Book Review: Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

Dust Girl

By Sarah Zettel

Release Date: June 26, 2013

Source: Publisher

Summary: Callie LeRoux lives in Slow Run, Kansas, helping her mother run their small hotel and trying not to think about the father she’s never met. Lately all of her energy is spent battling the constant storms plaguing the Dust Bowl and their effects on her health. Callie is left alone when her mother goes missing in a dust storm. Her only hope comes from a mysterious man offering a few clues about her destiny and the path she must take to find her parents in “the golden hills of the west”: California. 

Along the way she meets Jack, a young hobo boy who is happy to keep her company—there are dangerous, desperate people at every turn. And there’s also an otherworldly threat to Callie. Warring fae factions, attached to the creative communities of American society, are very much aware of the role this half-mortal, half-fae teenage girl plays in their fate.

Review: I didn't know if I would like this one seeing as it's set during the Dust Bowl in America and I'm not too big of a fan of that time period. And the main character's a fairy? I didn't really know what to expect going into the first chapter, but I thought I'd give it a try. 

Callie has lived in Kansas all her life, helping her mother run their inn while they wait for her father to return like he promised. Even though they haven't seen him since before Callie was born. One night, the biggest dust storm Kansas has seen rolls into town and Callie's mother gets lost in the storm. Left by herself, strange people starting visiting Callie and she knows she's got to find her parents, so she heads to the one place she's told they are: California. On the way, Callie meets Jack, a boy who's hoping to head exactly where she wants to go. But there's much more to Jack than meets the eye and he may hold secrets even darker than Callie. 

Okay, so this book was weird. The whole supernatural/fantasy aspect did not click at all with this background. Callie's half fairy and there are weird bugs who look like people that show up at her house. Then, there are even more fairies and weird secret portals to past worlds that don't even make sense. Even by the end of the book, I still didn't understand Callie's powers and who she was even supposed to be in her whole fairy world. 

Not only was the world Callie lived in confusing, but some parts seemed to drag by. In the beginning, all Callie talked about was the dust and things just lagged as she sat there, complaining about how dry things were and how hungry she was. I get it, you're in a dust bowl. Can we move on please? Also, I didn't really understand how she could even get out of the dust bowl and on her way to California. Then, the whole thing at the end was a blur that I didn't really catch on to. 

In the end, Callie wasn't one of the best characters I've ever read about. She seemed a bit juvenile, so I feel like Callie's character would be more suited in a middle grade book than a YA novel. If you can't tell, I wasn't too big of a fan of this books. The main character and the historical time period of the Dust Bowl were both turnoffs for me. If you're looking for your next read, I'd say you can skip this one.