Jane is a changeling child, enslaved in a factory that makes the iron dragons - terrible engines of war - until she discovers the secret of the dragons' sentience and is able to use one of the beasts to escape. Then, her adventures as a thief and an outsider take her into a reality rich in wild magic

A human changeling child coming of age in a world of violence and monsters, Jane toils unceasingly alongside trolls, dwarves, shifters and feys in the dark, stygian bowels of a steam dragon plant--helping to construct the massive black iron flying machines the elvan rulers use for waging war. Then one day, the cold, tantalizing voice of a rusting, discarded dragon speaks softly to Jane--whispering to her of freedom and vengeance ... and the terrible wonders awaiting her far beyond the factory gates.