Cherie Priest's Dreadnought is a semi-sequel to her Boneshaker—set in the same steampunky alternate history where the Civil War has lasted twenty years so far, and a mysterious gas in the Northwest is turning people into something like zombies. You know, the usual. And like the earlier book, we're following a woman who's already living in hard times as she heads into unwanted adventure for the sake of family. Here, it's Mercy Lynch, nurse for the Confederate Army, who makes the cross-continent journey from Virginia to the Washington territories. Along the way, she's caught up in intrigue and adventure when she catches a ride on the Union's premiere locomotive, the titular Dreadnought, on a mysterious mission to the west coast.

FuzzyCo grade: A