Saturday, October 22, 2011

Review: Ganymede- Cherie Priest


      I don't know if it's fair or not to say that Priest's Clockwork Century series follows a formula (I have not read Clementine yet.), but if it is a formula, it's an awesome one. Serious pioneer mentality characters+ZOMG ZOMBIES!!ONE!1+Badass Steampunk contraption=Your money's worth and then some. While being a quicker, sparser story than Boneshaker or Dreadnought, this is not to say that the story was lacking in any way. Indeed, the story has zero percent body fat. Everything is there for a reason.

      The story revolves around Josephine, the madam of a turn of the century brothel (bow chikka bow bow) in Texas-occupied New Orleans. She has a prototype submarine that the Federal goverment is interested in as a possible weapon in a very protracted Civil War. The problem is getting it out from under the noses of the occupying Texian forces. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that Ganymede has pretty much drowned everyone who ever set foot in it. Josephine sends a telegraph to Adain Cly, Pacific Northwestern air pirate extraordinaire, requesting his aid in piloting Ganymede out of New Orleans into the hands of the Feds. It all gets fun after that.

        Priest doesn't rely on her zombies much in this story directly. The ramifications of the zombies being there in the first place actually plays a stronger role plot-wise than anything else. The zombie plague and the Sap that creates them is slowly taking a more prominent seat in the ongoing Clockwork Century universe, and I'm personally fascinated to see how this particular subplot fleshes itself out.

        Did I mention hardcore YARRRR!!!!-type pirates and Marie Laveau? Yeah, you want to read this. Five out of five cracked-out monkeys.

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