Set in a steampunk-infused fantasy country heavily inspired by Korea under Japanese occupation in the early 1900s, this story follows a nonbinary painter in their mid-20s who struggles to find work in the capital city of their homeland, Hwaguk. In desperation, Gyen Jebi, the artist, applies for a job in the Razanei occupational government. Their political sister throws them out of the house, and Jebi ends up working for the Ministry of Armor under a Razanei name. The Ministry of Armor is in charge of designing and upkeeping the automaton soldiers that form one branch of the military- but that's not all they do. Jebi quickly learns that Armor is developing a dragon automaton prototype, but something has gone wrong, and the previous lead artist on the project is dead. Not only that, but the magical processes used to bring automata to life are more horrifying that Jebi could have ever imagined. Soon they must decide what's more important: keeping their head down and earning a good wage under an attractive but dangerous boss; or smuggling some of the classified information out to the Hwagukian rebel forces. I absolutely loved the setting of this book, and the magic; I was less convinced by the characters and their motivations. In particular, there are a few emotional relationships in the book which either developed or devolved in ways that didn't make sense to me. The ending is also interestingly abrupt for a stand alone novel. I still recommend it, but with caveats.