Synopsis

Nurse Mercy Lynch is elbows deep in bloody laundry at a war hospital in Richmond, Virginia, when Clara Barton comes bearing bad news: Mercy's husband has died in a POW camp. On top of that, a telegram from the west coast declares that her estranged father is gravely injured, and he wishes to see her. Mercy sets out toward the Mississippi River. Once there, she'll catch a train over the Rockies and—if the telegram can be believed—be greeted in Washington Territory by the sheriff, who will take her to see her father in Seattle.

Reaching the Mississippi is a harrowing adventure by dirigible and rail through war-torn border states. When Mercy finally arrives in St. Louis, the only Tacoma-bound train is pulled by a terrifying Union-operated steam engine called the Dreadnought. Reluctantly, Mercy buys a ticket and climbs aboard.

What ought to be a quiet trip turns deadly when the train is beset by bushwhackers, then vigorously attacked by a band of Rebel soldiers. The train is moving away from battle lines into the vast, unincorporated west, so Mercy can't imagine why they're so interested. Perhaps the mysterious cargo secreted in the second and last train cars has something to do with it?

Mercy is just a frustrated nurse who wants to see her father before he dies. But she'll have to survive both Union intrigue and Confederate opposition if she wants to make it off the Dreadnought alive.

About Cherie Priest

Cherie Priest is the author of over a dozen novels, including Fiddlehead and Boneshaker, which was nominated for a Nebula Award and a Hugo Award and which won the PNBA Award as well as the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. She is inordinately fond of zombies, trashy goth music, and cheap red wine. Cherie lives in Tennessee.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sandi on October 30, 2010

Cherie Priest's Dreadnought is set in the same alternate history as Boneshaker but really doesn't connect with it until the last couple of chapters. It's the story of a Confederate Civil War nurse who receives a letter telling her that her husband, a Union soldier, has died. A couple of days later,......more

Goodreads review by David on March 01, 2011

(Received my ARC via Goodreads) It's all about the journey, not the destination, in Priest's third entry in The Clockwork Universe. A journey undertaken via airship, steamship and the eponymous Dreadnought, a monstrous Union war train carry more guns than the Texas chapter of the NRA. It's a journe......more

Goodreads review by Cherie on March 04, 2017

Absolutely amazing! I wasn't sure how this story was going to tie into the story from the first book, but it definitely did. Another strong woman character and the alternate history of Civil War torn America world building continues. Mercy Lynch, a nurse in a Confederate Army hospital finds out her......more

Goodreads review by Megan on April 10, 2015

Three books seems to be about the amount I need to decide whether or not I'm going to continue to read an author's books, unless they do something right away to piss me off. This is the third Cherie Priest book I've read. Unless something major happens, it's also likely to be the last. I'm just not......more

Goodreads review by Adam on July 29, 2011

I was about to dismiss Cherie Priest and her Clockwork Century series as over hyped, finding them pleasant enough while being slightly confused by enthusiastic praise being heaped on them. But, this final scheduled volume (hopefully there will be more) changes most of my concerns. This is a great ad......more