Clementine

After reading and loving Boneshaker I expected a lot of this one. And it gave me all I wanted. It is a brilliant adventure with all the paraphernalia one comes to expect from a good steampunk novel. But this one also has a female main character, a woman who is not afraid of learning new tricks and using old ones to her advantage. Maria used to be a spy and an actress and is now too famous to work in her chosen profession. So she luckily gains employment with the Pinkerton agency. Her first assignment is to catch Captain Hainey, who is in pursuit of *his* (air)ship, stolen by somebody to deliver something very heavy to an unknown location - here I will stop as not to spoil your enjoyment. Cherie Priest has a wonderful grasp of language, show more the characters, landscapes, airships - everything is described so detailed and well without ever making the read slow. Although of course this story is set in an alternative history there are still similarities - Captain Hainey is very black and there are parts of the country where not being white means not being accepted. Throw the white Southener Maria into the mix and you get some explosive situations. The dialogues are well written, the action is fast and exciting and I was glad it wasn't a big book - I could not stop reading. show less

Cherie Priest scores another hit in her rich world of an alternate 19th Century USA in which the Civil War is stretching out for decades. She creates very distinctive lead characters and then does a good job of putting them through the ringer in this short (208 pages) book, picking up the thread of a plot about escaped slave and air pirate Captain Croggin Beauregard Hainey, who had a small part in the novel [b:Boneshaker|1137215|Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)|Cherie Priest|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1270598392s/1137215.jpg|1124460]. In pursuit of him is a new character, too-famous-to-be-a-spy ex-Confederate spy Maria "Belle" Boyd, now working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency on behalf of the Union Army.

The action is kept show more fast and furious and fairly believable. The use of geography over mid-America is made interesting by using powered airships (she's never precise about how the engines work, propellers?) to move quickly between cities. I had a little trouble believing that landing a powered and armored dirigible anywhere within a mile of a remote building could be done with any amount of stealth. Perhaps the commonplace nature of airships in this world allow for it.

Another failing, if I may call it that, is that there is no clear antagonist in the story. Well there is one, but they are kept all too mysterious and unexplored. Upon reflection, Boneshaker could be seen to have a similar shortcoming.

In any event, the whole thing is an enjoyable and all too short romp that reminded me of one the better episodes of The Wild Wild West. Belle Boyd would certainly give James West a run for his money. show less

More of a novella at only 200 pages. Still, Priest packs a meaner punch in this work than the previous Clockwork Century novel. Hainey, the captain of the 'Free Crow', and Belle Boyd, the Southern expat spy, are colorful, fun, vivacious foils. A quick read. I rather enjoyed the mentions of characters and locales of 'Boneshaker'...if for nothing more than brand loyalty. The climax was a bit stunted, but at least Priest tidied up all the loose bits at the end (a claim which cannot be made for 'Boneshaker').

Set after Boneshaker, Priest's second book in her Clockwork Century series is actually just as good as the first. There are some familiar characters, but not the main ones from the first book. In Clementine, we follow Captain Hainey as he tries to rescue his ship and Belle Boyd, who tries to catch Hainey. What happens when the two meet? Well, hijinks ensue and it is both amusing and incredibly engaging. I like the world Priest's created almost as much as I like her characters. The steampunk world is seemlessly woven with Civil War-era US. Issues of slavery and women's rights are addressed, and not covertly, but nor do you ever feel like Priest is trying to beat you over the heat with sense. Instead, you want these characters to show more accomplish their goals and you hang onto their actions as the novel progresses. I'm eager to read more books in this world and I have a copy of Dreadnought waiting for me. show less

First of all, I have to mention how difficult it was to figure out what was up with this book. I checked my book sites when I was starting to read Dreadnought and they all said it was book three in the series. But where's book two?, I wondered. I checked my local library (nope), I checked Barnes and Nobles' site (uh uh) and I checked Amazon (yes, but only if I want to pay fifty bucks for a two hundred page book. A little more research turned up the fact that for some reason Tor did not want to release the second book, so it went somewhere else, thus the lack of availability and the expensiveness. At any rate, since I cannot stand to read series out of order, I purchased the Kindle copy for $2.99, which seems to be the only realistic way show more to read this book. Crazy!

The story was, as mentioned before, fairly brief. It should not have been in any other way. As it is, it sets and maintains a good pace. It fills a bit of a gap from the first book. It's nice to see an author following a dangling plot thread, rather than leaving you wondering why his ship got stolen in book one other than to give a bunch of airmen a reason to be on the scene in Seattle. Much like in the first book, the characters still lack a bit of depth, but they are slightly improved.

The best thing about Cherie Priest's books though are her kickass women. Maria Boyd, in my opinion, puts the ladies of Seattle to shame, because she is smart, strong and willing to do whatever she has to in order to get her way. Action and gunfights abound and Maria is often right in the middle of them.

Fun bit of wordplay:
"'That's big of you,' Maria said dryly.
'I'm glad you approve,' he responded with equal lack of humidity."
Oh, that's great. Lack of humidity! It's such a terrible joke (which is why I love it)!

A fun second book for the series, quick and easy, like sorbet or crackers to cleanse the palette after a course in a meal or wine tasting. show less

‘Clementine’ is the new name of the ‘Free Crow’, the recently stolen air ship of Captain Croggon Hainey. It’s making its way across the United States, carrying something heavy to a sanitarium in the east. Hainey, escaped slave and air pirate, is chasing it in the airship that he stole in turn, the Valkyrie, and has found himself the unwilling partner of Maria Isabella Boyd- Belle Boyd- former Confederate spy, former actress, and currently a Pinkerton agent – and, by the way, an actual historical person. Belle’s job is to see to it that the ‘Clementine’ makes it safely to the east and to capture Captain Hainey if possible; Hainey just wants his air ship back. But something is definitely wrong about the story Belle has show more been told, and temporarily teaming up with Hainey looks to be the best way to find out what’s going on.

This is a fast paced story, trimmed down like a race horse to fit into novella size. Yet despite the short length and nearly non-stop action, Priest has room to create fleshed out characters and to address the race relations of the late 1800s (in her Clockwork Century world, the Civil War is still going on after two decades), where having Belle, a white Southern woman, and former slave Hainey working and traveling together is unusual. A word from Belle against Hainey and he’d be strung up without question; Hainey’s all black crew doesn’t trust Belle and wants her gone as soon as possible because of this. This gives the short adventure story an extra tension and depth that many fantasy stories don’t have. show less

I’m so in love with Cherie Priest's writing. Clementine was, I think, one of the best of the bunch when it comes to the Clockwork Century novels. I loved, loved, loved this book. The adventure, the characters, the dirigibles, the tension and suspense – it had it all in spades and it was such a short little story! Too short!

Maria is, hands down, one of my favorite women out of all the books I’ve read this year. Spunky, independent, brash, smart and witty, she made me laugh and cheer her on as she set off to capture the irrepressible Captain Heaney. Between both characters, Priest managed to spotlight both women and African-Americans in a way that did both proud.

Because, y’all, Captain Heaney is a smart, well-thought-out, very show more developed character that had me rooting for him from the first moment he stepped onto the page. I couldn’t make up my mind which side I wanted to be on, because I thought it was going to come down to that! And perhaps it did… so I guess you ought to read the book and find out.

I’d been wanting to get my hands on a hard copy of Clementine, but finally had to give up seeing as a limited number had been printed, but thankfully it is available on the Kindle. The only part about this book that I do not like though is not being able to proudly place it next to my other Clockwork Century novels. The cover is amazing, the story even better and I cannot wait to get lost in the next book in the series, Ganymede. show less