Dust City by Robert Paul Weston

Pages (Hardcover): 304 pages

Publisher: Razorbill

Released: September 30, 2010

Description: Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

His son, that's who.

Ever since his father's arrest for the murder of Little Red Riding Hood, teen wolf Henry Whelp has kept a low profile in a Home for Wayward Wolves . . . until a murder at the Home leads Henry to believe his father may have been framed.

Now, with the help of his kleptomaniac roommate, Jack, and a daring she-wolf named Fiona, Henry will have to venture deep into the heart of Dust City: a rundown, gritty metropolis where fairydust is craved by everyone and controlled by a dangerous mob of Water Nixies and their crime boss leader, Skinner.

Can Henry solve the mystery of his family's sinister past? Or, like his father before him, is he destined for life as a big bad wolf?

Review: There are many good things about the novel; the discrimination, the fairy tale elements, and the world. However, there is a problem with pacing. Henry's surroundings moved too quickly and the characters come in and out, which made me not really care for them. I wanted to know more, but due to the pacing, everything felt rushed and once I got into it, the scene changed.

Grade: 5.5 lines out of 10

A big thanks to Penguin Canada for providing me with a review copy of Dust City!

This is incredibly random, but every time I try to type fairy tale it comes out as fairy tail....the manga by Mashima-san.

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Betrayed by P. C. Cast, Kristin Cast

Pages (Hardcover): 320 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Released: September 29, 2009

Description: Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night. She’s come to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her, and is getting a handle on being the new Leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite group. Best of all, Zoey’s made some new friends and she finally feels like she belongs--like she really fits in. She actually has a boyfriend…or two. And despite the best efforts of her mother and step-loser John to humiliate her publically during parent visitation, she’s earned the respect of her professors and High Priestess, Neferet.

Then the unthinkable happens: human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night, straining human-vamp tensions in Tulsa to a breaking point. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s old life, she finds herself drawn into an intoxicating forbidden flirtation that threatens to distract her from the growing crisis. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night. Too late, Zoey begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves, and she must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world.

Review: If you've read Marked, then you know who the 'betrayer' is and so it doesn't come as much of a shock when everything is revealed. There is potential here and story in itself isn't too bad, but the characters are still one-dimensional, except for Aphrodite, the villain in Marked. Also, the book focused too much on Zoey's love life. Hearing her whine about the 3 guys who want her isn't interesting.

Grade: 5.5 lines out of 10



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