Dust City

by Robert Paul Weston

When your dad is the wolf who killed Little Red Riding Hood, life is no fairy tale.

Henry Whelp is a Big Bad Wolf. Or will be, someday. His dad is doing time for the double murder of Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother so everyone assumes crime is in Henry's blood. For years, he's kept a low profile in a Home for Wayward Wolves on the outskirts of Dust City--a gritty metropolis known for its black market, mind-altering dust. And the entire population of foxes, ravens, and hominids are hooked. But it's not just any dust the creatures of this grim underground are slinging and sniffing. It's fairydust.

When a murder at the Home forces Henry to escape, he begins to suspect his dad may have been framed. With a daring she wolf named Fiona by his side, Henry travels into the dark alleyways and cavernous tunnels of Dust City. There, he'll come face to snout with legendary mobster Skinner and his Water Nixie henchmen to discover what really happened to his father in the woods that infamous night...and the shocking truth about fairydust.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mystery, Fairy Tales, Retellings, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

299 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2010

About the author

Ahoy. You've run aground on my small, oblong island in the GoodReads archipelago. You're welcome to surf, swim in the lagoon or stroll along the pier, where they sell prawns, whelks and words by the cupful. If you'd like to keep things topical—as well as tropical—sling yourself in a beach hammock and crack open a good book. One of these perhaps...

My first novel, ZORGAMAZOO, won the 2011 California Young Reader Medal, the 2010 Silver Birch Award, and the 2009 Children’s Choice Award. If you've had too much sun and crave something darker, try my hardboiled fairy tale, DUST CITY. It was shortlisted for the 2011 Edgar Alan Poe Award and the 2011 Sunburst Award. Then there's my second novel-in-verse, PRINCE PUGGLY OF SPUD AND THE KINGDOM OF SPIFF and THE CREATURE DEPARTMENT, a collaboration with the British special effects firm, Framestore.

My latest is SAKURA'S CHERRY BLOSSOMS, my first picture book, illustrated by the Japanese-American artist, Misa Saburi, and perfect for springtime.

I live in England (also on an island), where I'm a full-time lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln.

~

You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about being the son of the Big Bad Wolf really should not be boring. But the Big Bad Wolf is not Big or Bad at all -- he's more like a pathetic little stooge, the two-bit criminal who ends up playing the fall guy for the real masterminds. But still a criminal, someone who could be taken advantage of by the worse guys because of the position he had chosen to put himself in by working for them. He wasn't framed, just foolish. His son Henry Whelp is more of the same. He seems nice enough at the beginning, an okay kid who has ended up in juvie through a combination of negative social assumptions based on his father, poor choices on his part, and having nowhere to go. So I started out ready to be sympathetic to him, but any time he is faced with a decision he either passively goes along with what those around him want (even when it is clearly illegal or harmful) or chooses without reasoning or consideration (even when it is clearly a bad idea). His poor judgement I actually thought was one of the more realistic aspects of this book, but combined with his bland, blank personality it did not make him an intriguing protagonist.

The whole "animal" aspect was remarkably uninteresting as well. It's a great (if not original) idea -- a vaguely fairy tale community where animals have evolved and live alongside human beings hominids. But there doesn't seem to be any animal quality to their behavior aside from violence, and that usually only under the influence of drugs. As far as I could gather from the meager descriptions, they look basically like the animals we know, but walk upright and have opposable thumbs (I guess? They can write letters and open doors and take photographs, etc, but their hands aren't really described) and wear clothes. It was not clear to me if they were all roughly the same size. They are not were-animals, just animals. But they don't act in any particular animals ways or live in groups approximating nature (like wolves having packs). So basically they are just furry people who the hominids are vaguely racist against for undisclosed reasons. Boring. There were also some boring fairies who lived in Eden(?!) and were helpfully helpful, again not for any reason that is really explained. They aren't in this book, anyway, because they're all gone or dead before it starts. Or as we later learn, murdered by drug fairy dust dealers for reasons that aren't very plausible.

This slight action/fantasy is really more of a 2.5. It doesn't merit the 3 stars because I've given a number of flawed but far more enjoyable and well-written novels 3 as well, and I had to force myself to finish this by reminding myself that it was a quick and easy read that I was half-done with already, might as well get to the end, etc. But 2 stars for me usually involves some more glaring offense like significant internal inconsistencies, horribly bad writing, or offensive ideas that either distract or piss me off. And this really didn't have any of those. It didn't have much, actually. The characters were extremely underdeveloped, even the point of view protagonist Henry, whose emotional responses and inner voice we should have been seeing far more of. The plot was fairly weak, too. The world-building has some cool ideas, but, again, not sufficiently fleshed out. I suspect even the author recognized this, since the book ends with a couple characters idly wondering what's out there in the rest of the world, outside their region. Um, what?! They have, you know, technology and newspapers and stuff but no one has ever explored? That's just ridiculous unless you are writing a "walled city" type story, which this isn't. They even mention the old times before animals evolved so obviously they didn't all always live together in this town near another town. It's like the author doesn't have a very realized conception of the world he is setting the story in. Overall, the whole thing felt like a second draft, a project where the author had first gotten some ideas down, then gone through and smoothed out the writing and transitions -- the skin, if you would -- instead of building up the actual flesh of the story. Boring, and disappointing.

[Vinaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once upon a time, there lived a much-reviled fairy tale character.



He was reputed to be mean and nasty, but really, he was just a Big Ole Softie!



With the help of some kooky friends...



... he managed to find true love,



...save a kingdom



and Live happily ever after!



(I know the pictures are unnecessary, but it's SHREK!)

... Shrek is everything Dust City is not. Funny, adorable and entertaining as hell! Dust City is what Shrek would be if DreamWorks had lost its mind and decided to take itself too seriously. Dust City is set in a time when the fairies have disappeared, and the only source of magic left in the world is the remnants of their left-over magic. It's a story about a young wolf whose father is in prison for ruthlessly massacring Red Riding Hood. Henry, our hero, runs away from the juvenile home he lives in when he discovers letters from his father hinting that the story behind his imprisonment may not be as straightforward as he thinks. Convinced by his father that the City's mob boss is secretly hiding the fairies and torturing them to produce fairy dust, Henry sets off on an adventure to discover the truth.

Along the way, we meet a whole bunch of familiar faces, like Detective Snow White and Principal Cindy Rella and Jack with his beanstalks and the Frog who has fallen out of love with his Princess. Unfortunately, these well-loved characters are nowhere near as kick-ass as they ought to be after several thousand years of evolution. They are pale caricatures of the original, sort of like the guy in the Santa suit at the mall who tries to pretend he's the real deal.

