely sure he can trust Rudy. His suspicions are heightened when an aged Indian princess warns Zeke that Rudy only wants to take him to Dr. Minericht, the deranged architect responsible for the many wonderful and strange machines and inventions in underground Seattle.

Incredibly frightened, but willing to do anything to save Zeke, Briar knows she must follow him into the city. Facing armored men, an elaborate underground labyrinth, and an elegant palace inhabited by a man some think is the living Leviticus Blue, Boneshaker leads the reader on an adventure driven by loyalty and a mother’s determination to find her son, alive.

Cherie Priest ably and believably plants the reader in a deserted and dark Seattle where the eerie silence is “holding its breath, and listening.” I felt claustrophobic along with Zeke and Briar as they donned gas masks and entered the underground world of Seattle where fresh air is seldom available. I gasped every time the vile rotters pursued their live prey or grabbed someone’s wrist or leg. I sympathized with Briar and her desire to protect Zeke from the truth, but then again, honesty would have saved them a whole lot of trouble.

This book was advertised on the front page of my 8^th grade daughter’s book order. The language and some violent images, including the two murders, may be disturbing for the younger or sensitive reader. I would recommend it for a mature high school student.