THE TINKERERS

In a seemingly idyllic village, a precocious 12-year-old finds himself entangled in mysterious magic that might upend the whole Belvederean Empire.

The Huckaby-Green family leads an exhausting but happily full life as innkeepers in Stargazers Valley, a quaint, isolated village reminiscent of Northern Europe where people use horses and carts and aurora borealis–like lights appear in the sky. Peter, an enthusiastic perfectionist, is helping raise his 3-year-old brother, Ollie, vying to win an empire-wide essay contest, and desperately trying not to come in last place in clambering, the empire’s central sport. Enter the Tinkerers, two guests at the inn who take Peter under their wing but whose goals and magical gadgets are mystifying. As Peter starts to unravel the history and relationships around him, he confronts opposition from the powerful empire and its clandestine forces. Carlson’s often humorous prose captures the big feelings of a boy on the precipice of adolescence. The book, which is framed as a dossier by the empire’s spy forces, alternately presents excerpts from Peter’s essay, the mythology of his culture, and transcripts of surveillance footage, effectively building a rich world and underlining the omnipresence of its colonizing force. The central themes include learning from mistakes, eschewing black-and-white morality, and recognizing the harms of colonization. Main characters read white, and names and physical descriptions cue ethnic diversity in the background cast.

A warmhearted fantasy tale about discovering the world’s complexity and finding one’s place in it.