If anyone tries to sell you on Dust City claiming it's a YA novel, they're lying. Unless we have now started labelling books for 8-10 year-olds as young adult fantasy. This is a children's novel, plain and simple. The writing is very straightforward, the plots are uncomplicated, and the entire feel of the book is more child-like than teenage. Having said that, for a children's book it is pretty decently written, and if the publishers hadn't tried to pass this off as a YA book, I would probably have given it 3 stars.

There is very little depth to this book. Henry's 'deeper' problems, the discrimination he faces for being a wolf despite the evolution of higher brain functions amongst the animals, the oppression of the animalia by the humanoids, never manage to impress themselves upon the reader. That the author wished to convey a deeper message through his book is not in doubt; that he failed in his purpose is also glaringly evident.

I only picked up this book because of the awesome cover and the interesting-sounding blurb. If you're tempted by them in the future, take my advice and don't bother!

[Arlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating clarification: 2.5 Stars

My lower rating is no reflection of the quality of the book; it’s actually written quite well and the possibilities are there for the making of a creative story. I think… simply put… it just wasn’t for me. Maybe too young for my taste? Possibly a level of bizarre I couldn’t quite grasp?? Not sure.

Overall, the premise is unique but definitely outlandish and as I said before.. very bizarre. The main character Henry Whelp is likeable and engaging and the setting… well I never really quite grasp that so I can’t give too much of an opinion there. When I started to read this book, I wasn’t prepared to suspend my reality to an undetermined level. How far was I expected to stretch my imagination? I was trying to wrap my brain around whether this was paranormal, dark fiction, dystopian, so I settled for it being a dark fairy tale gone array. That’s the best I can do.

Normally, I include an overview of what the book is about and I’m going to attempt to do that, but just be informed, I’m not making this up and I haven’t lost my marbles… yet. So here goes. Henry Whelp is a wolf, but not just any wolf. His father is the infamous convicted murderer of Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. After a rock throwing incident, Henry is placed in St. Remus which is a home for delinquent animalian youth. I’m assuming you’re wondering what that is. Okay, let me try to explain. You’ve got the hominids, which include elves, dwarfs and humans; and the animalia, which consist of highly developed wolves, foxes, ravens, mules and hedgehogs capable of speech and interaction with the hominids. There are also goblins that are the largest creatures in the city, but I don’t quite know where they fit in or the giant that roams the cemetery.

There are also supernatural forces that are controlled by the nixies that captured the fairies. These fairies produce a dust capable of magical possibilities, but since the fairies are being held captive by the nixies, you’ve got Nimbus Thaumaturgical Inc now producing a synthetic dust that’s nowhere near the level of fairy-made dust for purposes that reveal itself as the story unfolds.

Anywho, back to the story. Henry escapes St. Remus, visits his father and goes on a quest to uncover a plot of crazy proportions. Yup, that’s what it’s about, and those of you that know me for my occasional snark and wild imagination, I didn’t make any of that up. Believe me.

There were underlying themes that my over-stretched imagination was able to glean and I thought they were strategically played out such as segregation of class, how much are you willing to sacrifice to find the truth, can you redefine yourself despite what others believe you to be??? All good stuff, it's just that the story was not quite what I expected.

Overall, very creative book that I think is tailored for a specific niche of readers. Who those readers are, I don’t quite know. But remember, that’s just me. I’m sure others thought this was great, so there you go.

I did have a fun time identifying the fairy tale characters that kept popping up throughout the story and here’s what I found in the book:

Henry's best friend Jack - Jack and the Beanstalk
Detective Snow - Snow White
Fiona - From Shrek
Alder - Robin Hood
The Princess and the Frog - get a divorce :(
Skinner - Rumpelstilsken
Cindy from St. Remum - Cinderella
Nimbus - Nimbus 2000 from HP (probably a stretch)

[Janina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starting this book, I was expecting some kind of werewolf story with a few fairytale elements thrown in. It turned out that I was way wrong …

Meet Henry. He is a wolf. Yes, a wolf. Without the were. Following some stone-throwing incident (and due to his father's bad reputation as the murderer of Little Red Riding Hood), he ends up at The St. Remus Home for Wayward Youth.
After the unexpected death of one of his only confidants there, and after finding letters from his father that have been kept from him, Henry decides to make an escape. He wants to prove his father's innocence and find the fairies who disappeared years ago – and with them the magic of their dust – even if that means he has to work for the most dangerous criminal in the whole city.

Weston has definitely created an original world with Dust City. The premise of this book is unlike anything I've read before. It is dark and creepy, staring a lot of fairytale characters gone wrong. It is home to all kinds of creatures: animalia (wolves, ravens, mules and more) and hominids (dwarves, goblins …). It even brings up issues such as discriminations and segregations between those two groups.
But it lacks something. I can't really pinpoint what it is, but it made the book only okay for me.

First of all, the author somehow fails to create a believing picture of the wolves (or maybe my imaginations is too weak for that). It was hard for me to envision what they should look like. They were simply portrayed as animals walking on two legs instead of four and wearing clothes.
Secondly, the characters, especially Henry, remain kind of flat and therefore I never felt any true attachment. The book focuses mainly on the action and adventure part, and the aspects making out a character, such as his relationships with others for example, are only treated briefly.
Henry's 'voice' (the story is told from his perspective) never felt distinctive to me.
Thirdly, some characters are introduced just to vanish/be hurt and then not be mentioned again. You can't be sure what happened to them and funnily enough, Henry never thinks about them again, either.
And finally, at some parts of the story, I wanted to hit the characters for their stupidity. They walk into situations of extreme danger without a real plan (maybe check if one of the villains is sneaking up on you next time, huh?) and get caught in surprise in at least two or three cases, resulting in them being held prison, then escaping again … You get the picture.

I had problems deciding if I should give this book two or three stars. It certainly isn't bad in terms of writing/plot. I can imagine that a lot of people would enjoy it quite a bit, especially if they are into novels that have a lot of action and suspense, but don't mind if the part focusing on relationships remains small.
For me, though, it lacked important aspects I look for in a story. So I'm settling for two stars here.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of fairytale retellings out there, but none like this one. Even without the fairytale elements, it would have been a great story: noir-ish-type mystery with lots of action, danger, and suspense, plus a compelling coming-of-age story for the main character who is dealing with grieving for his mother, resenting his father for getting sent to prison, and surviving his own stint in juvie. But then add in the fact that he's a wolf--not a werewolf, but an anthropomorphized wolf with opposable thumbs, and you get a whole additional layer that really sets it apart. I like the way the fairytales (the grim Grimm versions, not the Disney versions) are woven into the story and the questions that are raised about what it means to be human.

