Cherie Priest is an author known for her work in speculative fiction and horror, particularly steampunk. Her notable books include Boneshaker, and her stories have appeared in collections like The Living Dead 2 and magazines such as Apex Magazine.
Dreadnought
Dreadnought
Synopsis
Dreadnought is the third novel in Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century, a steampunk alternate history set in a United States where the Civil War has ground on for two decades and a poisonous gas called the Blight raises the dead in the walled ruin of Seattle. It follows Vinita 'Mercy' Lynch, a widowed Confederate nurse who leaves her field hospital to reach her dying father on the far side of the country.
The bulk of the book is a westbound rail odyssey aboard the Union's armored train, the Dreadnought. As Mercy tends the wounded, she comes to suspect the train's true cargo and the reason it is guarded so heavily, while raids, sabotage, and the ever-present threat of the rotters turn the crossing into a gauntlet. Priest uses the journey to widen the series' map beyond Seattle and tie its threads toward the wider war.
Character-driven and atmospheric, Dreadnought pairs meticulous period texture with pulp adventure. It works as an entry point to the series, introducing Mercy, who recurs in later volumes.
Vibe
Genres
Characters
Vinita 'Mercy' LynchProtagonist
A widowed Confederate battlefield nurse who crosses the continent to reach her dying father, competent and unflappable under fire.
Captain MacGruderSupporting
A Union officer aboard the Dreadnought whose secrecy about the train's cargo unsettles Mercy.
