Book Review: The Inexplicables by Cherie Priest (The Clockwork Century #4)

The Inexplicables is the fourth book to Cherie Priest's Steampunk, sci-fi series titled, The Clockwork Century. I have read the three previous books in this series, while they are not my favorites, but I found these books generally fun, and easy to read. Without further delay, let me review this book.

Synopsis:

In this book, the author returns to alternate history version of Seattle during the American Civil War, where Seattle was a city filled with poisonous gas released from the underground, following a mining incident from 15 years ago. The poisonous gas, nicknamed by the locals as “the blight”, turned people into mindless, flesh eating zombies.

The people fled from Seattle, settled down in the outskirt of the city, and built a high wall to contain the poisonous gas within. However, some residents chose to stay in the city, and formed a small community in Seattle. The story in this book follows the journey of an individual called Rector, an orphan who lived in a monastery in the outskirt of Seattle. As Rector grew up, he hung out with the wrong crowd, and eventually became a dealer selling a type of drugs called SAP, which is made from the poisonous gas in Seattle.

When Rector came to age at 18, he was expelled from the monastery. Being an addict to SAP, Rector has no money and nowhere else to go. However, he was pretty sure that he was haunted by the ghost of his former friend, Ezekiel Wilkes, who was thought to have died six months ago, when he sneaked into the forbidden city of Seattle. Rector believed that Ezekiel's ghost was pestering him, so he set out on a journey, broke into the city of Seattle to find his old pal's corpse to give it a proper burial.

When Rector finally broke through into the city, he came into contact with the people from the small community who stilled lived in Seattle. However, what he discovered, was more than just the true fate of his old friend, but something more, something inexplicable...

What I think about this book:

The Inexplicables, just like the three previous books in this series, is a fun and quick read. However, this time around, there are more elements of horror and suspense compared to the previous books, as the readers journey along the characters in the book, venturing in the deserted city of Seattle, encountering masses of zombie hordes, then peel away, layer by layer, the mysteries surrounding the legend of the Inexplicables. This book a ride of thrill.

One of the biggest weaknesses with The Clockwork Century books, is the characterization, it was somewhat flat. In The Explicables, however, the characterization seem to have improved over the previous books. The main protagonist, Rector, is an interesting character. In this book, Rector started off as a drug addict, who has no future prospects other than a life in a career as a criminal, while in his drug abuse, he faced certain death due to the his failing health. However, as the story develops, Rector found friends and a place he belonged to, among the exiles who lived in Seattle, and it changed his life forever. I found the characterization in this book to be more interesting and thoughtful compared to its three predecessors. In fact, I found The Inexplicables to be the best book in The Clockwork Century novels yet. After I finished reading this book, I wish Rector all the best with his future life among his friends, and hope he would not return to the life of drug addiction. Overall, I enjoyed The Inexplicables, and I look forward to reading the next book, Fiddlehead, where the story of The Clockwork Century will reach a final conclusion.