Well, really well drawn characters looking for a little better plot, would be a description.

It's not a bad book, and I love Priest's zombies (though they are not traditional zombies). Quite frankly, any book that gives Mary Todd Lincoln a gun is great. I love how Priest draws her here. The Grants are done very well, and it is a pleasure to see Belle Boyd again.

And yet, the plot really wasn't all that compelling, and this seems to be a little bit of problem with some of Priest's series. Her stand alone novels are wonderful - but both this final volume and final volume in the Eden Moore series are off.

Still, Mary Todd Lincoln with a gun!

Though there's one novella following Fiddlehead, this novel brings to a close the events that Priest began with Boneshaker. What began inauspiciously has far exceeded my expectations. As I mentioned in my review of the first book, I'm not a fan of steampunk, but if this series is what steampunk is, then maybe I've made a grave error. On the other hand, it just might be that Cherie Priest is an outstanding writer who could write about anything and make it entertaining. My money's on the latter supposition.

Fiddlehead is probably the most expansive of the books in the series thus far. We see a reprise of characters we've seen before in the series, along with some new ones, but this time we even have Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant as characters. The story revolves around ending the Civil War (which has been going on for twenty years now in Priest's alternate history), using a weapon of such destruction that it rivals that of the atomic bomb in World War II. The action surrounds the characters who believe that such a weapon is the only solution, and those who believe that it is no solution at all.

Priest's characterization skills have improved remarkably since the first book, and it's no surprise that here her protagonists are easily likable and sympathetic, while her antagonists are easily despised. There's no questioning loyalties or intentions; her characters are drawn just right. I had predicted in my review of The Inexplicables that another character would feature in this novel, as he had been in the previous two, and while I was right, the character went in a different direction than I would have expected. Priest didn't cheat the way she made that reveal, either; all the hints and foreshadowing she dropped in the other two books supported the way that character came clean in this novel.

In her foreword, Priest writes about how this is the end of her original series, but we already know that she has followed this up with another novella set in that universe. I'll be disappointed when I finish that one (which I expect to start as soon as I finish writing this review), but it sounds like she isn't averse to revisiting this world and its characters. This is a relief, since these stories have been a refreshing taste of what good, entertaining fiction is all about.

Arclight by Josin L. McQuein

Being Friends With Boys by Terra Elan McVoy

Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford & Larry Niven

City of A Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster

Deadly Heat by Richard Castle

Don't You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire

Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog

Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest

Foretold by Carrie Ryan

I Swear by Lane Davi

Lexicon by Max Barry

Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz & Ron Bass

Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World by Sabina Berman

Origin by Jessica Khoury

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Please Don't Tell by Elizabeth Adler

Red Rain by R.L. Stine

Summer and Bird by Katherine Catmul

Under My Hat by Jonathan Strahan

Watch For Me By Moonlight by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Being returned)

Year Zero by Rob Reid

 

I'm excited for Fairy Tale because I liked Dead River enough to remember her name haha. I am VERY excited for Fiddlehead because I already LOVE Boneshaker, also by her. I'm guessing Red Rain is going to be a huge let down, so I shall read it in pure Goosebumps bliss. As I'll probably (hopefully) forever read his books. I already own Summer and Bird and Origin by I bought them again haha. Possible book giveaway later on.  I probably won't read Deadly Heat until I have a full collection. But I do love Castle and Nathan Fillion haha. I'm unsure about the rest of the books. Let's hope for the best!

the Clockwork Century takes another trip East - this time, settling on president Grant and former President Lincoln as they try to work out how to end the long-running Civil War without making things worse. But when the Fiddlehead - an early computer with a very specific task - suggests that something far more terrible will end the war AND the country if they don't act, it becomes a race against both time and greed for a variety of characters, new and old.

 

I think this might be my favorite Clockwork Century book. I love the characters, but the action is really what grabs me. There's fire fights, chases, battles, and more literal desperate races against time. the truth about Sap and what happens to people who use it is becoming more and more undeniable.

 

In a lot of ways, this is the macro view of the story. While we've been seeing pieces of the story and how it affects people, most of the stories have been focused on much smaller scopes - generally in one city. This one is taking the larger view, of just how very wrong things could go.

 

If there's one thing I have to take points off for, it's that some of the most basic questions from earlier in the series still seem to be unanswered, and I'm not sure we'll get ones. But I guess we'll take what we get and be grateful for it. ;-)