Dreadnought by Cherie Priest

There are probably people in this world who cannot imagine a world wherein the American Civil War raged for twenty years of horror-filled attrition, culminating in the construction of huge war machines that walk upright, dirigibles that cross the continent, a truculent alliance between the Republic of Texas and the Confederation of American States and mad scientists bent on ending the war with a horrible kind of final solution.

I pity you.

For people who have trouble imagining this I present Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest, who can bring it to life for you without much trouble.  She can bring a lot more than this, but I like to leave out the really, really juicy bits for you to enjoy without spoilage (hint: the aforementioned “horrible kind of final solution”). I heard this audiobook and liked it so much I listened to it twice (partly because my ancient phone honked up). The narrator, Kate Reading, has a lengthy career breathing life into novels and does quite well with this one.

One thing I really, really liked about this book is the lack of romance anywhere within.  A woman travelling across a continent on a dirigible that’s been shot down in the middle of a battlefield, chased by giant war machines, beset by bushwhackers, pursued by Confederate troops, shot at by barking mad scientists and surrounded by evil (and low on gas) is not really in a mood to be enthralled by another.