Week 28 Review: Rust in the Root

From Goodreads:

The author of the visionary New York Times bestseller Dread Nation returns with another spellbinding historical fantasy set at the crossroads of race and power in America.

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.

My Review:
Oh man, this was such a fantastic read! The world and the magic was utterly incredible, and I loved how it fit into our history, it made sense, and was so interesting to read about. And of course there's Laura, who was so much fun to read about!

A good deal of this book is about the inequality that Black people face. It's a fantasy take with them being mages, but it's parallel to what happened in real world history, which is just so infuriating that people act that way. It shouldn't be like this, and people of colour shouldn't have to deal with it. 

There's two types of magic, basically, but many branches on the one end. There's Mechomancy, which seems to be the future, which comes from death and even if they won't admit it, seems to be the cause of the Blights, and there's the mystical arts, which can take many forms. That that practitioners of the mystical arts are looked down upon, espcailly since most of them are Black, and that it was Black deaths that fueled Mechomancy in the (recent in this book) past. It's so unjust! 

There were two things that I loved-Laura's photos and commentaries, and the Skylark's report. We were getting snippets of the report, and then playing that part out, and it worked really well. I just wanted to know what the heck was going on, what with the spooky Blight and all! And oh, did I love how it worked out in the end! 

This was such a fantastic read, and if we get more time in this world, I would pick it up it in a second! 

Author: Justina Ireland
Read: June 15th, 2022 
Source: Edelweiss 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really good, and it's a Historical Fiction 2022 Book, SAC 2022 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/Harper Teen
Expected Publication: September 20th 2022

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars