In steam age America, men, monsters, machines, and magic battle to claim the same scrap of earth and sky. In this chaos, one man fights to hold on to his humanity—and his honor....

Life on the frontier is full of deceit and danger, but bounty hunter Cedar Hunt is a man whose word is his bond. Cursed with becoming a beast every full moon, Cedar once believed his destiny was to be alone. But now Cedar finds himself saddled with a group of refugees, including the brother he once thought lost.

Keeping his companions alive is no easy task, in part because of a promise he made to the unpredictable Madder brothers—three miners who know the secret mechanisms of the Strange. To keep his word, Cedar must navigate betrayal, lies, and treacherous alliances, and risk everything to save the lives of those he has come to hold dear.