RUST IN THE ROOT By Justina Ireland

September 15, 2022 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

RUST IN THE ROOT By Justina IrelandRust in the Root by Justina Ireland
Published by Balzer + Bray on 9/20/22
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Young Adult
Pages: 440
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

It is 1937, and Laura Ann Langston lives in an America divided—between those who work the mystical arts and those who do not. Ever since the Great Rust, a catastrophic event that blighted the arcane force called the Dynamism and threw America into disarray, the country has been rebuilding for a better future. And everyone knows the future is industry and technology—otherwise known as Mechomancy—not the traditional mystical arts.

Laura disagrees. A talented young queer mage from Pennsylvania, Laura hopped a portal to New York City on her seventeenth birthday with hopes of earning her mage’s license and becoming something more than a rootworker.

But four months later, she’s got little to show for it other than an empty pocket and broken dreams. With nowhere else to turn, Laura applies for a job with the Bureau of the Arcane’s Conservation Corps, a branch of the US government dedicated to repairing the Dynamism so that Mechomancy can thrive. There she meets the Skylark, a powerful mage with a mysterious past, who reluctantly takes Laura on as an apprentice.

As they’re sent off on their first mission together into the heart of the country’s oldest and most mysterious Blight, they discover the work of mages not encountered since the darkest period in America’s past, when Black mages were killed for their power—work that could threaten Laura’s and the Skylark’s lives, and everything they’ve worked for.

Short and Sweet Review

Laura moved to New York to follow her dreams of opening up a bakery but unfortunately she’s down on her luck because New York isn’t so kind to new comers. Laura is getting kicked out of the current place she’s living and she needs to find somewhere to go asap, which is when she meets a unicorn that suggests she gets a job at the Bureau of the Arcane’s Conservation Corps. Its here that Laura can actually use her magic without getting in trouble, Laura has the gift of using the potential in something like a seed and making it into something new. Laura meets the Skylark a powerful mage who takes Laura on as her apprentice. Together they’re sent on a mission to a blight and there’s more going on than what they were briefed on.

A little backstory, America is divided: those who can use the mystic arts and those who can’t. There was an event called the great rust which was catastrophic and now America is trying to rebuild. The world building is great once you understand what’s going on. There is different magic that can be used and we see most of them like talking to animals, healing, and necromancy. Laura is different because she’s able to dabble with all of them but she has to keep that to herself because its not really allowed.

Laura and the Skylark and joined by others in the colored auxiliary and sent to the Ohio Deep Blight to try to figure out what’s going on there and what happened to the team that was sent before them. This is where things get really interesting because things are not right in Ohio and team members start to be attacked one by one and its looking like someone on the team is in on it. Everyone has some type of magic that they’re able to use and in Ohio it seems like simple things are draining them and they’re not able to do even half of what they can when they’re not in the blight. I will say its kind of eerie like what is going on in the blight that there’s creatures roaming around and people going missing.

This book was so different from anything I’ve read involving magic before. I will say that the way that magic is being used in this book takes some getting used to and there’s more than one mystic art. The Skylark also had a journal or case notes where she documented everything that happened and I will say that threw me for a loop because I wasn’t sure what to trust. Laura is strong and I don’t think she truly knew her potential until the end of the book and I loved her, she never backed down. This is a book I won’t forget about anytime soon and I recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a book that’ll keep you engaged from the first page until the last page!

Filed Under: Reviews

DEATHLESS DIVIDE By Justina Ireland

January 27, 2020 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

DEATHLESS DIVIDE By Justina IrelandDeathless Divide by Justina Ireland
Series: Dread Nation #2
Published by Balzer + Bray on 2/4/20
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Young Adult
Pages: 560
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.

But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880s America.

What’s more, this safe haven is not what it appears—as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.

But she won’t be in it alone.

Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by—and that Jane needs her too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.

Watching Jane’s back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it’s up to Katherine to keep hope alive—even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.

Short and Sweet

After the fall of Summerland all Jane wants to do is survive and make it to California to find her mother. But when Jane and company end up to a survivalist village called Nicodermus, she learns that things aren’t what they appear to be. Katherine never thought that she would become allied with Jane but she knows that she needs Jane, and even though Jane won’t admit it she needs Katherine too.

Characters

Jane: Jane is still amazing and great at killing shamblers. I feel like Jane had a lot more on her plate this go around. She had to protect a group of people from Summerland and get them safely to Nicodermus. She also dealt with a lot of loss on the way and Jane doesn’t deal with her emotions properly she rather keep them all bottled up which at some points did take a toll on her. At some point in the book Jane loses who she is and she just became cold and I’m glad that she had Katherine around to bring some of her humanity back.