So why has this book gotten some bad reviews on Goodreads? Let me repeat: HE IS NOT A WEREWOLF. If you are looking for a story about a sensitive young man who sometimes turns into a wolf but the rest of the time has ripped abs, look elsewhere! This is not the real world being paid a visit by some fairies who just stepped off the set of a music video--this is a dark, surreal world where Snow White has a smoker's cough and fairy dust can be lethal.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to give up on this book and base my rating on the story so far. It's not that I don't like it, but my current mood really can't take much more of this. It doesn't feel right to quit, but it doesn't feel right to read it either. So I'll probably pick it up again later, when I'm in a more positive state of mind.

Apologies to my Street Corner Friends.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Originally posted @ CSI:Librarian.)

This book is absolutely magic, full of dark fairy tales and really fascinating characters that put the grim in Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The skill with which Weston writes was exhilarating and I had a very hard time putting this book down. I refuse to give this awesome plot away, but here are some of the many reasons why I had to give Dust City 5 stars.

The real power of this story comes from Henry being so likeable and relatable. Yes his problems are out there in a lot of ways, but he’s also dealing with trying to find a way to be defined not only by his father’s actions but by his own. As someone who seems to continually pick up books where the main character frustrates me to no end, Henry Whelp was just the cure for my reading blues. He was such a sweet, troubled wolf and a terrific character to follow along from start to finish.

The world was also fantastic, and while it had some elements common to fairy tale modernizations, I felt there was a lot of originality at work. I like the idea of the fairies being gone, for example, and that all they’ve left is a ruined world where people are forced to manufacture their own fairydust that doesn’t work out nearly as well as the real thing. Weston’s vision is darker than most and easier to get immersed in.

I really liked a lot of less modernized fairy tales were added to the mix such as Hans My Hedgehog and The Girl Without Hands. I had a blast trying to figure out who certain minor characters were in cases where it wasn’t obvious. I was pleased to see Snow White as a cop, Jack as a teenage con artist and Rumplestiltskin as a mobster. I also loved that there were so many animal characters as well and all of them living in the same sort of way humans did but with some discrimination since not everyone in Dust City approves of talking animals.

So for those in need of a change from the typical dystopian trilogy but wanting something with a lot of umph to it or anyone who has enjoyed Bill Willingham’s Fables, I heartily suggest taking a look at this book. I have a feeling it’s become lost in the shuffle and really ought to be more appreciated. I found it delightfully refreshing to read about a teenage wolf. Not a werewolf, not a shape shifter and not a wolf who can become a boy if he wants to, but an actual wolf, and not just a wolf but the son of the Big Bad Wolf. It doesn’t get much better than that.

[JG (Introverted Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if the Big Bad Wolf was framed?

That's all the synopsis I want to give, but I'll give you more.

Henry Whelp is a good wolf. He's never gotten into any trouble. Nevertheless, he finds himself in juvie after he breaks a truck window. His father is the Big Bad Wolf of Little Red Riding Hood fame, and everyone is just waiting for Henry to go bad. Henry eventually finds out that his father believes he was framed. See, George was working for Dust City's version of the mafia. They make their money by selling synthetic fairy dust to the population now that the fairies have disappeared. But what exactly caused them to disappear in the first place?

I love the whole idea of this book. The synopsis reminds me a little of Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime series. I enjoy those, so I thought this could be a winner for me and it was.

Henry is a nice guy who just can't get a break. He ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time pretty frequently. He tries to do his best, but no one is looking for that; they're only looking for his mistakes. He finally just has to take matters into his own hands and start following the clues to their conclusion.

Along the way he meets a female wolf, Fiona. Fiona is a smart little hottie. She actually sees the best in Henry. Her brother is a real trouble-maker, but he actually has some good points, so she's used to looking for the good in people.

The mystery twisted and turned and I had no idea where it was going. When it's all resolved, it makes perfect sense, but it's darker than I expected. There are some slightly disturbing parallels between the book and humanity's darkest times. That's all I say. It didn't bother me, I don't think it would bother most readers, but it did surprise me a little.

I enjoyed playing "spot the fairytale character," and they showed up in some very unexpected places. I always get a kick out of that.

If the synopsis appeals to you at all, read this one. It's a fast, entertaining read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I even find myself hoping that I'll get to read another book starring Henry and Fiona in the future.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: I'm a big fan of books with fairy tale characters in a modern setting.

The publisher's summary had me believing that this fantasy was going to be some sort of mystery adventure as the son of the big bad wolf tried to prove his innocence. I was not prepared for the gritty, urban fantasy world that I was about to enter! This is a dark, harsh world that imagines what would have happened if Grimm's medieval fairy tale characters had evolved into bi-pedal, speaking creatures integrated with the human population. Henry Whelp, whose father is in prison for killing a girl and her grandmother, is in detention centre for wayward youth, but mainly animalia, and especially wolves. He doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps and visits his psychiatrist every week. But when the doctor is found hanging from the rafters one fine day, Henry discovers some secrets and manages to escape. Dust City is the major producer of fairydust since the fairies all took off and left and in trying to prove his father's innocence he is lead on a trail that takes him to the depths of the city's grimy underworld, and learns horrendous secrets about the missing fairies.

This was a non-stop read for me. Highly entertaining and suspenseful, plot driven with lots of action. The cast is a motley crew of creatures from giants and goblins to a lovable elven grandma. Henry is the only one with a full development of background and motivators but all the characters come across enough to have feelings for (or against) them in this action driven novel. It is dark, harsh and gritty. There is violence, bullying, torture and everything else not nice, with a few uncomfortable scenes, but never beyond age appropriateness. Dust City is a book you can really get your teeth into. Mostly populated with male characters, there do come into play two (perhaps we can say three) strong females who carry important roles in the plot.

I was very impressed with this novel, absolutely loved the story and it's dark, gritty tale. A must add to any urban fantasy enthusiast's bookshelf!

[~Tina~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 Stars)

Henry Whelp is the son of the Big Bad Wolf, who killed Little Red and her grandma and is in prison for his crime. Only, Henry finds out that his father might not have been in his right mind when he did it and it's up to Henry to find the real fairies and stop a sinister dwarf gangster named Skinner. With the help of his thieving best friend Jack and a wolf named Fiona, Henry will finally get the answers he needs or be destined to be the Big Bad Wolf, himself.

This book is such a freaken riot!
Dust City is an great book filled with inventive imagination and creepy creativity.
It takes some of our most beloved childhood storybook characters like Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red, Jack and the Beanstalk, David and Goliath, etc, and spins a modern dark tale of mystery, suspense and even a little romance.

