THE BONESHAKER

This should have been such a slam dunk: a YA novel set in small-town Missouri in 1913, featuring a mechanically-minded tomboy protagonist who must beat the devil at his game, plus the titular bicycle, an ominous traveling medicine show, a blues guitarist reminiscent of Robert Johnson (with a similar Faustian story attached), steampunky automata, and a healthy dose of American folklore. But it just didn’t do it for me. I hesitate to place too much judgment on Kate Milford’s writing because I listened to this as an audiobook—which I plucked semi-randomly off the shelf at the library for my commuting entertainment, perhaps having confused it with Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker, which, confusingly coincidentally, is another YA novel published at around the same time, with harder-core steampunk elements and zombies to boot. I’m not a committed audiobook fan, so it’s possible something about this just didn’t translate from page to voice (I do know the book featured plentiful illustrations, which of course I missed out on), and maybe I’d have enjoyed this more if I actually read it (it’s gotten a lot of good reviews, strengthening the It’s Just Me theory).

I really did like the idea of the book, just not the execution. The characters, particularly Natalie, the heroine, felt flat and wooden; the pacing was often ponderous; there were lots of descriptive passages that seemed like they were supposed to be lyrical but didn’t sing; too much of the plot seemed to be contrived around Natalie having inexplicable visions at convenient moments; and in the end some narrative threads were unresolved—I think because Milford is planning a sequel, but it felt unsatisfying. Would it be insulting to say that I’d like to see someone adapt this into a movie? With the action at the forefront and some awesome visuals (I’m thinking Tim Burton would be perfect for this), it would make a damn cool and creepy Southern Gothic fantasy film. As an audiobook, however…meh.