Currently reading Dreadnought by Cherie Priest. On occasion she makes prose choices I find a little iffy, but overall I've enjoyed this so far, and Boneshaker before it. The advertising for it is basically that it's a steam-punk driven extension of the American Civil War, and while that's certainly the setting, it's really about a nurse trying to find what home is after her husband's death, and getting roped into different Civil War situations as she goes.
I'm so glad Cherie Priest made the main character a nurse. The first book's protagonist was essentially a housewife who'd had a rough past and so she reacted to all the wounds and death with the panic and upsetting nature you'd expect from someone not used to it. Mercy's been doing hospital work for a long time and so even though she's rattled at times, she's on the job and most comfortable when she's got a bloody mess in her hands that needs patching up. I am so grateful the author gave us someone who can just handle this shit so we don't have to waste time with her coping and can instead keep moving along, while at the same time being impressed with her resolve.
Then there's the little hints harkening back to Boneshaker's "zombie" problem and maybe it's just me, but what's going on with them in this book is far creepier and more insidious than the plight with them in the first novel.
If you choose to read Dreadnought, do not read the back of the book. I didn't until I was halfway through, and it pretty much gave away a large chunk of what I'd already read. Better to discover those things in reading than have the back cover summary catch you up to page 200 before you open the book.