Shades of Rust and Ruin
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling author A.G. Howard launches a dark and compelling new YA fantasy series about a girl whose family is cursed by Halloween.
"Packed with action scenes, detailed world-building, and allusions to other popular media, this will be a crowd-pleaser with avid fantasy readers, likely to appeal to fans of Melissa Marr and Holly Black." -BCCB
Phoenix "Nix" Loring knows her family is under a Halloween curse. When she was three, her parents tragically died on October 31st. Eleven years later, her twin sister Lark suffered a similar fate.
Ever since, Nix has battled survivor guilt. She can't even find comfort in Clarey, Lark's boyfriend and the one person who understands her pain, because Nix's hidden feelings for him go far beyond friendship. All that remains are her sketches, where she finds solace among the goblins and faeries in her imaginary world of Mystiquel. When her depression starts affecting her ability to see color, Nix all but gives up on her art, until her uncle goes missing on Halloween day. Hot on his trail, Nix and Clarey step through a portal, becoming trapped inside a decaying version of their town filled with Nix's own sketches come to life.
As Nix and Clarey search for her uncle within the sinister and dangerous world of Mystiquel, Nix discovers there's more to her family curse and otherworldly artwork than she ever imagined-and unless she can solve the Goblin King's maze before the clock strikes midnight, her life won't be the only one the curse claims next.
Set in a gritty, atmospheric world filled with magical creatures, New York Times bestselling author A.G. Howard launches a thrilling new fantasy full of romance, twists, and betrayals.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Draping fae mythology in steampunk trappings, Howard (the Splintered series) launches a moody dark fantasy series opener that recalls Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market. On Halloween night three years ago, then-14-year-old Nix Loring, who is white with partial albinism, discovered her twin sister, Lark, dead in their shared bunk bed. Out of grief and guilt, she abandoned the imaginary steampunk fae world, Mystiquel, that the twins created together, which Nix developed through her art. Now 17, Nix's life is thrown into further turmoil when her legal guardian, Uncle Thatch, goes missing. Joined by Lark's brown-skinned ex-boyfriend Clarey Darden, a talented special effects makeup artist who has Waardenburg syndrome and experiences panic attacks, Nix manages guilt over her growing feelings for Clarey while following clues that transport the duo to Mystiquel. There she meets Perish, the goblin king, who offers her a deal: heal the realm, which has decayed since she abandoned it, and he'll set her, Clarey, and Thatch free. Employing deliberate plotting, intricate worldbuilding, and a plethora of mystical creatures, such as cyborg faeries, Howard keenly examines themes of grief and guilt against an eerie backdrop. Ages 13–up.
