Cherie Priest - Dreadnought (Clockwork Century #2, epub)[j_ray]

Nurse Mercy Lynch is elbows deep in bloody laundry at a war hospital in
Richmond, Virginia, when Clara Barton comes bearing bad news: Mercy's
husband has died in a POW camp. On top of that, a telegram from the west
coast declares that her estranged father is gravely injured, and he
wishes to see her. Mercy sets out toward the Mississippi River. Once
there, she'll catch a train over the Rockies and--if the telegram can be
believed--be greeted in Washington Territory by the sheriff, who will
take her to see her father in Seattle.

Reaching the Mississippi is a harrowing adventure by dirigible and rail
through war-torn border states. When Mercy finally arrives in St. Louis,
the only Tacoma-bound train is pulled by a terrifying Union-operated
steam engine called the Dreadnought. Reluctantly, Mercy buys a ticket
and climbs aboard.

What ought to be a quiet trip turns deadly when the train is beset by
bushwhackers, then vigorously attacked by a band of Rebel soldiers. The
train is moving away from battle lines into the vast, unincorporated
west, so Mercy can't imagine why they're so interested. Perhaps the
mysterious cargo secreted in the second and last train cars has
something to do with it?

Mercy is just a frustrated nurse who wants to see her father before he
dies. But she'll have to survive both Union intrigue and Confederate
opposition if she wants to make it off the Dreadnought alive.

Title: Dreadnought
Series: Clockwork Century 2
Author: Cherie Priest
Published: September 28, 2010, by Tor
Language: English
Genre: Steampunk
ISBN-10: 0765325780
ISBN-13: 978-0765325785
Length: 400 pages