Stone seeds by Jo Ely.
Nothing is quite as it appears in New Bavarnica. Everything is run by The General, alongside his collaborator, the village shopkeeper. The General rules by menace, unimaginable cruelties, and everyone in Bavarnica knows their place and keeps to it. Everyone except Antek, the Egg Boy, a government-made machine with a chink in his system. Everyone except Zorry the slave, who spends all her nights hunting lethal plants in the killing forest. Or Jengi, the shopkeeper's 'tame' assistant, and last surviving member of the notorious Digger tribe. Together can they find the courage to fight back?

This was a good read with likeable characters.  I didn't enjoy it like I thought I would.  Very slow all the way through.  3*.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. It had an interesting concept but didn't grab me

An ambitious attempt, but ultimately the purple prose served to bog the story down. It felt like a lot of effort for very little reward and was unfortunately not entertaining enough.