Empire of Light 1: The Spirit of Innovation (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798991502511)

"A rousing adventure in the tradition of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells."

Doctor Elphias Root would have been content to travel the vast nation of Toravia in his living wagon for the rest of his days, but all that changes when he's hired as field surgeon by Brogan Cobb, an elder huntsman seeking monsters. That chance encounter will change the course of Elphias' life, bringing him within the circle of the mighty Academy of Worldly Science and its powerful inquisitors, tasked with gathering any and all information. More troubling to Elphias is the inquisitor's intelligent and beautiful secretary, Bella, who bears a disturbing similarity to a lost love from Elphias' past. But is she just a secretary, or something more?

Circumstances will bring them all together aboard the Empire's latest technical marvel - a sky rail train named The Spirit of Innovation. But this will be no trip of comfort. Fellow passengers include a handsome and dangerous alienist who wants to break Elphias' mind, and a giant brute of a boxer who wants to beat his physical form senseless. The magnificent premier steam engine is also the target of anarchist saboteurs, who care nothing for the lives aboard. Nothing it seems, will go easy for Elphias and his new friends.