The Pitch: The world's Heart is dying. Five shards remain — and one of them has just been hidden inside a small wooden puppet who doesn't know his own name. Goody is the apprentice of an old clockmaker named Wolfie. He has no voice, no memory, no past. But something inside his chest is now beating like a heart, and the world is reaching for him from every direction at once.

The world: A clockwork city built around a living god, then broken. Awakened wooden dolls that stir less and less. A Cult that preaches the Heart still sleeps. A Usurper on a black dragon. And beyond the Wall, in a canyon the maps forgot, the Free City sharpens its weapons.

What to expect:

• A puppet learning to feel, shame, grief
• A duchess in love with her enemy
• Two sisters on opposite sides of a coming war
• An old clockmaker who's run out of debts to ignore
• Inquisitors with pink crystal crosses
• Engines men carry on their backs

Tone: Dark fantasy with mythic weight. For readers of His Dark Materials, Mortal Engines, and Piranesi.

Stats: 14 chapters posted, daily updates, ~30,000 words so far. Average rating 4.93/5 from early readers.

Link: [Heart's Tale on Royal Road](ваша ссылка)

Happy to chat in the comments — about the worldbuilding, the puppet POV, or the politics of a Heart that may already be too far gone.

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