A wandering circus of mechanical wonders travels a post-apocalyptic landscape while trying to stay under the radar of the authorities. Little George works as a carnival barker for the Circus Tresaulti, a troupe of performers that travel an post-apocalypic land putting on shows. The circus' main gimmick is that most of the performers have mechanical enhancements and prosthetic limbs, hollow bones for the trapeze acts, for example. These are created by their ringleader who is known as The Boss.
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Little George does not have any enhancements yet, and wears fake prosthetics to impress the customers while dreaming of the day the boss will replace his bones and make him special. The people who come to the circus are all broken in some way, and the Boss can do almost anything, even reviving the dying.
Years ago their best performer was the Winged Man, who had beautiful brass and bone wings. After he died the wings were never passed on to anyone, and now two of the current members both want them; a unstable woman named Bird and a man named Stenos, both of whom work as aerialists. But it seems that the Boss isn't interested in giving the wings to anyone.
Stenos and Bird are rivals, but when Bird suffers a fall from the trapeze, dropped by fellow aerialist Elena, it looks like she might be done for. However the Boss fixes Bird with new enhancements like an artificial eye.
One day after Little George has been in a nearby town putting up posters and drumming up interest he is surprised when the Boss orders the circus to pull up stakes and move on early. He learns that someone has been asking about the circus, a man that might have been from the government. He is confused, but the Boss doesn't elaborate any further.
At their next stop they find that they have been followed. The Government man shows up in a black sedan with an entourage. He introduces himself and expresses interest in their acts. The last night of their stay he comes again and stays to see the show but leaves halfway through, disturbed by the sight of Bird, who he believes to be insane.
Eventually Little George notices that those who have undergone the Boss' surgeries never grow older, and realizes that they have died and been revived. The boss can only work on the injured and broken, and Little George is neither. She has been delaying making a decision about him, letting him grow up.
We learn that before the war Boss had been an opera singer. She woke after a bombing and found herself with the ability to bring the dead back to life through mechanisms.
The Boss asks Little George if he really wants to stay with the circus, even if he can't be enhanced and join the acts. He says yes, but has never really considered any other options. She gives him a tattoo of a griffin instead, and later he realizes that the tattoo is more than it appears to be.
The government man comes back with his men and tells the Boss to come with him to discuss the mechanisms she creates. It's obvious that she has no choice, and Bird leaps at the men to stop her., but they shoot her down. They then shove both of the women into one of the cars and take them away.
Little George takes over command and orders the performers pack up, while a smaller group led by Stenos takes off to the city in hopes of rescuing the prisoners.
In the city the government men question the Boss and vivisect Bird to discover the mechanical secrets, he reveals that he wants to construct an army of men who can't die and can be repaired from any injury.
That night a badly injured Bird manages to escape and Stenos finds her, but she dies. He takes her body to Little George and begs him to do something. George realizes that the tattoo that the Boss gave him was meant to transfer her powers, and he manages to revive Bird.
She begs him for the wings, and he hesitates at first. Elena reveals that she dropped Bird on purpose to save her from the wings, which are made partly from human bones and connect the wearer to the dead. A jealous Stenos doesn't believe her and demands the wings for himself.
George dismissed both of them, realizing that Bird will die again without them since they are all she has to live for. He manages to attach them to her and then the troupe descends on the fortress where the Boss is being held captive. After a bloody battle they manage to overcome the soldiers, and Bird uses her new wings to free her from the hanging cage in which she is being held.
When everything is over Bird has vanished, but the Boss and George can both sense she is still alive.
The circus regroups, and free from the government scrutiny falls back into touring. Sometimes they see Bird's wings glinting in the distance, but she never comes back, the wings were all she ever wanted.
Best part of story, including ending:
The descriptions the mechanical creations and the way they are used on the performers are very cool, the wings in particular are presented as a fascinating mix of magic and engineering and you can see why they fascinate everyone.
Best scene in story:
When Bird escapes from the prison, you see it from the eyes of a bystander who is neither part of the circus or the government and its a great adventure moment that also offers insight into the greater world in which the story is set.
Opinion about the main character:
Little George is a good POV character because he goes from not really understanding what is going on, just wanting to be special like the rest and maybe get a girlfriend, to knowing too much and having all the same powers of the Boss.
