Trenton Colman is a creative thirteen-year-old boy with a knack for all things mechanical. But his talents are viewed with suspicion in Cove, a steam-powered city built inside a mountain. In Cove, creativity is a crime and “invention” is a curse word. Kallista Babbage is a repair technician and daughter of the notorious Leo Babbage, who died in an explosion—an event the leaders of Cove point to as an example of the danger of creativity. Working together, Trenton and Kallista learn that Leo Babbage was developing a secret project before he perished. Following clues he left behind, they begin to assemble a strange machine that is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. They soon discover that what they are building may threaten every truth their city is founded on—and quite possibly their very lives. "An amazing adventure that will grab hold of you and never let go. With each surprising turn, the story builds a powerful story of courage, adventure, and friendship."--Jennifer A. Nielsen, New York Times bestselling author (5/18/2015 12:00:00 AM) "Savage does a masterful job of weaving the believable and unique society for this coming of age story. The post-apocalyptic, totalitarian society provides the perfect backdrop for Trenton's journey from child to young adult...The political commentary the story is laced with...provides a welcome added substance to the story which makes it appealing for older readers as well."-- "Compass Book Ratings" "With fascinating and relatable characters, amazing mysteries, and incredible amounts of conflict, Fires of Invention is well-written and chock full of action. Kids are going to go crazy for this book!" --Peggy Eddleman, best-selling author of Sky Jumpers series (5/18/2015 12:00:00 AM) "First in a series and includes likable characters, themes of friendship and self-discovery, and enough mechanical parts to thrill the nerdiest science readers...Readers who like their dystopias flavored with steam engines will like what they find."-- "Booklist" (8/1/2015 12:00:00 AM) "Starts with a bang...an ingenious steampunk world...Trenton will be a firm friend to any readers who long to use their talents to make their world better."-- "Publishers Weekly, Starred review" J. Scott Savage is the author of the Farworld middle-grade fantasy series and the Case File 13 middle-grade monster series. He has published more than seventeen novels, visited more than 1,400 schools, and taught dozens of writing classes. He has four children, five grandchildren, and lives with his wife, Jennifer, in a windy valley of the Rocky Mountains. By the time Kallista unfolded the paper, the document was nearly three feet wide and four feet tall. It looked like a schematic for some kind of machine. "Was is it?" Trenton asked. "Did you discover you father really was building a giant . . ." The words died in his mouth as he leaned closer to the light and saw what was on the paper. It was a set of plans all right. It was what her father had been working on. What they had been putting together. It was a machine. But not only a machine. It was a weapon. But not only a weapon. It was . . . Well, he didn't know exactly what it was. If the plans had been drawn up by anyone other than Leo Babbage, Trenton would have considered them a joke. But if there was one thing he had learned about Kallista's father, it was that the man did not appear to possess a very refined sense of humor. The plans were no joke. They were real. But why he would have drawn them up and what he expected his daughter to do with them was beyond understanding. Because the plans on the page-shown in surprisingly great detail-were for building a creature that looked like it had come directly from the pages of one of the storybooks in Leo Babbage's workshop. Trenton studied the powerful clawed legs, broad wings, and sharp toothed mouth. "What is it?" he whispered. Kallista held the plans up before her, eyes filled with wonder. "It's a dragon."