Dust Girl, by Sarah Zettel

In Kansas during the Dust Bowl, Callie LeRoux is off on an adventure to save her kidnapped mother and long-lost father. She knows her parents are in California so along with Jack, a sweet teenage hobo, she sets off to find her parents and discover the truth about her fairy father and who she really is.

The beginning of the novel was intriguing and got me excited for what was to come. Sadly, the rest of the book did not live up to the beginning. Once Callie and Jack set out, the initial mystery of what was to come was gone and left me trudging through the rest of the book.

I was unsure what to make of this book. On the one hand, it's yet another fairy book, and unlike witches, vampires, and werewolves, I find fairy fantasy extremely tedious and repetitive. Don't get me wrong, the other stuff can be repetitive too, just for some reason I feel like every single fairy book has the same plot. There's usually a girl who is half human and half fairy princess who must set out on an adventure through Fairyland with a cute guy and in the end she learns that fairies can't be trusted. The sad part is, even if a fairy book didn't have that plot, I get so bored with them that it probably wouldn't matter to me. I was hoping that the unique setting (Dust Bowl era) would redeem this one, because I love when fantasy plots are plopped into different time periods (like steampunk), but it only did enough to pull me through to the end.

I wish I could analyze more details of this novel for you, but since I've already forgotten most of it, I am forced to bid you an early adieu.

2.9 stars

 
Callie LeRoux lives in Slow Run, Kansas, helping her mother run their small hotel and trying not to think about the father she’s never met. Lately all of her energy is spent battling the constant storms plaguing the Dust Bowl and their effects on her health. Callie is left alone when her mother goes missing in a dust storm. Her only hope comes from a mysterious man offering a few clues about her destiny and the path she must take to find her parents in “the golden hills of the west”: California.

Along the way she meets Jack, a young hobo boy who is happy to keep her company—there are dangerous, desperate people at every turn. And there’s also an otherworldly threat to Callie. Warring fae factions, attached to the creative communities of American society, are very much aware of the role this half-mortal, half-fae teenage girl plays in their fate.