Every character is written well. They are easy enough to recognize from our story books but twisted into characters that mold perfectly with the dark fairy tale theme. I adored Henry, he's like a giant teddy bear in wolves clothing, or well fur, with the greatest personality. He's sweet, caring, loyal and I loved that he stayed that way through out the whole story.
I actually enjoyed all the characters, Roy surprised me in the end which I found kinda funny, Fiona is a sweetheart and Jack is awesome. I even loved the side characters like Old Jerry, who was such a trip. Even the evil played there parts well. Each and every one of them brought something into this book.
The plot was very dark, creepy and completely original. I enjoyed the world that Weston created, it's very vivid and felt like a cross between an animation and something Tim Burton would have a field day with.
All in all this was an enjoyable read, it's different and entertaining. Anyone who likes twisted up dark tales should get a kick out of Dust City!

[oliviasbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel so bad about giving up, because "Dust City" is really easy to read and I would leaf through the remaining hundred pages in a blink. But I am too lazy to invest the time, because I know it will not chance my opinion - or my life, or even my day. It's too late for that after two thirds.

As we all had the same difficulties with the visuals: I imagined the evolved-towards-human-standards-intelligence animalia dystopian-fairytale-retelling-setting to be a nightmare-turned world of the Calico Critters, little jeans overalls with pre-fabricated tail-holes and all - although no LRRH-eating wolf family seems to be part of the available selection.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim a while back, when it was on offer at a favorite discount store here. I'd never heard of it before, but thought that it looked interesting, and for $2.99 I'm willing to chance it.

So now I've read it, and... well... There were some things that I liked, and some things that didn't work for me.

I liked the interweaving of fairytale characters into the story. I thought that the way it was done was pretty neat. But I felt like they were all just kind of name-dropped, with the exception of just a few, and I wanted to know more about their alternate existences. Like Detective White, who is a tough, take-no-guff cop, who got to be so tough by fighting off the seven men she lived with... What? In what way? Sexually? Were they drunken abusers? This little tidbit raises a lot of questions, because in my mind, the Seven Dwarfs took Snow White in in her hour of need, and sheltered her, and helped her. They weren't creepy old men crawling into her bed at night, or abusers, which is what the reference in this book makes me think. Yet there's zero additional information given, nothing to clarify the statement. It's true that the characters we see in this book aren't the characters we'd expect, but... dang.

I liked the way fairydust was depicted... I liked the way it was used, and exploited, as if it's a drug (which is pretty much accurate). I really liked the way the City is kind of modernistic, with a big, name brand thaumaturgical (read: pharmacological) industry, complete with loose morals and even looser principles... and advertising, too.

I also liked the concept of the divisive nature of the City and its inhabitants... Hominids vs. Animalia. Just shows that we'll latch onto anything to keep from being too accepting of the neighbors. They're different! THE HORROR!

I didn't much care for or about any of the characters here... I thought they weren't developed well enough. (This is in addition to wanting more evidence regarding the libel perpetrated on seven innocent until proven guilty dwarfs.) I thought Henry was atrociously bad at investigation... I mean, jeez, he strolls into the Bad Guys' Lair and proceeds to ask said Bad Guys where they hide their Evil Doings. "Is it behind that curtain over there that says 'Keep Out! Bad Guys Only!'? Mind my own business? OK."

For realsies?? Ugh.

I thought that this had a good concept, but I just didn't think that anything was developed enough. The characters felt flat, they weren't even described except in the barest terms, there really wasn't anything to identify with, and I certainly didn't understand Henry's motivation for anything... It was like he was just doing things to progress the story rather than having any actual purpose in doing them. "I'm gonna go left now." "Why?" "Uhh... Because that's what I have to do in order to be in place for Chapter 6." "Umm... OK."

That's really all. Good concept, not so great execution.

[Krys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dust City by Robert Paul Weston was about what I expected, and yet nothing what I anticipated. It's a weird conglomeration of Pulp Mystery, Fairy Tale, and Werewolf tale. It reminds me a touch of Sin City, if Sin City were told about adolescent boys in a Grimm's Fairy Tale. It's weird, and good, but it's imperfect.

Henry Whelp lives in St. Remus, a home for wayward boys. Years ago his Father went mad and killed Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother. Henry fears he will be just like him. In Dust City there is a company called Nimbus Thaumaturgical that manufactures a drug called Fairydust that has magical properties.. guaranteed to work like the Dust of old before the fairies and pixies died, except for one thing; A new Dust is being circulated that claims to be the actual thing. Where is this Dust coming from?

This book had potential to be perfect, but fell short. It's told in these interesting short chapters, little vignettes of story to make of Henry's quest to help his Father and find the source of the Dust. It feels like reading a book of fairy tales and like traditional fairy tales there are images both dark and disturbing to occupy the mind. These parts of the book really make it sing. Henry's story, however, feels overlong. I found myself growing weary the last seventy pages and longing for an end. I wasn't interested enough in him to enjoy his journey, but I loved who he met along the way - Snow White, Cinderella, Jack climbing up his beanstalk... those parts are all brilliantly worked. The core story though I almost could have done without.

A solid three. I wanted it to be a four, but I skimmed the last chunk. So yeah... 3 out of 5.

- review courtesy of www.bibliopunkkreads.com

[Kate McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised by the lackluster reviews, because this is a very original YA fantasy that takes familiar fairy tale elements and spins them into a very dark, violent, and yet vibrant world. Although the main character is the much less fierce son of the Big Bad Wolf, the main mystery here is: where is all the fairy dust coming from now that the fairies appear to be gone or in hiding? It's a sinister ending and the entire book foreshadows it with violence and suspense, so that it's an extremely well-crafted story.

[Madi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I love twists on fairy tales. This book reminded me of the video game the wolf among us in a lot of ways. I thought it well written and the plot was fantastic. I would recommend this to anyone who like the wolf among us or dark magic. I loved how the author entwined all of the old fairytale to create this masterpiece. I thought his take on them was just incredible and I would re read it in a second.

[Go · Rating 4 out of 5]

12/26/20 Reading this for the second time I realized it is still unique. Most retellings are from Red Riding Hood’s perspective so this is cool coming from the Big Bad Wolf’s side of the story (by way of his son). Cool. I also liked the mystery of the fairies and what happened to them. In my opinion, there were themes of power, deception, friendship, family, trust, loyalty, and integrity.

I wanted more of Jack and his shenanigans and more of Detective Inspector White with her toughness—the one who arrested the Big Bad Wolf. I liked trying to pick out fairytale characters throughout the story. Skinner was essentially a Mob Boss with a pronounced scar across his face. He was reminiscent of Rumpelstiltskin. He had his employees distributing “dust” and on some of these deliveries I questioned whether people would have been better off without it. It seemed like some of them were torturing themselves, trapped in the past and unable to progress forward. SPOILER—In one such instance a young boy was brought back to life and died again. I thought “should people even be messing with this stuff?” It would make life miserable. Mentally unhealthy. You would be in a constant state of grief.

