Blog Tour: Of Dreams and Rust by Sarah Fine Review + Giveaway

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Of Dreams and Rust

by Sarah Fine

Read: August 7 - 11, 2015
Published: August 4, 2015 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Copy from the the publisher (Thank you, S&S!)
Category: YA, Fantasy, Retelling, Duet
Series: Of Metal and Wishes book two (Review)

Find: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Book Depository | IndieBound

Book description: War erupts in this bittersweet sequel to Of Metal and Wishes, inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and called “relentlessly engrossing” by The Romantic Times.

In the year since the collapse of the slaughterhouse where Wen worked as her father’s medical assistant, she’s held all her secrets close. She works in the clinic at the weapons factory and sneaks away to nurse Bo, once the Ghost, now a boy determined to transform himself into a living machine. Their strange, fragile friendship soothes some of the ache of missing Melik, the strong-willed Noor who walked away from Wen all those months ago—but it can’t quell her fears for him.

The Noor are waging a rebellion in the west. When she overhears plans to crush Melik’s people with the powerful war machines created at the factory, Wen makes the painful decision to leave behind all she has known—including Bo—to warn them. But the farther she journeys into the warzone, the more confusing things become. A year of brutality seems to have changed Melik, and Wen has a decision to make about him and his people: How much is she willing to sacrifice to save them from complete annihilation? 

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Story Breakdown -

Of Dreams and Rust is the sequel to Of Metal and Wishes and the conclusion to the duet. Book two begins twelve months after the end of the first, and Wen is now assisting in the clinic of the weapons factory in Gochan One. She is also secretly visiting and caring for Bo, the former Ghost of Gochan two, who hides underground behind his metal creations and wishes he could turn into a machine himself. When Wen hears about a plot to crush the Noor's rebellion with the very war machines made in her factory, she leaves everything behind to find and warn Melik. But the boy she fell for and fought to save the previous year has been hardened by war, and Wen struggles with her decision to betray her people to save his. 

What I love - 

Like Of Metal and Wishes, Of Dreams and Rust is gorgeously written, achy and atmospheric, blending light and dark: the unforgiving sharpness of metal parts and the vibrance of Noor fabrics and culture. Although we learned about the Noor people from Melik in the previous book, now Wen is able to visit their lands and see their customs firsthand. Melik's Noor are very different from Wen's Itanyai, including being much more open and expressive. I loved reading about the differences between them, and Wen's attempts to fit in and understand. 

However, the contrasts between these peoples have created many difficulties. The major one being war, and Wen is very much caught in between that. She has a healer's heart, wanting to protect and save as much as she can, but war means drawn lines, casualties and brutality on both sides. I appreciated that author Sarah Fine allowed Wen to see the darkness of war, and understand that neither side has perfectly clean hands. Wen wages an inner battle to know what to do when many of her ideals are destroyed, but her strength is shown in how she is able to reconcile these things within herself and make her own decisions about what she believes is right. Wen will never be a traditional fighter, but there is great power in her bravery and willingness to jump in and help the wounded at personal risk. I admired that so much. 

In addition to Wen, I continue to adore Melik, and I treasured getting a glimpse of where he came from and the things that have made him who he is. Melik has a much more traditional strength and leadership abilities, but I relished the moments of vulnerability he showed us, and the fact that he wasn't afraid of that side of himself. Bo is an interesting contrast to Melik, because he is determined to hide his soft spots behind a metal shell even at great personal pain. But in many ways he felt the most human to me in this story, and I connected to him for that. 

What I Wish - 

I wish I hadn't been in so much turmoil over the romance in the second half of this book. The first half of this story was a full five star for me. The intensity was high and I was incredibly proud and emotionally connected to Wen as she leaves her people and the factory and travels to somewhere unknown to warn the Noor. Then she has to adapt when nothing turns out as she expected. The romance was also lovely and painful, and there was so much delicious swoon! But then something happens just past midway - (spoiler) Bo shows up again (end spoiler) - and the third quarter of this book was focused on relationship drama that dragged me down a lot. I ended up frustrated with Wen and lost some of my emotional connection to her in the wake of her inability to be clear or decisive. However, when the action kicked up again in the final quarter, the focus shifted and Wen was more open about her decisions. Thankfully at that point the story turned around again for me. 

In Conclusion - 

Of Dreams and Rust is a solid follow up to Of Metal and Wishes, and in many ways a much stronger story for me. I love books about characters who come together though they are on opposite sides of a great chasm, and Wen's journey to help Melik and his Noor is intense and harrowing - not to mention romantic. I did have a few issues with how the Wen-Melik-Bo situation was handled in the third quarter, but it eventually worked itself out to my satisfaction. The end of this duet is heartbreaking in places but also very hopeful, and I'm glad I had the chance to meet these characters and live in their world for a little while.

Cliffhanger Scale: End of the duet
Love Triangle Factor: Mild. I'm hiding the rest of my thoughts on this below:

First, almost all reviews I've seen have not been bothered about the romance as I was. I think the majority of readers will be fine with how things play out between Wen, Melik and Bo, and see it this story as not a triangle. However, as a person who dislikes all love triangles, or hints of them, this book was tough for me in places. I was very frustrated with Wen's back and forth between Melik and Bo in the third quarter. Even though it's clear her relationship with Melik is romantic and her relationship with Bo never goes that direction, her feelings were confusing to me, and her inability to communicate how she felt to either boy - and willingness to use Bo's love for her to her advantage - made the story feel very triangley through this whole section. I was very stressed out! Even more frustrating, Wen seemed to have very little idea (or care?) about the anguish she is causing both Melik and Bo – at one point she wonders why Melik seems upset at her, when it’s obvious it’s because he’s hurt and confused about the nature of her relationship with Bo. But Wen does nothing about it. For all her strength in this book she waited way too long to have a clarifying conversation with Melik. I understand that some of it was the way her Itanyai culture keeps things to themselves, but I just couldn't attribute it all to that. And I also didn’t think all this relationship anguish and focus was necessary when they were heading into war. Although it got much better in the final quarter and the story ends solidly romance wise, even at the end Wen never says, "I love Bo differently than you, Melik." Her actions DO say this, but after the third quarter, I really needed her to say it out loud (à la Edward & Bella). But I have a high need for relationship clarity where any potential love triangles are a concerned. Again, I think most people will not be bothered by any of this, but it was a struggle for me at times, and impossible for me to fully ignore. 

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About the Author

Sarah Fine is the author of several books for teens, including Of Metal and Wishes and its sequel, Of Dreams and Rust, and the Guards of the Shadowlands YA urban fantasy series. She is also the co-author (with Walter Jury) of two YA sci-fi thrillers: Scan and its sequel Burn. Sarah is also the author of the adult urban fantasy series, Servants of Fate, with the third book in the series, Fated, releasing September 2015. When Sarah’s not writing, she’s psychologizing. Sometimes she does both at the same time. The results are unpredictable.


Find Sarah: Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

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Tour Schedule

August 4: My Friends Are Fiction
August 5: Reading Teen
August 6: Rainy Day Ramblings
August 7: The Starry-Eyed Review
August 10: There Were Books Involved
August 11: Writer of Wrong
August 12: Love is Not a Triangle (me)
August 13: The Quiet Concert
August 14: Nick's Book Blog

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Giveaway

Two winners will win the set of books in this duet: 

Of Metal and Wishes & Of Dreams and Rust

(Aren't those covers just gorgeous together? I know you want them!)

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