A steampunk sci-fi fantasy adventure for middle schoolers that features a strong, young, female machinist; toxic star dust; a heroic gargoyleish shape-shifter; epic train travel; loyal friends and found family? Yes, please! Fantastically imaginative and fast-paced, this first book set in the Kingdom of Merrow and the Dragonfly Territories will have young readers looking for more adventures from the world of Solace (thankfully there are two more to discover)!

Topics, tropes, and themes:authoritarianism, socioeconomics, industrialization, ecology, found family, bigotry, loyalty, sentience, slavery, telekinesis, magic, community
Content notes:death of a family member (backstory), poverty, blood and injury, gun violence, fantasy violence, kidnapping, slavery, scientific experiments on sentient beings, strip mining, colonialism, tattoo