Political intrigue in an alternate America.Seventeen-year-old Claire Emerson has the magic touch, able to bless people via skin-to-skin contact. Such power makes her a commodity, and Claire believes her only escape from her crazed father's demands will be through marriage. The 1893 World's Fair is finally happening, and Claire intends to seek refuge with her long-absent brother once her father's newest invention debuts. Instead, she becomes a pawn in the political scrabble among young Gov. Remy Duchamp, his power-hungry general, and malcontents from the neighboring province of Livingston-Monroe. Female independence is not a possibility in this 19th-century Great American Kingdom, where the Washingtons are a monarchical dynasty, the U.S. is divided into provinces ruled by governors, and suffrage is suppressed. This is also an America where immigration is limited-the villains are blatantly xenophobic-but slavery, abolition, and Indigenous populations are not mentioned, their omission a serious flaw in an otherwise richly detailed setting and timeline. For a novel about science, magic, and politics, none of the rules are adequately explained, leaving the readers to learn alongside Claire as she struggles to understand her powers, the political game, and various steampunk gadgets. Cavallaro excels at intrigue, capers, and feminist concerns, but this book needs more substantial worldbuilding before joining the crowd of alternate history tales. Most characters are White.Like a lightbulb: incandescent and dazzling but artificial. (map, author's note) (Fantasy. 14-18)

GR 7 Up- It's 1893 and Claire's father is the weapons inventor set to be featured at the World's Fair in St. Cloudhe's more than a little unstable and the weapon doesn't work. Convinced Claire has the magic to fix it, he abuses her when she fails. Claire plans her escape, but when the weapon succeedswith her interventionshe's in the crosshairs of young, unpopular governor Remy Duchamp. He takes her hostage to be the muse of the World's Fair, and possibly use her powers for himself. With an epigraph, preamble, and prologue, this book should feel like a slow startmore history lesson than novelbut juxtaposing a historical America where George Washington turned his back on democracy to become king against today's political theater sets the story alight with tension. Unfortunately, the complete lack of characters of color distracts from the story. With no mention of slavery (the First American Kingdom never fought a Civil War), one unnamed character of color, and white villains with an anti-immigration plotline, readers will be disheartened by Claire, who refuses to get involved in politics that don't directly affect her. Overbearing men, white supremacists, and white feminists are cast as the villains of the story; ultimately Claire is put in the position to be a white savior to the immigrants who have come to St. Cloud. VERDICT Problematic elements overshadow what could have been a well-crafted plot and interesting worldbuilding, making this an additional purchase for libraries in need of historical series.Emmy Neal, Lake Forest Lib., IL