Often times when Henry was in trouble and he would somehow find a way out of it, it felt very convenient. It didn’t bother me too much because I figured maybe it was to make things go quicker to help the story along.

Description of some characters:
Gunther, the goblin guard: “His Face is a shipwreck of bloodshot eyes, blubbery gray skin, and a mouthful of tusks, haphazardly dashed over a fat skull. Meanwhile, his torso protrudes with a gravity-defying paunch, hanging so far over his belt that when he comes around the corner, you see the squat pip of his belly button bursting through his uniform long before you see the glob himself.”

Doc: “He’s a charcoal-hued mountain wolf with thick, aging streaks of gray. It’s as if his hide is wrapped in a dark river, running fast and shallow over long, wet stones. It gives him an impression of speed...”

Excerpt: Power-hungry turns everything ugly—what had castles and palaces and beautiful spires now has “high-voltage wires sagging from everything. It’s as if the laboratory modifications are a creeping disease, a gleaming virus spreading from the foundation upward.”

Previous Review: This was a unique enchanting fractured fairytale. It is about an evolved wolf named Henry Whelp who is 16 years old. He is the son of the notorious wolf who killed Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandma—The Big Bad Wolf. He lives in Dust City where nearly the entire population is addicted to the black-market dust. It is actual fairydust from leftover miracles. The fairies have abandoned them. Henry tries to find out why they left and what happened on that infamous night that his father committed a double murder. I liked the witty character of Jack and all the other Fairytale characters. I wish there would've been even more.

[Julia Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really loved this twisting tale of creativity. The characters felt alive. The storybook characters slipped in was a whimsical touch that the author played with in a rather fun way. I'd read a whole series just about Detective White if it existed.

But, my only real problem with it was the rather anticlimactic ending. We got to see son act like his father, which was easy to see coming. However, the forced wrap-up of all that took place killed the delicate description of the story. To go from an intense heart pumping "how could they get out of it" situation, to this thrown in, blured bumble of a living nightmare, just to say that's it... They solved everything while mc was out cold.

Sadly, this book left a lot of plot points untouched and quite a few unanswered questions. I guess they'll remain as untouched as Nimbus Thaumaturgical's dust.

[Allison Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was exactly the palate cleanser I needed after Chomsky. A retelling of some old Fairy-take themes, a “big bad Wolf” as the main character stuck in some residential home for the naughty critter/folk. There’s a fella named Jack with some magic beans. There used to be fairies but they are now “gone” and no one knows where they went. But these human-like animal creatures get turnt on dust (which is manufactured and dispersed like drugs) made from old fairy dust. There’s Eden, a land where they can’t go. Some dark parks, murder, suicide, gore which always surprises me when reading YA.

I dunno, felt familiar and easy. The ending was meh for me, but kinda felt like a setup for another book.

[Joey Nichols]

If you love fairytale based stories that explain more details about your favorite characters and mash them all together, then you will love this.
Its a dark, creative, and twisted fairy tale. Just like I like them ;)

[AuroraIce]

Another bookshelf reread.

I didn’t remember much about this book, but when Zootopia and then Beastars came out, I wondered separately if they were in any way related to this book, though I couldn’t remember why. I vaguely knew it had something to do with a conspiracy against predators/animals.

Set in a dark, dust-addicted fairy tale world, the story follows Henry, son of the Big Bad Wolf who killed Little Red Riding Hood and her grandma. Cindy (Cinderella) runs the juvie and is hardly relevant, and Snow White is a super tough cop who plays by her own rules.

Fairies used to come down and make dreams come true for the hominids (the non-animal-based citizens), and then they suddenly vanished. It was investigated, but their home was a ghost town, and soon hominids moved up into their vacated land and theurmaturgical companies used whatever leftover fairy dust they found to make Dust, used for medicine and drugs.

Nimbus is the primary company, and Henry’s mom was run over by one of their delivery trucks when he was young because they drive too fast and no one cares. No one cares much about the safety of wolves either. I’m not sure the laws of this land. One day after being upset about his dad being in prison, he saw a Nimbus truck drive by and threw a rock at it. It did a lot of damage and almost killed the driver, and they are tough on wolves, so he was sent to a juvenile detention facility, where he’s been for a while when the book begins.

He meets a fellow wolf prisoner’s sister, Fiona, and Siobhan, the elf girlfriend of his roommate, Jack, a thief who’s the only hominid in this facility. Soon after, Jack steals some files from the therapist and finds letters from Henry’s dad, which Doc never showed him. He also plans for them to break out, saying real magic still exists and then planting a bean, which grows from the ground. Henry is caught off guard and doesn’t escape, instead getting locked in solitary for a few days. Jack still had the letters.

After he’s let out, he’s supposed to visit Doc, but finds him hanging there dead, and a gold bar. He’s questioned, but he’s innocent. All the boys are taken to the cemetery for the funeral, and Henry sees no reason to stick around anymore, so he escapes, with some help from Fiona.

Jack gave him Siobhan’s address to meet there. She’s a good judge of people and liked Henry, so she welcomes him in even though Jack isn’t there. He stays with her on-and-off throughout the book. He likes her wacky grandma.

He reads the letters, and apparently Doc worked as therapist for both the juvie and the prison, where he met Henry’s dad and they started to suspect the dust he was given during a job he did for the city crime boss had caused him to go rabid and commit those murders. This convinces Henry to visit him, where he seems crazy and reveals he thinks the fairies are still around and that’s where the dust is coming from. He urges Henry to work for crime boss Skinner to investigate.

Henry is reluctant, but decides to do so. He gets in thanks to Roy, Fiona’s brother who’s a mean wolf from the facility who decided to escape at some point too, because he’s escaped a lot of juvies. Henry avoids dust because he hates it for being in the truck that killed his mom, but he gets forced to for the test to get the job. He loses himself and attacks Roy, but ends up winning and gets hired.

He stays at the flophouse where wolves working for dwarf Skinner are kept. Skinner controls so many who are stronger than him because he had can turn others into gold with his touch and has a factory full of gold statues of his victims. Henry gets help from his dad’s old friend Matt who still works there, and all the new wolf runners are paired up for deliveries. His partner hates him for getting the job instead of his cousin.

They do dust deliveries for a while, then an expensive client requires them to work at night. She asks for help administering the dust and Henry is curious and does so. Her goal is to bring back her dead brother since it’s her dad’s dying wish, and Skinner said the strong dust magic would work. Henry is curious if it can since his dad believed so and his fairy friend in the past suggested as much. The brother does come back to life for a few minutes, only to die again screaming.

Henry and his partner are behind schedule now and decide to take a shortcut and end up encountering a strange giant beast in the tunnels that is an amalgamation of all existing creatures. It attacks them and burst through the ground when they escape.

