Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland - 4/5

Rust in the Root is a lovely story occurring in 1937 following Laura Ann Langston as she endures a world divided. There are some who work with mystical arts and there are some who do not. Living amongst a divide like this is sure to cause strain and temptation to those who are walking the line.

This story started out slow at first but please do not let that turn you away. Once the world opens up and the characters come into play it becomes a great story that will keep you entertained till the end. I loved the added historical events and the vintage photographs, they truly added to the feel of the story.

[ARC REVIEW]
This was a great historical fantasy!
The beginning was slow, tbh I almost gave up.
I am glad I continued tho bc the story that unfolded was just amazing! There’s a lot of information, a lot going on, but to me it wasn’t overwhelming at all.

I loved the Dread Nation duology and have been impatiently waiting for a new book by Ireland. This was worth waiting for! Alternate history with magic, strong Black women and fantastic, complex world building. It’s brilliant how Ireland incorporated actual historical events and issues such as systemic racism into the story, and the vintage photographs were perfect! It was pretty dark at times, but I wasn’t ready for it to end.

Thank you to the publisher, Balzer & Bray, HCC Frenzy, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Life has been hard in America ever since the Great Rust, which corrupted the arcane force known as the Dynamism, causing many areas across the country to become blighted and uninhabitable. The country is slowly rebuilding and the traditional mystical arts are giving way to the modern Mechomancy, with any kind of magic being highly regulated. Laura, a young mage from Pennsylvania, moves to New York with grand dreams of getting her license, but six months later, with no funds and no opportunities, she joins the Bureau of the Arcane’s Conservation Corps whose job it is to repair the dynamism so that Mechomancy can work unhindered again. Skylark, a powerful mage, takes her on as an apprentice and their first missing takes them straight into the country’s oldest and largest Blight. They immediately realize that this Blight is something very different and incredibly dangerous, but Laura is unaware of her own abilities and is more powerful than she thinks she is, which might be the only thing that can protect them against the rising of an old enemy.

The minute I saw that Justina Ireland had a new book this year, I added it to my TBR. After reading the Dread Nation duology, which I absolutely loved, I was excited to see what this would be about. Rust in the Root reimagines the events of the Great Depression with a magical twist. The setting and world building were extremely detailed and well thought out, and quite frankly very impressive for a standalone. The magic system was a cool concept too and all the various types of mage abilities were well described. World building is all well and good, but with this book, I found that there is such a thing as too much background information. It would have been possible to understand the story with, I felt, around half the context provided. The author delved into the history a little too much and for too long at times resulting in several chapters feeling like info dumps and also made the first handful of chapters an extremely confusing read.

Laura was a wonderful protagonist and a strong character. Her arc was excellent as she learned about and grew into her abilities as the story progressed, making her a likeable and easy character to root for. The secondary characters were interesting and had some potential, but as is typical in a standalone, there wasn’t much time to develop their arcs and they largely fell flat as a result. The group dynamic as a whole was well written and it was nice to see Laura find her place amongst the apprentices and make friends.

While I’m usually a fan of having multiple perspectives in fantasy novels, it didn’t work for me in this book for two reasons. First, the Skylark’s POVs were very few in number and only showed up maybe once for every five or six chapters from Laura’s perspective. Secondly, the shift between the POVs was also rather abrupt and more importantly, the narrative switched from first person to third person which I found extremely irritating. There were also brief excerpts throughout from what seemed to be a report by the Skylark detailing the mission they are on which I suppose was meant to be a bit of foreshadowing of some sort but I didn’t like the constant breaks in the narrative, especially because it featured into the grander scheme of things only peripherally in the end. This, along with the info dumps, caused the story to drag and I found myself skimming the pages quite a few times.

The ending neatly tied up all the loose ends, though I did feel like the final couple of chapters rushed things too much. With the level of detail in this story and so much lore and world building, this book definitely had the potential to be atleast a duology. Overall, this was an intriguing and unique read, and I’m looking forward to more books by this author!

Justina Ireland has done it again. This book is going to easily make my top 10 favorite reads of the year. I love the fantasy, historical elements, and the new magic system. I just love all of it. I've been recommending this to my readers and patrons left and right!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't completely finished this, but I haven't been able to fully immerse myself either. I think I need to come back to it, because the potential is there. I don't mind intense world-building or "complicated" magic systems, but I think in the effort to avoid info-dumping, the author has gone too far in the other direction and not given me enough explanation for the "real" words she uses that have different meanings within the story. I feel like I get the GIST of the types of magic that exist (there's a good page like 10% in that I bookmarked that finally gave some concrete explanations), but there's too much alternate-history that isn't explained clearly enough in non-book-world terms for me to feel confident in it. I don't like feeling lost when I'm reading.

