This book will be published on October 15, 2019. I read an uncorrected proof or, advanced reader's copy and undoubtedly there will be differences between the version I read and the published edition.
With all the being said...
This is a bit of an odd mix of storylines. It deals with expectations from parents, the trials of terraforming a planet, and kind of finding your place in the world. Plus, the tyranny of government preventing people from saving their own lives with medical technology.
An amazon summary, "A secret beats inside Anna Thatcher's chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna works cog by cog -- donning the moniker Technician -- to supply black market medical technology to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner's tyrannical laws.
Nathaniel Fremont, the Commissioner's son, has never had to fear the law. Determined to earn his father's respect, Nathaniel sets out to capture the Technician. But the more he learns about the outlaw, the more he questions whether his father's elusive affection is worth chasing at all.
Their game of cat and mouse takes an abrupt turn when Eliza, a skilled assassin and spy, arrives. Her mission is to learn the Commissioner's secrets at any cost -- even if it means betraying her own heart.
When these uneasy allies discover the most dangerous secret of all, they must work together despite their differences and put an end to a deadly epidemic -- before the Commissioner ends them first." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Anna is the Technician. She helps people who need medical technology to live, something that has been outlawed in the Settlement. The Settlement is part of the planet which has been partially terraformed to host humans. The rest of humanity is up in the tower, where elegance and the Queen reign supreme. Eliza is the Queen's eyes; she's a skilled spy who ferrets out secrets of the people of the tower for the Queen. She's been writing letters to Nathaniel, the Commissioner's son, who she's engaged to. She's leaving the tower to go to the Settlement by the Queen's command to watch the Commissioner. Nathaniel desperately wants to make his father proud. He has an illegal clockwork heart that his father orchestrated for him when he was a baby, and his mother died when he was very young. His father has never really approved of Nathaniel, so Nathaniel is determined to find the Technician to make his father proud. The Technician is the most wanted criminal in the Settlement since they act in direct defiance of the Commissioner's law. Technology has been outlawed in the Settlement as it's been determined to be the cause of the first Earth's ruin. The Queen, and the Commissioner, are determined to not let the new planet fall victim to technology again.
Anna, the Technician, also lives in a small city hidden inside the cliffs away from the Settlement. She lives in a small city of people who need illegal tech to survive... but why do the residents of her small city fall prey to some disease where the residents of the Settlement seem fine (except for Nathaniel)?
That's enough summary.
So this book leapt through a lot of hoops in a short amount of time. As I said in the beginning, expectations from parents, trials of terraforming a planet, and finding your place in the world. Plus, the tyranny of government preventing people from saving their own lives with medical technology.
So what I really should have said, is figuring out why some people are sick over others, and how sexuality plays into the definition of self. Also, defying parents to do good for people in general.
....I've said enough.
The world building was good but also lacking. All of the concepts were there but they were poorly illustrated at times. I'm still not sure why the Settlement was behind walls since there didn't seem to be anything dangerous on the planet besides other humans.
The storylines were intertwined and periodically forgotten until it was relevant again to prove the point of something else. However, I liked the characterization of Anna and Eliza. I did not like the characterization of Nathaniel. I thought Nathaniel really lacked convictions even when he seemed to have them. Anna and Eliza knew themselves through and through; even when they had moments of doubt, they pulled through with their confidence.
I don't know, it was a decent book, but it's not something I'd read again. I feel like only one storyline was adequately played through and resolved. Everything else just kind of seemed to be shrugged and fell into place. Eh.
Happy reading!
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