Fires of Invention

Gr 4–8—Young lovers of dystopian steampunk may be intrigued by Savage's latest offering to the genre. Mysteries take readers underground to the cryptic Cove, a subterranean, multilevel city not unlike District 13 in Suzanne Collins's "The Hunger Games" (Scholastic) books or the "community" in Lois Lowry's The Giver (HMH, 1993), with a dash of "here be dragons" flavor for good measure. Trenton Coleman, the story's middle school-age protagonist, finds his chances of becoming one of the city's mechanics jeopardized after breaking the strictest law: that no "inventions" shall be made by anyone. The creative Trenton breaks the law, making an unapproved "device." His penance leads him to a startling discovery, and with the help of the contradictory, rule-thwarting Katrina, Trenton searches for the reason the Cove has banned all invention. As his quest deepens, he unearths more than he bargains for. While Savage's premise is interesting, heavy use of mechanical jargon and feeble character development distract from an otherwise intriguing plot. Lengthy and detailed descriptions of gears, bolts, nuts, and levers will dizzy unaccustomed readers. The compelling story arc fails to compensate for the flat, inaccessible Trenton and the fuzzily defined Katrina. Their flinty relationship, meant to be mutually sharpening, is a tiresome exercise in a youthful scuffle of wills.