When I first saw the cover of Rust In The Root, I knew I had to have this book. How gorgeous is that cover! Plus I’ve read a couple of books by Justina Ireland and I like her writing style. I actually finished this book at 1 a.m. coz it was that good.

The story is set in 1937 in an alternate history, with the same prejudices but with magic thrown in. From the first moment Laura Ann was introduced, I was charmed by her point of view and the dry wit that left me chuckling. Life is hard when you’re colored but you can either throw in the towel or keep fighting. Laura Ann chose to keep fighting.

With a delightful cast of diverse characters, the plotline was smooth and seamless, with dynamic writing that was a pleasure to read. The author sprinkled tasty morsels of the story like a breadcrumb trail, which was an excellent ploy to make it more compelling and keep you guessing, not to mention the dry humor cropping up when you least expected it and making it fun.

I enjoyed this book far more than I’d expected and the characters left a lasting impression on me long after I finished it.

As a huge fan of Ireland’s Dread Nation series, I was delighted to see that she had a new book releasing this year. Like the Dread Nation series, Rust in the Root is a historical fantasy that follows Laura Langston in a post-apocalyptic world set in 1937.

I’m a huge fan of Ireland’s writing style. She has a very atmospheric quality to her writing that draws the reader into the story. I loved the Great Depression era reimagining with a focus on science/technology versus magic. While the magic system wasn’t exactly well developed, what we did get to see was intriguing. There was also some great social commentary woven throughout the novel.

Ireland has a gift with creating plucky characters that readers cannot help but find endearing. Laura and the Skylark were standout characters, however I would have liked a bit more development in the side characters. Laura was easy to root for (see what I did there?). She’s quirky, confident, and driven. On the flip side, the Skylark came off a bit cavalier, but her and Laura’s witty banter was highly amusing.

Despite a slow moving and disorienting start, Rust in the Root picks up the pace and becomes more clear around the 20% mark. From here, the story is action packed and kept me turning the pages desperately to see what was going on in the Ohio Blight.

While this novel felt like a standalone, I do think it would benefit from a sequel to flesh out the world, magic system, and characters a bit more.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing a eARC in exchange for an honest review*

Justina Ireland's Rust in the Root is a historical fantasy that feels like she put magic, steampunk, and art deco in a blender to create the magic ink this book is written in. Set in 1937, we first meet Laura as she fights against the real possibility of having to give up her dreams and return to her family with her tail between her legs. Taking the last option left to her to keep that from happening, she joins the Conservation Corp where she is soon dropped into one of the most dangerous magical spots in the country, a Blighted, decaying landscape complete with some horrifying creatures. Ireland brings to life what it must have been like to live in 1937 while not shying away from the realities that Black Americans would have faced at the time. Rust in the Root takes us on a magical journey that verges weaves fantasy and horror together into a beautiful story.

First, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eArc of this book!

I have to admit, I spent the first 50% of this book waning in and out of interest, trying to decide if I would finish or not.

The premise is incredibly interesting - and I enjoyed the world-building and descriptions of the powers at play - but sometimes, the characters felt a little flat and almost like caricatures of New Yorkers in the 30's. Like there were too many one-liners that made me roll my eyes.

I also was a little weirded out by the photos in the book - I assume they are actual, historic pictures - but it felt weird to me to grab pictures of people (even people from the past) and then use them to be like "wow, the [magical] blight hit really hard here!" or whatever.

But I was eventually able to get over this, and the book really picked up in the latter half.

I know there are going to be people who eye-rolled this book and had an attitude of "boo hoo I'm white and it makes me uncomfortable that white people look bad in this book", and to those people, I wish you a hearty get over yourself.

By the end I was far more interested in the book, and I have to say, I was left wishing there were a sequel planned; especially as several of the characters were sort of dumped/dealt with in one sentence at the end. There is certainly room in the world for more adventures, but I'm not entirely certain it's necessary.

After waffling over a 3 or a 4 I decided to go with a 4 since this book is unique in the space, I found myself enjoying it, and there was a (SPOILER) dragon.