The beast is significant to the conspiracy, but not mentioned again in relevance to the damage and confusion it caused to the city. People should be questioning what it is and where it came from and what the heck, but I’ve seen no news reports on the matter.

The boys separate and Henry gets caught by Snow White, but Fiona saves him, having heard his belief about the fairies. Roy is in a coma and she thinks only fairies can revive him, so she joins him in sneaking into Skinner’s factory to hunt for the fairies.

(Henry later shamefully admits it’s his fault Roy is injured, but she already guessed and knows Roy put himself in the situation too and is understanding.)

They overhear Skinner meeting with a nixie crime boss and the heads of Nimbus, who further imply fairies are being used by them. Then the pair sneaks through doors and find every room filled with cages housing animals in their original animalistic forms, before they became equivalent (but not treated equal) to hominids like they are today. Henry recognizes a fox and realizes they are somehow being reverted back to these forms.

Skinner comes in and catches them, taking Fiona hostage to make Henry do a job for him to intimidate a family into moving off land he wants to own, much like what happened with his dad. Unlike he dad, he refuses the dust offered and goes to face these caribou brothers (I think that’s what they were), who are sick of these wolves visiting them and decide to teach a message by attacking him. Henry is constantly noted as being really nice, so it’s unfortunate and unfair that he’s the one they finally decide to fight against when he wasn’t even trying to be intimidating.

During the attack, he is overcome by the same viciousness that made him attack Roy, but now he can’t blame it on dust. He takes the brothers out only for the youngest to run up as he calms down and shove him into a well, where he experiences a strange magic he thinks comes from the old magic. Then he wakes up in a holding cell, where he Snow White and juvie nurse come to see him.

Later Matt comes, revealing the nixies and police sometimes collude and so the underground tunnels lead everywhere. They escape that way and go to Skinner’s factory. Matt acts as a distraction while Henry rescues Fiona, but Skinner comes and turns Matt to gold. Henry knocks a bunch of statues onto Skinner and his bodyguards and they escape, then go to Siobhan’s to hide.

Jack comes knocking on the door late at night, but half his body is gold. He reveals he was a few steps ahead of Henry the whole time and had learned all they had before being caught. He gives him his bag of beans to finish the investigation. Henry doesn’t know how much it will take, so he buries them all so the pair can get up to Eden, the fairy city.

They arrive and meet a man turning back into a frog before they sneak into the Nimbus factory, sure by this point that the brothers who run it are holding the fairies hostage. Fiona always has her camera, so she documents their journey. (Also learn the letter Roy got beat up on visitor day so he could give to her was a misspelled note thanking her for teaching him to read and saying he loves her, his first writing ever).

They end up on conveyor belts among deadwood trees. Doc had been painting a deadwood tree the last time Henry saw him, Henry noticed on in the yard of the lady who wanted to revive her brother, and a bunch got uprooted when he planted all the beans. Seeing the entire trees now, which were always angled toward Eden with roots looking like hands, he realizes this is what fairies look like when they die, so they in fact really are gone. The brothers killed them.

Then the brothers catch them and torture Henry for information by ripping out his claws, breaking his fingers in the process. He passes out from the pain of the final one they do just to prove he’s telling the truth. He wakes up in a large birdcage. Fiona is in her own, and so is the frog guy.

The brothers reveal they were using old lingering dust at first, having killed the fairies so they could become the sole best dust manufacturers and make a ton of money, but they failed to realize they would run out of fairy dust to extract from the world at some point, which I think just makes them super stupid. They’re also very arrogant because they’re sure of themselves and that they deserve all the wealth they expect to make.

There’s also this conspiracy where they look down on the animals as lesser beings and want to revert them back to their primal selves to be used as tools again, and using cruelty and torture isn’t inhumane against non-humans. I don’t think they know the meaning of humane. It’s not about who you do it to, it’s about what you do. Cruelty is cruelty no matter where it’s directed. They are stupid. An insult and embarrassment to hominids everywhere.

They sought to use fairy bodies to make their dust from instead, but there were a lot of mistakes, such as creating that chimera monster, some other mistake I forgot, and then creating bad dust which brings out your worst self (though there’s also the theory that dust just brings out your true fate, whether that’s good or bad). They then grind up part of the body of the fairy Henry had known to make dust and blow it on the frog guy, who completely turns into a frog, not the aware kind from the story’s world.

Skinner is there too, angry and wanting revenge on Henry. But then the brothers blow dust on him, blaming him for leading Henry here. I thought Skinner would turn to gold, but instead he rips himself in half, saying “not again”, which I did not understand. Supposedly it happened before and he put himself back together again, like Humpty Dumpty, and this explained the horrible ugly scars on his body. But now he’s a pile of exposed organs, so he’s dead and his death frees all his statue victims.

For whatever reason, the brothers plan to blow dust on Henry and sic him on the world. I don’t know why. But he goes to Siobhan’s house and breaks down the door, about to be a repeat of his dad for killing a girl and her grandma. But his dad did warn him that while it takes control of your actions, there is a moment where you have a choice. He had been too caught off guard to grasp it, but Henry knows in advance, so he veers off course at the last second and crashes through a window.

He wakes up in the hospital, where most the people he knows are with him, including Snow White, and tell him he’s a hero. He had a roll of Fiona’s pictures on him, and when he fell out the window and was found, it revealed all the things they found, which he had tried to tell Snow White about when he got arrested for attacking the caribou, and we don’t know if they lived or died.

Henry is a kid, but even Snow White was ready to shoot him dead in the street if he didn’t cooperate. So I really don’t understand what’s acceptable and what’s not. So many animals would disappear and get murdered. Frankly I was surprised Roy was found and rescued. Or that Fiona was a free wolf since it seems like they get arrested for anything, and she was just casually fine with helping him fight and escape Snow White as if there wouldn’t be repercussions for her.

He still has to stay in a rehabilitation place, but I think maybe that’s because he had no home. It’s mostly hominids there, and there aren’t guards or walls or anything. And he gets to visit his dad, who gets a retrial thanks to the new information but still killed people so his sentence will only be reduced. He’s proud of Henry though, and gets to claim his son killed Skinner, who most the prisoners hated, so he has clout.

Roy also woke up, and is nicer and tells Henry he saw a fairy while he was in a coma and he asked to be more like Henry and that the world would be better. Fiona thinks he’s delusional, but Henry had a similar experience when he crashed through the window and was unconscious, so in a way the fairies are still around somewhere in some form, but he believes maybe their city just wasn’t worthy of them.

