Clockwork Century Books in Order
Part ofCherie Priest Books in OrderSee the Clockwork Century books by Cherie Priest in order, with quick summaries, linked novellas, series background, and an easy place to start reading.
Last updated: July 15, 2026
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Clockwork Century books in publication order
8 books
Boneshaker
by Cherie Priest
2009
In an alternate Civil War-era Seattle, Briar Wilkes enters a walled city poisoned by Blight gas to find her missing son. Inside, zombies, air pirates, and old secrets make every step toward him dangerous.
Clementine
by Cherie Priest
2010
Spy Belle Boyd and airship captain Croggon Hainey both have claims on the stolen airship Clementine. Their clash sends them through the war-torn Clockwork Century in a quick, sharp adventure of secrets and revenge.
Dreadnought
by Cherie Priest
2010
Nurse Mercy Lynch boards an armored train for a brutal journey across a nation still at war. Sabotage, soldiers, and a deadly secret turn the trip into a fight to reach her family alive.
Ganymede
by Cherie Priest
2011
Airship captain Andan Cly heads to New Orleans for a job that reunites him with Josephine Early. Beneath Lake Pontchartrain waits the Ganymede, a deadly experimental submarine that could change the war.
Tanglefoot
by Cherie Priest
2011
An orphan living beneath a sanitarium wants a friend, so he builds one from the materials around him. The resulting automaton has its own ideas, and companionship quickly becomes chaos.
The Inexplicables
by Cherie Priest
2012
Young thief Rector Sherman returns to Blight-ravaged Seattle looking for answers and a way out of trouble. Instead, he finds dangerous inventions, old grudges, and an underground city that needs help staying alive.
Fiddlehead
by Cherie Priest
2013
In an alternate America still divided by civil war, young inventor Gideon Bardsley's calculating machine predicts disaster. Its warning forces scattered allies to confront a threat that could spread Blight across the entire country.
Jacaranda
by Cherie Priest
2014
As a hurricane nears Galveston, a Texas Ranger, a nun, and a priest gather at the Jacaranda Hotel. They must break the curse behind its mounting death toll before the storm traps them with it.
Clockwork Century books in chronological order
Boneshaker
by Cherie Priest
2009Clockwork Century, Book 1
Clementine
by Cherie Priest
2010Clockwork Century, Book 2
Tanglefoot
by Cherie Priest
2011Clockwork Century, Book 3
Dreadnought
by Cherie Priest
2010Clockwork Century, Book 4
Ganymede
by Cherie Priest
2011Clockwork Century, Book 5
The Inexplicables
by Cherie Priest
2012Clockwork Century, Book 6
Fiddlehead
by Cherie Priest
2013Clockwork Century, Book 7
Jacaranda
by Cherie Priest
2014Clockwork Century, Book 8
Series background & context
Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century books imagine an America where the Civil War never ended. By the 1880s, the country has become a patchwork of dangerous borders, military schemes, scavenged technology, and communities trying to keep going while the war grinds on.
The future arrived early, and it arrived badly.
The starting point is Boneshaker, set in a Seattle wrecked by an experimental drilling engine. The accident releases the Blight, a poisonous gas that kills people or leaves them as undead horrors. A wall surrounds the ruined city, yet its underground routes, airships, criminal networks, and desperate residents keep drawing outsiders back in. The book introduces the world through Briar Wilkes, who enters the sealed city to find her son.
The later novels widen the map. Dreadnought puts nurse Mercy Lynch aboard a heavily armored train crossing war-torn territory. Ganymede moves to New Orleans, where airship captain Andan Cly is drawn into a job involving an enormous submerged war machine. The Inexplicables heads back to Seattle and follows young Rector Sherman, whose talent for theft gets him tangled in dangers far beyond his plans. In Fiddlehead, inventors and political leaders face a machine's terrifying prediction about the war and the Blight.
Every victory comes with repairs.
These are not books about a single chosen hero saving the day. They are linked stories about people with different skills, backgrounds, and loyalties trying to protect someone or simply stay alive. Priest uses the setting for chase scenes and oddball machinery, but she also keeps an eye on the damage done by war, prejudice, profiteering, and unchecked invention.
You can read the main novels in publication order, beginning with Boneshaker. The novellas Clementine and Jacaranda and the short story Tanglefoot are rewarding extras that explore other corners of the same world. They add airship thefts, haunted hotels, strange inventions, and new characters without changing the best entry point.
It is steampunk with dirt under its fingernails, plus zombies.
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