Katherine: Katherine is back and I just loved her presence and being able to read from her POV. Katherine is more levelheaded than Jane and is like the voice of reason. Katherine is also amazing at killing shamblers. She also dealt with a lot but she kept moving forward and doing what she thought was best and that’s what I like most about Katherine she never loses sight of what’s important.

Quotes

~ “You cannot go around threatening murder whenever someone annoys you.”

My Thoughts

~ Deathless Divide takes place right after Dread Nation and the fall of Summerland. Jane and Katherine are with a small group from Summerland trying to safely make it to Nicodermus.

~ I feel bad for Jane she lost someone so soon after learning things about them that were being kept secret. It just made her feel like she wasn’t enough.

~ Anytime the group travels they’re risking their lives and there were a few times I was worried that shamblers would catch up with them.

~ In Nicodermus the girls see some familiar faces from Summerland and that’s when Jane learns that Nicodermus may not be as safe as they originally thought.

~ Gideon Carr is in Nicodermus and he continues to look for a vaccine that will give people immunity to the shamblers bite but he ends up doing more damage than good.

~ After everything that happens in Nicodermus Jane and Katherine are separated, this hurt me. I didn’t like that the two girls were apart. And this is where Jane changes and ends up becoming a cold blooded killer.

~ Katherine on the other hand heads west and tries to find the town that Janes mother may have been headed too.

~ I love the relationship between Katherine and Jane they balance each other out and over time they’ve become best friends.

Overall

This book pulled at all my heartstrings. I LOVED every moment of this book and I’m so glad that we got both of the girls POVs. The friendship between the two girls is heart warming and they truly look out for each other. The ending was amazing, everything about this book is amazing. If you haven’t read Dread Nation yet pick it up and then read Deathless Divide, don’t miss out!

Filed Under: Reviews

DREAD NATION By Justina Ireland

April 8, 2019 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

DREAD NATION By Justina IrelandDread Nation by Justina Ireland
Series: Dread Nation #1
Published by Balzer + Bray on 4/3/18
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Young Adult
Pages: 464
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

ReviewedbyDani

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever.

In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.

But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It's a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose.

But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies.

And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.


Short and Sweet

Jane attends Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore preparing to be an attendant and fight off shamblers, but that’s not the life Jane wants. Jane just wants to finish her education and go back home to Kentucky. But when families start to go missing in Baltimore Jane finds herself in the middle of a situation she never thought she’d be in.

Characters

Jane: Jane is our main character and I liked her. Jane was smart unlike some of the other girls she knew how to read and write. Jane was sometimes impulsive which got her into a lot of trouble at times. Jane is also great at fighting shamblers at close combat.

Katherine: Katherine is black but she’s light skinned which gives her an advantage to pass as a white woman which she and Jane use in certain situations. I loved Katherine she well mannered, snarky, and fashionable, she’s also great with a rifle. I felt bad that people didn’t want her as an attendant because she was too pretty.

Romance

There’s not much romance in this book. Jane used to date Red Jack but they broke up and are somewhat friends now, and Jane and Gideon are just friendly with each other.

Quotes

~ “Besides Jane, the day I cannot take down a few shambles wearing something fashionable is the day I turn in my rifle.”

My Thoughts

~ Let me just start by saying Jane and Katherine are my favorite thing about this book! They didn’t like each other at first but then they ended up growing on each other and that is the greatest relationship in this book their friendship!

~ The book is told in Jane’s POV only and at the start of every chapter we see a little snippet from letters between Jane and her mother. All I really want is for Jane and her mother to be reunited.

~ I liked the mystery aspect of the book because where were all the families disappearing to? This one hit more to home for Jane because its Red Jack’s sister who also goes missing.

~ When Jane and Katherine were sent to Summerland I felt to bad for them because the Priest and the Sheriff were awful it was almost like they were running a cult.

~ Like I mentioned earlier Jane is pretty smart and she comes up with a plan to get her and Katherine out of Summerland and to somewhere safe mainly back to her home at Rosehill.

~ The ending left me wanting Jane and her mother to reunite especially because the letter problem and I can’t wait to see her journey to California

Overall

I loved this book, it was amazing and I’m ready for the sequel! I just want Jane to find her momma and I want more of Jane and Katherine I love their friendship. This book was captivating and entertaining and I can’t stop thinking about it!

SmileRatingsSmileRatingsSmileRatingsSmileRatingsSmileRatings

 

 

Filed Under: Reviews