Thank you netgalley for the free arc of this book. All opinions are my own

I really enjoyed this book. Justina always brings heavy topics into her magical worlds. For centuries, black people of America, their labor and culture were consumed by white rich people, taking it as if it belongs to them.

We follow Laura in 1937 New York. She moved from Pennsylvania in hopes of optaining her magical license and learn more about her craft. Magical system was so interesting, it's based on possibilities that you can see from an object like seeds, and then draw on those possibilities and make them a reality.

Laura being a black mage faces additional obstacles in her journey, she meets Skylark who takes her in and they are sent on a mission 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.

I feel like the ending was a bit rushed and had too many reveals at the same time, I hope they'll be a sequel.

Justina Ireland is one of my favorite authors and I definitely recommend reading this book as well as her other works.

P.s. I ended up buying the audiobook of this novel and really enjoyed it, the narrator did an amazing job bringing characters to live.

I had a hard time getting into this story. It felt lacking in world building, which is something I really look forward to in fantasy/supernatural/magical books. I liked the main character, Laura. I liked that there are queer relationships and I ultimately enjoyed the book.

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.***

Rust in the Root is trademark Justina Ireland world-building: complex, creative, rooted in history but with unique twists. 1930's New York City is the setting for this story of Laura Ann Langston, a young, queer, Black woman with more magical power than she ever imagined who pursues her mage's license in the big city just so she can open a bakery. But once she's recruited for the Colored Auxiliary of the Bureau of the Arcane's Conservation Corps, a government agency, she's in for considerably more dangerous work battling evil powers that threaten the country. This is a page-turner with a sequel promised; I'm looking forward to it!

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland in exchange for an honest review. I really love Justina Ireland books, they are so well written and combine history and fantasy seemlessly. When I first started this book, I was under the misconception that it was the third in the Dread Nation series, it's not. It is its own story and it's beautiful. I loved the conversion of science to science and magic, of baking, tailoring, and more being part of the Possibilities. There is a whole fantastic and scary world created and I was enthralled by it. I really hope there will be more in the series as I want more stories about Peregrine, Skylark, Crystal, Louisa, and all the others. Thank you for another great story Justina Ireland.

This was my first Justina Ireland book and it won't be my last. You can tell she puts so much research in care into the stories she writes. In this book we have 'The Peregrine' who wants a mage license so she can open a bakery using ravels (spells). In this world prohibition is on the type of magic you can use at once, you must pick one discipline and not practice any others for fear that its "abusing the dynamism(magical energy)" really they just tryna keep people with one specialty because they are easier to control that way. This was a really great magical story that reimagines history while not taking away from the reality of the situation which is that the united states and all its wealth and power was built on the backs of the enslaved. It was kinda difficult to keep all the new terms in my head so I took a bunch of notes to keep everything in track, along with everyone's names and type of magic they practice, and some characters really didnt seem like they needed to be in the story at all but overall It was a really enjoyable read.

I had a difficult time with this book. Ireland's writing is amazing, and her world-building is masterful, but I was confused by much of the plot's nuances. Also, I never warmed up to Laura. She was a fine character, but I never connected to her story. "Rust in the Root" is a well-crafted novel, but it wasn't for me.

Special thanks to Grace Fell at Spark Point Studio and Balzer + Bray for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars!

TL;DR: Rust in the Root is an exciting and engaging historical fantasy set in a reimagined 1930s America, specifically the events of the Great Depression, Jim Crow, and slavery, with a magical and fantastical twist. I found Ireland's writing to be entertaining, and I loved the characters and the magic, which I found fascinating and wanted entirely more of! This had a darkness to it that I surprisingly really enjoyed and the social commentary felt very timely. I think you would enjoy this if you've read books by this author before and if you like your history with a bit of a magical twist!

Despite a somewhat confusing first few chapters, I quickly found myself absorbed in the story and eagerly pressed on to see how the action would unfold. The story is told through alternating perspectives and in a mixed media format that I wasn't sure about at first but came to really enjoy the more I read—we get letters, newspaper clippings, report extracts and photographs that added to the realistic historical aspect. Ireland's writing was engaging and entertaining, with a good dose of dry/witty humour that had me laughing out loud at the most unexpected of times, but it was also incredibly atmospheric. America is in throes of recovery from the "Great Rust" and there's a sense of bleakness that permeates the writing, which shifts into a dogged sense of foreboding as the story progresses. The social/historical commentary was also great and I appreciated how the author doesn't shy away from showing how even though it's New York, racism and prejudice still made life for Black people incredibly difficult, and some of the scenes had me wanting to rage so badly! I felt completely immersed in the time period.

