The Boneshaker

I posted my full review on http://sffbookreview.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/review-kate-milford-the-boneshaker/

Thank you, WWE, for "making" us read women writers that are new to us this year. I had this little middle grade book sitting on my TBR for a little while but it was going to be one of those that I always want to read but never pick up.

Now that I have read it, I think it deserves more attention than it got so far. The title is a bit misleading - what with Cherie Priest's "Boneshaker" and its success - but this is not steampunk. There are clockwork automata in this story, but there is also a medical show, a crossroads that is more than it seems and a lot of mystery, all to be solved by 13-year-old Natalie Minks.

I recommend this to children, young adults, and adults. It was simply fun - sure, some of the revelations could be guessed rather easily but the overall atmosphere of the book made up for that. Kate Milford definitely made me want to read the prequel, The Broken Lands.