BoM/TWS Message Forum

I'd say that the most obvious locations given what's been said about it (distance to mountains, not tiny but not big, focus on engineering, agriculture, seems to be a magnet for the defense and other such industries), somewhere in Ohio is probably a good bet. Also, Saratoga Falls has kind of an Everywhere, USA deal to it and Ohio is part of that group of kind of unremarkable Great Lakes area states (like Indiana or Illinois) where that fits too.

I'd say other possibilities are probably western Pennsylvania/the Greater Pittsburgh area, western or central Massachusetts or Connecticut. The Knoxville area of Tennessee or somewhere like North Carolina is a possibility but those places are pretty culturally southern and Tina Branson stands out to everyone else because she's very southern so I don't quite know if that'd fit.

The thing that gets me is looking at the chapters where Will goes to get Evie from the military school which is, I believe, in Oregon. The drive out takes 9 days (with a three day stop for car issues; so it should have taken around 5 or 6 normally) but the drive back takes 3 which seems... really off. Even if it was Ohio, Ohio isn't that far from those other places to where driving to Pennsylvania or Massachussets or wherever would add an extra three days.

But yeah Ohio, western Pennsylvania, western/central Massachusetts and Connecticut would probably be my guesses.