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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Had I known this book was labeled as science fiction, I never would have picked it up! But I have to say it was good. Mainly because it was more of a historical fiction with a tad twist of science fiction. Mercy is nurse on the front lines of the civil war when she learns her husband has died. With no reason to stay in Virgina, she decides to make the journey to the unincorporated West to see her sick father. Her journey is filled with adventures both terrifying and inspiring!
adventurous
dark
it's a little long on trains and short on zombies but the ending was a nice connection to boneshaker
Dreadnaught is the third installment in Cherie Priest’s popular Clockwork Century series. The series is textbook steam punk, set in a world where the civil war raged on for another 20 years, where oil was discovered decades ahead of schedule and where zombifying poison gasses occasionally seep out of the ground in the Pacific Northwest.
Nurse Mercy Lynch is busy tending war wounded in a Virginia hospital when she learns of both her husband’s death and her estranged father’s dying wish to see her one last time. Mercy sets forth on a cross country trip by boat, dirigible, and trains, most notably the Union war-engine, the Dreadnaught. Cherie Priest gives the reader many fearsome descriptions of the titular engine. For all the legend surrounding it, the Dreadnaught seems to provide Mercy and her fellow passengers little protection. In fact, it seems to make them more of a target for raiders, spies and the Southern army.
While I realize that Dreadnaught is a work of fiction, fantasy fiction at that, I was bothered by the key historical revision of this world: the South voluntarily freed their slaves and offered them land, just the same as white settlers. This revision doesn’t sit quite right with me. It treads the line of diminishing the cultural and historical impact of the real event and glosses over the cruelties perpetrated on an enslaved people. It’s damn convenient for Priest, who dodges the hurdle of creating sympathetic, pro-slavery Southern characters. In the world of Dreadnaught, no one seems to know what the Civil War is about anymore, they just fight and steer clear of unpleasant political ideals.
Historical quibbles aside, Priest’s previous books have been real page turners, filled with well-drawn characters, engaging locations and actual conflict. Dreadnaught is missing many of the ingredients that made the previous books in the series a success, leaving it a story with a lot of machines and gunsmoke, but not much impact.
Nurse Mercy Lynch is busy tending war wounded in a Virginia hospital when she learns of both her husband’s death and her estranged father’s dying wish to see her one last time. Mercy sets forth on a cross country trip by boat, dirigible, and trains, most notably the Union war-engine, the Dreadnaught. Cherie Priest gives the reader many fearsome descriptions of the titular engine. For all the legend surrounding it, the Dreadnaught seems to provide Mercy and her fellow passengers little protection. In fact, it seems to make them more of a target for raiders, spies and the Southern army.
While I realize that Dreadnaught is a work of fiction, fantasy fiction at that, I was bothered by the key historical revision of this world: the South voluntarily freed their slaves and offered them land, just the same as white settlers. This revision doesn’t sit quite right with me. It treads the line of diminishing the cultural and historical impact of the real event and glosses over the cruelties perpetrated on an enslaved people. It’s damn convenient for Priest, who dodges the hurdle of creating sympathetic, pro-slavery Southern characters. In the world of Dreadnaught, no one seems to know what the Civil War is about anymore, they just fight and steer clear of unpleasant political ideals.
Historical quibbles aside, Priest’s previous books have been real page turners, filled with well-drawn characters, engaging locations and actual conflict. Dreadnaught is missing many of the ingredients that made the previous books in the series a success, leaving it a story with a lot of machines and gunsmoke, but not much impact.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I am not a very big fan of zombie stories, but I do love steampunk, and those stories are hard to find. This is well written and a pretty good linking story.
I really enjoyed this. There was a nice balance between plot and character development and action and adventure. And the final climactic action scene was just SO well written -- I could see it all as clearly as if I was watching it in front of me, and couldn't put the book down! Cherie Priest is rapidly becoming a favorite author.
If there is a missed opportunity in Dreadnought, it's to address the undead Mexicans as "zombres." Other than that, I have very few complaints about the story.
I have trouble reconciling the quality of this book. If Cherie Priest had only written three books, it would seem as though she started learning to write a novel with Boneshaker and finally got the hang of it with Dreadnought. The fact that she apparently as an entire book series before these worries me greatly. I doubt I will ever read them. It's good to know the line with an artist's previous works that you will not cross.
Dreadnought involves all the neat stuff only hinted at in the previous books. Steam-powered mechs, a monstrous diesel train, a three way battle between the Confederacy, the Union, and zombies all while aboard steampunk-fancy engines. For the alternate history nerds, it also goes into a lot of detail about how the much longer Civil War is panning out, a subject the others only mentioned in passing.
The plot also has a more organic structure, the hero has an outlined quest and everything feels like it's working towards that, rather than a series of incidents smacking into a character merely wandering through the story.
To be fair, the dialogue is only passable, but that's a great improvement over the first book and sections of the second. People no longer like part of a bad reenactment, they just relay serviceable dialogue without making too big a deal of it.
Okay, well, barring one conversation involved them yelling over who should trust who, which involve a yelling Texan. Something about men on a powerful vessel always descends into a yelling match about control, power, and trust. Big machines just get macho men hot and bothered.
I have trouble reconciling the quality of this book. If Cherie Priest had only written three books, it would seem as though she started learning to write a novel with Boneshaker and finally got the hang of it with Dreadnought. The fact that she apparently as an entire book series before these worries me greatly. I doubt I will ever read them. It's good to know the line with an artist's previous works that you will not cross.
Dreadnought involves all the neat stuff only hinted at in the previous books. Steam-powered mechs, a monstrous diesel train, a three way battle between the Confederacy, the Union, and zombies all while aboard steampunk-fancy engines. For the alternate history nerds, it also goes into a lot of detail about how the much longer Civil War is panning out, a subject the others only mentioned in passing.
The plot also has a more organic structure, the hero has an outlined quest and everything feels like it's working towards that, rather than a series of incidents smacking into a character merely wandering through the story.
To be fair, the dialogue is only passable, but that's a great improvement over the first book and sections of the second. People no longer like part of a bad reenactment, they just relay serviceable dialogue without making too big a deal of it.
Okay, well, barring one conversation involved them yelling over who should trust who, which involve a yelling Texan. Something about men on a powerful vessel always descends into a yelling match about control, power, and trust. Big machines just get macho men hot and bothered.
Picks up as it goes along and has a number of fun and interesting moments, but the payoff here isn't quite like the payoff in Boneshaker.