Natural Engines

From the Nebula and Bram Stoker Award-winning author comes the lyrical and moving science-fantasy sequel to A Palace Near the Wind, in which Lufeng and her sister Sangshu do everything they can to protect their culture and their world. For readers of Nghi Vo, Amal El-Mohtar, and Kritika H. Rao.

Fleeing the Bone Palace, Lufeng and her siblings plunge into the waters below its steep walls and reach Gear with its enormous, deadly water wheels, where her sister Sangshu is waiting for them. In the chaos of the towering waves, they are swept away and dragged into rebel territory, where they learn more about the deadly experiments Zinc has been performing on the population.

Sangshu, now loyally devoted to Copper and herself a victim of Zinc's experiments, races through Gear toward Engine, the industrial heartland of the ruthless Zinc. Driven by the desire to correct her own mistakes and those of others, she searches feverishly for a way to save her family and preserve her world.

This powerful, beautifully told novella illuminates the bonds of family, the pain of leaving everything familiar behind, and the terrible price of an industrial future.