Once the details of the world start to make a bit more sense around the 10-15% mark, the story took off and kept a pretty steadily fast pace until the end. That said, one of the main issues I had was with the world-building. Ireland tries to do a lot here and although I loved the whole concept and found it fascinating, I felt that the world-building, particularly the magical system, suffered for it. What made the beginning confusing is that we're thrown into this world in such a way that it felt like we should've already understood what was happening when we didn't. The magical concept was very cool and I loved the different ways it manifested through flora, fauna, elemental and healing, but it was explained in such a haphazard and clunky way that we're still learning new things about how the magic works at the very end. At times it kind of felt like reading something while explicitly only knowing half of what you need to so that the picture never really clears up. Having so much packed into this story made the ending also feel a little rushed and at times I felt like Ireland was setting us up for a second book, only for the book to then end and have everything very neatly wrapped up.

Though the world-building left me a little wanting, I do think the main characters made up for it. I loved our main characters Laura and Skylark and it was equally enjoyable to read from both their perspectives! Laura was a fantastic character who has grand dreams when she moves to New York to earn her mage's license and it's by a stroke of unicorn luck that she winds up interviewing at the Bureau of the Arcane's Conservation Corps. I loved her confidence in the face of so much uncertainty and I admired how she wasn't afraid to put herself out there and try new things even when it scared her. She was so easy to root for and I loved seeing how she grew more confident in her abilities and into her own skin as the story progressed. As Laura's mentor, Skylark was definitely more reserved and there was a coldness to her perspective that I wasn't sure about at first but eventually made sense the more we learn about her—it really fit her character and everything she has been through! We're also introduced to quite a few supporting characters, such as the apprentices, Louise and the Grimalk, who I found really interesting but we don't really get to know them aside from their magical talent and the mere surface of their personalities, which made them feel quite flat. I did enjoy their group dynamic though and how a sort of 'found family' was created between them, I just wished they had been better fleshed out.

Overall, despite some minor issues I had with world-building and character development, I still managed to really enjoy this book and sped through almost 70% of it in one sitting cos I didn't want to put it down. I definitely wouldn't mind if we got more of this historical setting and these characters in another book because they were sp fun to read about!

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland was a sleeper hit for me. I found the first few chapters a bit slow and I didn’t get a good feel for how this story was going to play out. Once I did though, I found the story to be interesting, the characters unique and wonderful and overall felt like the story was something special. I recommend this book if you’re looking for a unique story set in reconstructionist America.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books for providing an e-Arc of Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland for my review.

In this magical version of 1930s New York, Laura Ann Langston is a small-town mage who moved to the big city to try and make her dreams come true. But it’s hard for a young Black woman with no connections to get a mage’s license, especially with the police cracking down hard on unlicensed Black mages who deal in illegal charms in the wake of the Great Rust, a disaster affecting the Mechomancy that society depends on, which most people believe was caused by other forms of magic. Out of options, Laura applies for an apprenticeship with the Bureau of the Arcane’s Conservation Corps, Colored Auxiliary, an organization created to fight the Blights that plague the country. But her unorthodox talents prove to be more than her new mentor, the Skylark, had bargained for.

Historical fantasy/alternate history is one of my favorite subgenres, and this is a really excellent example of it, with the bonus of having stellar representation. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this book and would happily read more in this version of history. The pacing was not perfect but overall the story was really compelling. The only complaints I might have would be about some YA tropes that feel really overused, but maybe it only bothered me because I don’t read that much YA.

I will say that I was not entirely sold on the inclusion of the photographs. They added some interesting visual context to the story, but I felt like adding them in didn’t quite make sense. I would have liked them better if the explanation had been better incorporated into the story. It seems like the camera is Laura’s but there’s no mention of a photography hobby or of Laura stopping to take pictures. And even if those things had been mentioned, it seems far fetched for her to be taking photos in a life-or-death situation anyway.

Those are minor gripes, though. If you like historical fantasy and/or YA fantasy, check this out for sure!

Representation: Black main and side characters, lesbian main character and other queer characters

CW: racism