"A mere tinkerer in a village of farmers will do."

Pell is an engineer and digger by trade—unearthing and repairing the fascinating artifacts left behind by the mysterious Ancients who once inhabited the sunbaked planet of Tampere. She’ll do anything to help the people of her village survive and to better understand the secrets of what came before.

Heartwood and Moseus are keepers of a forbidding tower near the village of Emgarden. Inside are the remnants of complex machines the likes of which Pell has never seen. Considering her affinity for Ancient tech, the keepers know Pell is their only hope of putting the pieces of these metal puzzles together and getting them running. But Pell’s restoration of this broken behemoth soon brings disturbing visions—what is her relationship to it and why has the truth has been hidden from her?

Something is missing.

4.5 stars. The thing that I love about Holmberg is that all of her books are unique. I'll say it again and again, pick up every single new book she puts out, and recommend her to others. Even if I don't re-read a large majority of her books, they will always be worth reading even a single time.

Most of the novel is spent describing the puzzle of the tower machines--musing over what they're for and ways to fix them. Holmberg explains the parts and repairs in a way that is (or at least sounds) technical but simple enough (and with enough context clues) to not lose a reader like me that doesn't know jack about fixing things.

While I was continually frustrated the first half of the novel with her flashbacks covering reality (I'm one of those people that needs spoilers like I need breath so this is definitely a me thing to be frustrated at learning at the pace of the character), once it hit the 42% mark I finally felt like we were rolling. The pieces started coming together, you started venturing your own guesses, and when you had alllllllmost everything but that ONE MISSING PIECE...ah, the excruciatingly satisfying FINISH.

This novel really makes me feel Charlie's growth as an author and I can't wait to see what else comes next.

Recommended for the tinker lovers and the "what's happening" lovers especially.

Thank you to Netgalley and Holmberg's street crew for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.