Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > Shades of Rust and Ruin

For all that steampunk seems to have been a pop culture phenomenon that lurked in subculture before becoming mainstream for a couple of years a while back before fading back into the subculture once more, you could believe it was part and parcel of the YA literary landscape with the passion and zeal A. G. Howard builds an entire novel around it in “Shades of Rust and Ruin”. The alchemy of this novel is amazing: A substantial fantasy world built around the fey mixed with steampunk and a dash of cyberpunk, a chunk of plot built around one interpretation of Christina Rossetti’s poem “The Goblin Market”, a smidge of wink nudge references to the movie “Labyrinth”, and both an ode and a dirge to sisterhood. In my opinion, the only flaw this book has is its tendency to be so in love with its own world it can’t help but tip into overly descriptive at times. Even then, you can’t help but forgive the author just a little, since the world is fascinating enough you kind of want to linger a little yourself. But we’re not reading this book for a grand tour of a fantasy world: we’re here for the story. And what a story it is.

Phoenix has a fear of Halloween, and for good reason: Her parents died on Halloween and her sister died on Halloween. Usually, Nix and her Uncle sit vigil at home from midnight on the 31st until midnight on November 1st, staying together and never leaving the house, completing simple rituals together to remember the family they’ve lost and to keep each other afloat for the 24 hours they are determined to stay awake and ensure they stay safe and alive together. But then Nix’s uncle breaks their routine to run a few errands and doesn’t come back, forcing Nix to leave the house as well, despite her desperate fears. Turns out, she had good reason to fear.

The less said about the plot of this book, the better. I hope no one posts a whole bunch of spoilers or reviews that are simply summaries of the plot, because going in blind is so much better. Trust me on this. Before I go any further in my review I will say this: The ending of this book made the whole book worthwhile. I pumped my fist and literally said, “Yes!”

Much of this book hinges on the story arc present in Christina Rossetti’s much-beloved poem “The Goblin Market”, but there’s more than one interpretation of this beautiful work. The more popular interpretation (and the only one I had heard of up until this book) was of the two main characters, Laura and Lizzie, being lovers who try their best to keep one another safe from the greedy eyes and hands of men. In “Shades of Rust and Ruin”, the interpretation of the poem is adjusted so that Laura and Lizzie are sisters and the goblins were actually goblins. So bear this interpretation in mind when you go to read this book, because it did take some mental rearranging for me to not get a little creeped out when I discovered how much this book leans on the poem.

The world-building in this book, as I’ve mentioned before, is mind-boggling. It’s colorful, it’s allegorical, it’s metaphorical, it’s figurative, and it’s incredibly imaginative. There’s a world living on a world that’s parted from “our” world by a veil. There’s a funhouse scene early on that is both incredibly intense and incredibly well-crafted. It has the feel of a demented Wonderland crossed with a dark Legend of Zelda. If it weren’t an adrenaline-fueled moment in the book I would’ve wanted to sit there and meditate on the whole scene for a minute.

Writing about the magic system would be fruitless because it would only result in the dreaded spoilers, so I won’t give it a go, but the characters are unique and varied, with the primary cast being large enough to cause the author to struggle just slightly with giving them all page time enough to fully develop identities, save for Nix. Once again, I believe this choice wasn't inherently a bad one, it was a choice made in sacrifice of the plot and the world. It made sense to me when I was reading the book, and maybe it will be clear to you when you read the book too.

I’m going to note that while this is a YA fantasy horror novel, it does tip heavily toward the darker and meaner side of the genre and while I’m firmly against censorship in reading I believe if you’re a parent and you have a younger reader who has picked up this book you might find them having questions or deep feelings regarding the book and its themes. They may especially have questions about the ending. I will stick by my assessment that the ending is absolutely the way the book should’ve ended and was a fantastic dismount (stuck the landing!), but some less mature readers may not feel the same. Heck, this ending may prove to be controversial to all readers.

I highly recommend this novel, goblin warts and all.

Thanks to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for granting me early access to this title.