The Boneshaker

Boneshaker by Kate Milford is a young adult historical fantasy filled with period atmosphere, myths, magic, and mechanical anomalies. The main character is a spunky young girl who comes to realize that sometimes there is more going on than meets the eye, and more importantly, while there is good, and there is evil- there can also be a muddle of both.

I could not help thinking that Milford is making a knowing nod to the work of Ray Bradbury as her Boneshaker seems a combination of the small town nostalgia in his "Dandelion Wine" with the sinisterness of his "Something Wicked this Way Comes".

As far as the plot line carries, it is a bit predictable, and thus might lose a reader's interest if Milford's fanciful mixture of tall tales and folk tales weren't so well integrated and celebratory of story-telling in general.