The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

When Jake Limberleg brings his traveling medicine show to a small Missouri town in 1913, thirteen-year-old Natalie senses that something is wrong and, after investigating, learns that her love of automata and other machines make her the only one who can set things right.

Full review at SFF Book Review.

I'm surprised that with a title like this (and following Cherie Priest's succes with her “Boneshaker”) this book doesn't get more attention. It is a wonderfully fun story about the little Missouri town of Arcane where Natalie is trying very hard to learn how to ride the Chesterlane bicycle her father built for her.

When a medicine show arrives in town, she starts noticing strange things - not just about the mysterious, red-haired Dr. Limberleg, but about the inhabitants of her very own home town. Soon she discovers that things are more than they seem and that only she can prevent a terrible, terrible thing from happening.

Kate Milford does a fantastic job of grabbing your interest and holding it until the very end. This book is so full of atmosphere and stories-within-stories, filled with magic and mystery, that I think is perfect for children and young adults. As an adult, I enjoyed myself immensely, despite being able to guess some of the twists and revelations. But with such great pacing and those beautiful illustrations, I believe this is one of the better children's books out there at the moment. Recommended!

7,5/10

look, sometimes you just have to keep rereading a particular book because you're feeling stinky, it's okay

3.5!
I liked this a lot! Kate Milford books are always good!

My ranking of her books (2 and 3 I like the same):
1. Greenglass House
2. Racounteur's Commonplace
3. Ghosts of Greenglass House
4. The Boneshaker

Broken Lands next maybe