Celebrate Lit / February 25, 2026

Harlow Morgan and the Sky City

About the Book Harlow Morgan and the Sky City

Book: Harlow Morgan and the Sky City

Author: Lyndsey Lewellen

Genre: Middle Grade Steampunk Fantasy

Release Date: November 15, 2025

Harlow Morgan: airship pilot, trouble magnet, possibly glowing.

Airship pilot-in-training, Harlow Morgan is a wiz in the sky—but her father’s disappointment on the ground.

In the steam-powered nation of Corshire, where science reigns and magic is outlawed, Harlow’s famous inventor father expects perfection. Her twin sister delivers. Harlow? Not so much. She’d rather be flying airships at the Academy than following in his brilliant footsteps.

But when a reckless lie puts a classmate’s future at risk—and exposes a hidden magical artifact tied to her family—Harlow finds herself swept into a dangerous underground war. With strange light burning across her skin and outlaw sorcerers on her trail, Harlow teams up with the boy she betrayed to unlock the truth behind the artifact… and survive the city in the sky.

If the deadly Magics don’t get her first, her father’s secrets just might.

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My Thoughts on Harlow Morgan and the Sky City

Harlow Morgan and the Sky City is a wonderful middle-grade science fiction book that you’re going to want to have on your shelf. It’s also book one in a series. It was an intriguing ring that will keep you reading. The characters are great. The suspense is also wonderful and very appropriate for the age range it’s written towards.

As an adult, I enjoyed this novel. My kids, who read independently at the chapter book level or beyond, also enjoyed reading this as an independent read. We also read it as a read-aloud. The ones who had read it on their own still listened intently, and my four and seven-year-olds sat and listened as well. We’re big on reading aloud here, and this is a wonderful novel to have.

I loved that Harlow and Brier are twins, but each has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Neither is wrong or bad, just their own persons. This could teach a lesson to kids on its own.

While I don’t feel it comes across as a Christian novel, I do feel that it ties into Christianity and religion much the same way that C.S. Lewis did in his land of Narnia. The light vs the darkness and evil vs good if you will.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

About the Author of Harlow Morgan and the Sky City

Lyndsey Lewellen is the sci-fi and fantasy author of The Chaos Grid duology and the Harlow Morgan series. Growing up on a healthy dose of comic books, punk music, and sci-fi, she infuses all three loves into novels written for young adults. Inside her “what if” worlds, her characters take risks, grow, and fight for what matters. When she’s not writing or whittling down her endless TBR, she designs novel covers and paints on shoes. She lives on a small Texas farm with her best friend/husband, five children, and what some might call a zoo of animals (especially after meeting the peacocks).

More from Lyndsey

Why Steampunk?

When I tell people that Harlow Morgan and the Sky City is middle-grade steampunk, I either get that question or the question, What is steampunk? I get it. Punk genres are niche. I answer the second question with references to Jules Verne and explanations of neo-futurism. Steampunk is a what-if story where society advanced differently than it really did, keeping the Victorian culture and gaining cool steam-powered gadgets. There’s more to steampunk than that, but it’s my typical answer in a nutshell.

The reason I chose to tell Harlow’s story goes back to my days working in a comic book store. As a budding artist, I treasured anything drawn by my favorite illustrators, and a comic titled Steampunk, pencilled by Chris Bachalo, was no exception. Flipping through those striking pages was my first exposure to the genre. A refreshing change of pace from the usual superhero storylines I was used to. Growing up dyslexic, I had never read books like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or Journey to the Center of the Earth. I had no idea adventure stories like these existed.

I was hooked.

In my twenties, I began teaching young girls the Bible in my church. By then, I had become a reader, albeit a slow one. When a few girls I was discipling told me they also liked reading, I was excited to have common ground. But then they told me the books they read. My joy deflated at the darker themes and lack of hope in these stories.

Where were the hope-filled tales of my youth?

I wanted to shine a light on young girls. So, I took the genre I loved, added a spunky airship-pilot-in-training, and threw her into a battle between the forces of light and darkness. Harlow Morgan and her neo-futuristic adventures were born.

Though she lives in a wild Victorian world, Harlow navigates tough realities that kids face today. What does it mean to be a light fighting the darkness? And when the world—and our own thoughts—tell us we will never be enough to be loved, is that true? Do we need to earn the love of our Father, or is His love freely given?

My hope is that through a fun, whimsical adventure, young readers will find not only entertainment and the joy of reading but also a little hope to brighten their lives. Or even better, a story that points them to the brightest Light of all.

Take a ride with Harlow and her friends in this high-flying start to a middle-grade steampunk series.

—Lyndsey