Book Review: Dust

Dust

(Of Dust and Darkness #1)

By:  Devon Ashley

Published By:  Devon Ashley

Publication Date:  September 18, 2012

Page Count: 150

But it at:  Amazon

Source:  ARC Kindly Provided by Author

  Audience:  Young Adult - Fantasy 

Anyone who knows my taste in books knows I love reading about the fey...and I usually love each author's unique take based on this magical world.  I've always been intrigued by the fey's capriciousness, their passion, their otherworldliness, their hierarchies, and I even have a bit of a fascination with their cruelty.  Dust by Devon Ashley encompasses all these things in an interesting way and packages it up in a grim little tale that had me totally sucked in.

However, I will confess that I was quite worried at the beginning...and must have let out an audible groan when I began the first chapter where we're introduced to Rosalie and her Hollow...a small population made up entirely of PIXIES...as in the 6", and sometimes mischievous, variety!  I already knew the story was about a pixie and pixie dust but I have to confess that I wasn't thinking Tinkerbell size little faeries...but here they were.  But I also know from experience that you have to give a book more time than just the first chapter before drawing conclusions so I sat back and patiently carried on.  Before too long, I forgot Rosalie's diminutive size and the small world around her and was totally pulled in to the story and her plight...and Rosalie and her fellow pixies became life-size with their monumental struggles.

And I have to give kudos to the author for pulling me in and getting me past the initial wariness I had with a story about little pixies, too.  Her world building and character development was wonderfully  entwined in the story.  We first learn about Rosalie through her simple, care-free life in the Hollow before her little world comes crashing down around her when she's stolen by the more powerful fae, and kept isolated and starved before she is forced into a pixie slave-labour camp.  To the powerful fae, pixies are at the bottom of the totempole.  Above them are the spriggans who are considered the enforcers for the fae and then the true faeries themselves are at the top of the food chain where they have been capturing pixies for years, using them till there is nothing left but a hollow husk, to manufacture pixie dust used to create their illusions.

This is so NOT a Tinkerbell tale...as this story is dark and illustrates the cruelty faeries are often capable of.  And they can be very cruel! 

As I mentioned, we follow the story through Rosalie.  To say that this little pixie is small and sweet would be a terrible injustice!  Sure, she started off that way -- initially, she didn't have a care in the world except the peer pressure she felt from her best friend to start 'courting'.  Rosalie is a bit of a loner and appreciates nature more than anyone in her Hollow.  But when she is stolen away into the cruel life forced upon her, she literally becomes larger than life.  I can't under-emphasize the lengths of cruelty the fae put upon her with the intention of breaking her spirit...and at many times, they nearly succeeded but she found the strength deep within herself and became all the stronger for it.  She managed to keep her insecurities hidden when required and kept her snarky personality at the forefront, which sometimes got the better of her and subjected her to even more tortures.  But her strength was so admirable that there was no way that I could not root for Rosalie!

During one of Rosalie's bouts of imprisonment, she finds an unlikely ally in Jack, a faerie who is sent to guard her as his own punishment for playing one too many pranks.  There is an obvious and expected contentiousness between them at first, but through the horrors of Rosalie's captivity at the hands of Finley and his brute spriggans, a friendship blossoms, which eventually becomes something much more and I was a total sap for it. 

I adored Jack!  He showed another side of the fae that gave us hope that not ALL of them are capable of such evilness.  The things he did for Rosalie, often humiliating at times for her, just made me appreciate him all the more.  And as their relationship grew...so did the realization that their being together was absolutely forbidden.  But Jack was unselfishly bound and determined to free Rosalie from her imprisonment. 

If I had one complaint, it would be that this story suffered from a little TMI (too much information) at times.  While I'll admit that I sometimes have wondered in other stories what the characters do when 'nature calls' while being kept in a crude prison, this story didn't leave anything to the imagination.  However, I believe that the author intended it to be that way because it resulted in me feeling so bad for Rosalie having to suffer the humiliation of such issues in front of Jack...and he definitely saw her at her worst. 

The ending does wrap up on a bit of a cliffhanger, and left me wanting more...so you can bet that I'm on board for the sequel!!

Finally, I'd like to thank the author for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to it's release.

Summary: 

4. The number of times my delicate wings have been broken and clamped behind my back.
68. The number inked upon my skin, marking me the sixty-eighth pixie to be stolen.
87. The number of days I’ve been wrongfully imprisoned.
88. The first day the faeries will regret stealing me.

Healthy. Cheery. Vivacious. All traits Rosalie has before becoming enslaved by the faeries to make an endless supply of pixie dust. Now that Rosalie has been traumatized by slave labor, extreme desolate conditions and multiple deaths, this hardened pixie is anything but. When this rebellious teenager attempts an escape, she’s isolated in cramped quarters until she learns her place. Just as she begins to let go of all that hope, she finds an unlikely friend in Jack, the faerie assigned to guard her. Interspecies dating is forbidden in the fae world, so their growing attraction is unacceptable. And even if Jack can find a way to free her, they know the prison is the only place they can truly be together.