Customer Reviews

Boneshaker

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Boneshaker was a good read. I finished it in a couple of sittings. On the positive side it was a good mashup blending zombies, alternate history, and classic adventure. The characters were interesting, the premise unique, and the storytelling focused. On the negative side, I would like to have seen the characters more fully developed. While I was able to empathize with them, there seemed to be something missing. If you are looking for a light steampunk read, I would recommend Boneshaker.

Having grown up reading Edgar Rice Burroughs & Sax Rohmer, I have no problem with this particular type of story-telling. But, when I see that a book's been nominated for the same Hugo award that a fantastic piece of work like 'Windup Girl' has, yeah, I'm anticipating something more than a vapid, cliched, 'surrealistically big, kind-hearted good guys vs diabolically evil bad guys' pulp adventure tale that feels as though it was written for 'young adults'. & that's pretty much all this book truly is...

There's nothing resembling depth, or substance, or insightful observation to be had here. & both the environment (whether it's dirigibles, poison gas, or zombies) & supporting cast exist only to serve as window-dressing in order to propel the 2 lead characters from one end of the book to the other...

So, congratulations! - you now live in a time when John Carter of Mars could be nominated for a Hugo :) ...

Boneshaker was a nice, light read. I'm just getting to know the steam-punk genre, so it seems like it's been a good introduction. It was solid. The only segments I'm limp on are, as mentioned in the other amazon review, the character development. I'm also a little uneasy about the denouement, which felt rushed. Overall, I enjoyed it though, and I loved discovering the world it takes place in.

I found it entertaining nonetheless. The characters are not very well described at first and you learn how they are by their actions and goals rather than by their background, which makes it a little hard to like them. The story itself is okay, its interesting without being very thrilling. The book is very well written. Overall I recommend it if you're interested in steampunk and zombies.