This book was long-awaited and long-anticipated as the kickstarter to finance it started in 2020 and it finally shipped this year.  But I'm not unhappy, it was a great story and bound into a beautiful book.  At least half my reason for supporting was the fabulous title, I just loved it.

Antiquity is a young woman living on a far-future planet of Erth.  We don't know exactly what the planet is or where it is; one can assume it is the result of a tremendous war on our Earth.  The world is ruled by an interstellar agency known as the Imperium.  Antiquity belongs to a disgraced family; the result of a family feud and the last time Mechs were used in battle.  She spends much of her time scavenging the desert for any small bit of tech or mech that could be sold.  It's a life-changing experience when she discovers an intact Mech; a giant human-guided robot.  It was believed that all Mechs were destroyed.  As it turns out, it is the exact same Mech that belonged to her great-grandmother and part of the event that disgraced their family.  Her nemesis is the Dreadth family; particularly in the form of a young man named Manson.  It was his grandfather who may have been responsible for the death and scandal attached to her great-grandmother, Laurellyn.

Unheeding of her grandmother's insistence to leave the Mech buried in the sand and that now was not the right time to challenge the Dreadth's hold on their town; Antiquity returns to the desert with her faithful lifetime-of-protecting-said-child robot, Chekker.  Unfortunately, her efforts to uncover more of the Mech is detected by Manson Dreadth and then draws the attention of desert marauders.  She barely escapes with the now-functional Mech, Saph Fyre.

Shockingly, once she returned to the city with Saph Fyre, she and her grandmother were summoned to a Council of Elders.  Even more shockingly, the Elders were agreeable to removing the stain of shame from her family but only if she agreed to marry Manson, joining their families and allowing the Dreadth the chance to claim the Mech.  Even while Antiquity and her friends plot to hide the Mech from the Dreadth and flee the forced marriage, the Imperium sends a ship and a demand to turn-over the mech to them.  But, apparently, Antiquity's grandmother and Manson's father collaborated against the Imperium, to their demise, to give the young people a chance to escape.  Angered and shocked, Antiquity, Manson and her two best friends crew the Mech and escape into the desert.

On the run with no plan but hints from her now-dead grandmother that secrets exist that could save the entire planet from the Imperium, Antiquity finds an interactive recording from her great-grandmother, Laurellyn, that gives them clues to an apparent treasure of titanium, the critical element to recreate Mechs. The Imperium will stop at nothing to find this treasure trove and keep the planet submissive.  Antiquity finds interesting help along the way as she acquires both more information guiding her to the treasure but also more enemies.

This was a solid light science-fiction tale; plenty of drama and mystery, not heavy on science.  I enjoyed Antiquity and her companions and I really enjoyed the build-up to the mystery of the treasure.  There was plenty of suspense as we wondered if our intrepid heroes would find the treasure before the Imperium or other interested parties.  The worldbuilding was good and the plot interesting.  The nature of the great treasure was a splendid reveal.  The story doesn't end here so I'll be watching for the sequel.    ~~  Catherine Book

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