Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1) Summary & Key Insights

Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, the first book in the Clockwork Century series, unfolds in a gas-lit, alternate-history Seattle ravaged by a mysterious, bone-dissolving gas called the "Boneshaker." The novel centers on the complicated relationship between a widowed mother, Mrs. Jane Addicks, and her estranged, brilliant inventor husband, Leviticus, who disappeared years ago while working on a secret project related to the devastating gas.

The story begins sixteen years after the Boneshaker's initial outbreak, leaving Seattle a scarred city perpetually shrouded in a toxic mist. Jane, now a hardened survivor, runs a successful scavenging business with her teenage daughter, Alice. Alice, unknowingly the child of Leviticus, yearns for answers about her father and a life beyond their bleak existence.

The plot thickens when a discovery unearths a connection between Leviticus's research and the potential resurgence of the Boneshaker. A mysterious individual, a man named Mr. Silk, arrives offering Jane a deal: information about Leviticus in exchange for her cooperation in retrieving a vital component of his machine. Driven by a desperate need to understand her husband's actions and protect her daughter, Jane agrees.

This leads Jane and Alice into the dangerous underworld of Seattle, where they encounter a cast of colorful characters, including a group of eccentric inventors and smugglers. The deeper they delve, the more they realize the horrifying scale of Leviticus's project—a colossal clockwork machine designed to contain and possibly weaponize the Boneshaker.

The novel is punctuated by flashbacks revealing Leviticus's struggle to contain the deadly gas, the moral compromises he made, and the political intrigue surrounding the origins of the Boneshaker. These flashbacks gradually expose the truth about the gas: it wasn't a natural phenomenon but a weapon created during a war, accidentally released and now threatening to consume Seattle once again.

Boneshaker explores themes of parental love and sacrifice, the consequences of unchecked ambition, and the blurred lines between scientific progress and moral responsibility. Jane's journey is one of personal redemption, grappling with the legacy of her husband's actions and the need to protect her family in a broken world. The novel culminates in a thrilling confrontation as Jane and Alice, along with their unlikely allies, attempt to prevent a second, potentially more catastrophic release of the Boneshaker. The ending leaves a cliffhanger, hinting at a much larger, ongoing conflict and setting the stage for the subsequent books in the series.