Fiona thinks this has all been a jarring realization that the divide between animals and hominids was much bigger and crueler than she knew, and she wonders if they can ever get along. Henry wants to believe Roy’s wish will work out, meanwhile he notices a small pleasure boat leaving the dock where previously only shipment boats ever floated for dust related things. He wonders if there’s most to the world, and I wonder if they all think only their city exists.

Quotes:

Surprisingly, with the adrenaline draining out of me and in the relative safety of a locked broom closet, I drift off.

“You sure gave Gran a scare, but she claims she enjoyed it.”

[Fiendishly Bookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dust City so named for its legacy of fairy dust, that incomprehensible gift of luck, destiny, or your worst nightmare bestowed by benevolent fairies has dried up. And in its place, corruption and avarice has gripped a once thriving and vibrant city with a class struggle.

Hominids and animalia stand apart, as do elves, water nixies, goblins and all manner of non-human species. And at the forefront, flashing like a neon sign, is the on-going mystery of the disappearance of the fairies from Eden who left remnants of their magick-making dust in the very soil and foundations of the City.

Despite the absence of the fairies who’ve seem to have abandoned the City for good, the need for dust reigns. People need it in their daily lives, depend on it. And when there is need, Nimbus Thaumaturgical is there to fill the demand for dust. The huge conglomerate mines the old magick from the soil and dirt, refining it and selling it to an addicted clientele. Even though what is manufactured resembles nothing to its original.

No one questions where the dust comes from-until Henry Whelp stumbles upon a conspiracy that will rock the foundations of Dust City to its rotten and rancid core.

Henry has been forced to grow up in the St. Remus Home for Wayward Youth because his father offed Little Red Riding Hood and her grandma. Since the murders, his dad has always professed his innocence to the deed but no one believes him. When Henry’s therapist dies mysteriously, and Henry stumbles upon letters from his dad he’d never received, he ends up following the breadcrumbs with help from his friends.

Robert Paul Weston distinguishes himself as the creator of a unique and complex young adult urban fantasy fairy tale gone awry. Dust City might bear a passing resemblance to some famous fairy tales we are familiar with, but Weston has twisted them to suit his purposes. We have a bit of Jack and the Beanstalk and Wolf Boy meets the Juvie Thugs. And it works. Surprisingly so.

Colossally fresh, and injected with enough greed, suspense, action and courageousness, that readers will just eat it up-along with a bit of sugar and spice. Dust City will appeal to Gaiman, Gorey, Hurley, or Burton fans, or anyone who wants a bit of sharp teeth with their nighttime fractured fairy tale.

Westons’ climax totally threw me under the school bus. Thanx man. Bravo.

What stunning reveal to such a mystery. I couldn’t help but remember that Futurama episode when we finally find out where Slurm comes from…(gulp).

A Fiendishly Bookish Review (and one grumpy cat).

[Jessica Strider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros: wonderful world-building, great characters, some humour

Cons: some unpleasant descriptions

When the fairies vanished other hominid species moved into their home on the floating island of Eden and started mining the dust they left behind. Though the dust isn’t as potent as what the fairies once used, it can cure minor ailments, and the hominids and animalia in the city below are hooked.

Henry Whelp is the son of a convicted drug runner and murderer. Though he’s a good kid, a bad decision lands him at the St Remus Home for Wayward Youth, and another reason society still fears and distrusts wolves. But Henry uncovers a mystery that involves his dad, the missing fairies, and the dust that’s becoming more and more potent.

It was really cool reading a fairytale story from the point of view of one of the talking/evolved animals. In the stories these are either the bad guys (like the wolf), guides to human protagonists (ravens & foxes), or creatures drafted into the magic (mice, birds). So it was an interesting perspective, as the humanoid characters mostly look down on the animalia.

As with most books that riff on fairy tales, part of the fun is figuring out what characters come from what stories. There’s little mystery here if you’ve read the brothers Grimm, though I’ll have to look up the story of the girl without hands. The characters are cleverly used, particularly Detective White, referencing their fairytale backgrounds without being limited to their origin stories.

The world is wonderful and feels real, what with its racism, drug problems, corruption, and more. Henry encounters several people from different walks of life, giving a decent overview of the lower city.

While the book isn’t funny - in fact, it’s quite dark - there were a few lines, particularly in the scenes with Siobhan’s granny, that made me laugh out loud.

Some of the descriptions got a little… gross. There’s a lot of spit and drool, disgusting smells, some blood and violence, and a torture scene. But that’s a pretty minor issue.

On the whole I really enjoyed this book and found it quite unique in its treatment of the stories and characters.

[Sarah Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the moment I opened up the envelope containing Dust City, I was immediately captured by this seemingly dark cover. The skyline shooting up through the silvery dust clouds, with the glowing green eyes in the background is so attractive and really made me want to know what this book was actually about. If I had of had the time, I would have read it all in the same day, it was that good.

The story started off with a little bit of build up, and introducing the characters at St. Remus, a Home for Wayward Wolves. A little slow for my taste, but I knew that it was building to something exciting, so it kept me reading. Henry Whelp is the main character in the book. I really got a feel for him being the outsider, and that was an instant connection for me, having felt like that in the past sometimes myself. That's a little strange to say since he's a wolf, the son of the wolf who killed Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother. The big bad wolf. That caught me too. I am a huge fan of fairytales, and an even bigger fan of dark, mysterious books. This book had a little bit of all three and was the perfect combination for me.

There were a couple of chapters in this book (I don't like to give away parts of the book, so I won't include details) that were so vivid, but not in an overly descriptive way. The author really took you along each thought, and each action like you were right there experiencing both. One was the nightmare chapter. I felt like I was the one tossing and turning, and sweating profusely.

Robert Paul Weston completely draws you into the fairy tale version of a futuristic earth. Foxes, elves, nixies, wolves, dwarves and goblins are just a few of the unexpected characters you will meet at St. Remus, and in Dust City. A city that fiends for its' fairy dust, Dust City opens your eyes to corruption, greed, and the hunger for total domination, with a fairytale twist. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of fairytales, and the darkness that lies within them.

[Nafiza · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some books that you really didn't think were your type. Your genre. The kind of stuff you usually don't read and don't expect to read but then when you do end up reading a book outside your usual genre, it impresses the socks off you and reminds you that there are many more adventures to be had should you dare to step off the safe path.

This was what reading Dust City felt like to me. I don't do anthropomorphic main characters. I really don't. But I love fairy tales and the synopsis won me over. Who wouldn't want to read about the son of the Big Bad Wolf who made dinner out of Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother? Does that premise not intrigue you? Because it intrigued me a whole hell of a lot.

What I really loved about this book was how seamlessly popular characters of canonical fairytales were woven into the narrative. Snow White is a a detective, you guys. A detective! The heroine who has the LEAST amount of agency (next to Sleeping Beauty) is a detective who kicks ass! How awesome is that? These characters are so cleverly written into the story that part of the pleasure in reading this novel comes from deciphering who is who. Kudos to Mr. Weston for that.

