Based on a world with rules that dictate how loyal you are, what you can wear, and who you can be with with a caste system, being an Icarus is the best thing in the world – at least to Taya.

And Icarus has the freedom to wear whatever they want, hang out with whomever they please, and travel between the sections with ease. Not to mention the fact that they travel by flying with detachable metal wings. This is definitely the life, right? It would be, if Taya wasn’t caught in a political war.

Allister Forlore is an Exalted – the highest on in the hierarchy of the world. He is charming, elegant, and knows how to get his way – and he does. But like all gold, what’s underneath isn’t all that pretty, for his story is one that is polished so well that you’d have to have a magnifying glass to see the imperfections.

Cristof is an outcaste – he left his caste to become a clockworker. He’s the exact opposite of Allister in that he has no charm, elegance, and he is better with metal and the workings of machine’s than people.

But when Taya gets wind of the political affairs between the suspected Torn Cards – a terrorist group who doesn’t like the Great Engine (a machine that dictates their life) – and the bombings that are targeted at the Octavius family, who have a more deeply attached connected to the Forlore’s than known, what Taya finds out will lead her down a path that will change her future forever.

No more will Taya be the Icarus-waiting-to-be-a-diplomat, she will be the one thing that may tackle the corruption head-on, or will she be the one that makes the entire situation worse than it already is and cause more pain? Read the book and find out! I definitely recommend it.