The other thing I really liked about this novel was its originality. It takes some pretty common elements and spins it into a tale that I bet none of you have ever dreamed up. It's like looking at the same world through a different set of lens.

This is not to say that this book is perfect. I wasn't able to get over the distance that came from the fact that Henry is a wolf (albeit a talking, human type wolf) and I, the reader, am human. That just may be me though. But if you suspend your belief just enough, Dust City will impress you and make you look at fairytales in a different way.

[Canadian Children's Book Centre]

Ever since his father’s arrest for the double murder of Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, everyone has assumed that Henry Whelp has crime in his blood. For years Henry has lived in a Home for Wayward Wolves on the outskirts of Dust City — a gritty metropolis known for its black-market, mind-altering dust. When a murder at the home forces Henry to escape, he begins to suspect that his father may have been framed. With the help of a daring she-wolf named Fiona, Henry travels into the dark underground of Dust City, where he discovers what really happened to his father that infamous night, and the shocking truth about fairy dust.

In his latest effort, the Silver Birch Award-winning author of Zorgamazoo has created a gritty fantasy world, populated by fairy tale creatures and characters. Robert Paul Weston skillfully weaves fairy tale characters such as Snow White and Cinderella into the story, and those familiar with the classic Grimm tales will appreciate the subtle references.

Weston flawlessly builds the world of Dust City in this novel. The place, so named because of its primary industry of manufacturing fairy dust, feels completely sinister, and from the beginning, the reader can sense the danger that envelops this dark city. There are few humans in Dust City. The majority live in Eden, a glittering, floating haven above the city, where corporations like Nimbus Thaumaturgical distribute the fairy dust on which the people rely.

The story is action-packed and well-paced, and though it occasionally suffers from too much exposition, readers will be hooked until the end.

Reviewed by Rachel Seigel in Canadian Children's Book News (Winter 2011, Vol. 34, No. 1)

[Joni Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that are constantly on your mind, long after you have marked your page and closed it. The world created was so believable that I almost forgot that it doesn't exist. It's hard to call it is a fantasy book, because fantasy implies that a kind of dream, and in Dust City there is nothing dreamy about it. The subject of fairy dust, talking animals, and a mobster dwarf are written about so convincingly that it is hard to believe it is not real.
I loved Henry from the beginning. He was in a sort of juvenile detention center for wayward youth and his best friend was a hominid (human) named Jack, as in Jack and the Beanstalk.
I loved how so many fairytales were mentioned subtly in Dust City. Snow White is a detective, Cinderella is divorced from Prince Charming and living with the working class again, even the frog from The Princess and the Frog makes an appearance.
The book follows Henry as he tries to uncover why all of the fairies disappeared from the skyward city of Eden. Henry's father, The Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, is in prison and contacts Henry with a theory as to what happens to the fairies. So Henry and she-wolf named Fiona set off to uncover the mysteries surrounding the disappearance.
There is a lot of adventure in this book. But Just as a warning, though this book is based off of fairytales it is not suitable for young children. While no major swearing sticks in my head, it can be graphic, especially towards the end. Definitely a book written for teens.
I am so glad that I got a chance to review this book. I loved it and I highly recommend it.

[Raina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so charmed by Robert Paul Weston. It's shocking to me that I'd never heard of him, or this book, before I stumbled on this taking books off New status.

Henry is in juvie. His dad is a former drug runner, currently locked up for killing a girl and her grandma. Henry escapes juvie, visits his dad, and is told that the drugs he was running may have been actual fairydust, something that's been extinct for years.

Did I mention that Henry's a wolf? And that wolves have now evolved to have fingers and walk on two legs most of the time?

It feels like a mashup of something by Walter Dean Myers, The Tenth Kingdom, and either The Monstrumologist or something directed by Quentin Tarantino.

It's tongue-in-cheek as in referential, not funny. I loved meeting characters like giants, elves, dwarves, crows, and the mythology of it all. The references are sparing enough that many of the most popular fairytales are left out. Lots of room for sequels here.

It's gritty and graphically violent in places. Some definite eww moments, though minimal cursing.

It's almost noirish, in some ways. The romance is very hetero, and the female is laughably ideal, aggressive and convenient. The whole thing is kind of a mystery (though it feels more like an adventure).

Total dibs on booktalking.

[Angel Pham · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story Dust City by Robert Paul Weston is a great fantasy fiction story. The story is about the son of a big bad wolf who isn’t so big and bad, Henry Whelp. His father is the real big bad wolf who murdered little red riding hood. Everyone assumes that it’s in Henry’s blood. He keeps it on the low on the outskirts of Dust City. All the ravens, hominids, and foxes are hooked onto something. It’s not just any average dust, it’s fairydust. When the killer at the house forces Henry to to escape, he starts to get a feeling that someone might have framed his dad. Henry travels to the dark alleys of Dust City, with Fiona by his side. He gets snout to face with the mobster skinner and his nixie henchman to find out what really happened to his father, and the real truth about fairy dust. The Authors style of writing is very easy to understand but not predictable. He uses detailed descriptions and has a unique way of making you drool for what's next in the story. There were some words I was not able to identify but I used context clue to help me better understand what I was reading. I enjoyed the way the author took a children's story, Little red riding hood, and transformed it into an amazing fantasy fiction novel about the big bad wolf instead of riding hood. This novel would appeal to readers who enjoy fictional stories that have animals who play roles and communicate with other animals as if they are human. This is an amazing book and I would recommend to ages 13+!

[Heather Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book turns fairytales into film noir. Bloody brilliant. It’s set in a gritty fairytale metropolis in a time after all the fairies have left. Without fairies, there’s no magic – no wishes granted, so to speak. And the fairytale creatures that remain (dwarves, giants, wolves, foxes, ravens, elves, goblins and hominids) have to make due with pharmaceutical grade dust – leftover magic mined from the earth that is a poor substitute for real fairy dust. Some of these dust operations are legal (like our pharmaceutical companies); some are not (like our society’s drug cartels).

The story follows Henry, the son of the notorious big bad wolf, as he delves into Dust City’s seedy underbelly to find the truth about what happened to the fairies and whether or not his dad was set up. Henry’s best pal is a kleptomaniac hominid named Jack (of Beanstock fame), the detective is a kickass Snow White, and the villain has the King Midas touch.

This book is filled with amazing creatures, creative twists on fairytale lore, tons of mystery, and heart-stopping action. It also manages to be a commentary on racism (lots of inter-species tension in Dust City), drug addiction and underground crime. Scary stuff indeed. And in the end, we learn the shocking truth about fairydust!