True Grit meets True Blood in this delightfully dark and fantastical Western perfect for fans of Gail Carriger, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black. This thrilling novel is a remarkable tale of danger and discovery, from debut author Michelle Modesto.
The two-bit town of Rogue City is a lawless place, full of dark magic and saloon brawls, monsters and six-shooters. But it’s just perfect for seventeen-year-old Westie, the notorious adopted daughter of local inventor Nigel Butler.
Westie was only a child when she lost her arm and her family to cannibals on the wagon trail. Seven years later, Westie may seem fearsome with her foul-mouthed tough exterior and the powerful mechanical arm built for her by Nigel, but the memory of her past still haunts her. She’s determined to make the killers pay for their crimes—and there’s nothing to stop her except her own reckless ways.
But Westie’s search ceases when a wealthy family comes to town looking to invest in Nigel’s latest invention, a machine that can harvest magic from gold—which Rogue City desperately needs as the magic wards that surround the city start to fail. There’s only one problem: the investors look exactly like the family who murdered Westie’s kin. With the help of Nigel’s handsome but scarred young assistant, Alistair, Westie sets out to prove their guilt. But if she’s not careful, her desire for revenge could cost her the family she has now.
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Publishers Weekly
11/16/2015
Debut author Modesto’s fantasy-western brims with intense action and intriguing characters, which include leprechauns, brownies, and werewolves. Seventeen-year-old Westie has been on a revenge mission ever since cannibals killed her family. Aided her adoptive father’s assistant, Alistair, who also lost his family to cannibals, and her friend Bena Water-Dancer— a member of the Wintu people, who magically protect Rogue City from invading beasts—Westie discovers that the Wintu’s magic is fading and that her family’s killers may have just arrived in town. The newcomers appear to be innocent and trustworthy, but after a good friend is killed, Westie—battling alcoholism and her split desire for Alistair and a vampire, Costin—must find a way to prove that the supposedly normal Fairfields are actually ruthless killers. Modesto further flavors the novel with steampunk elements, including Westie’s own mechanical arm, though the decision to cast the Wintu as magic-wielders feels like an embrace of “magical native” stereotypes, even within the book’s fantasy setup. While the final showdown and conclusion are formulaic, Modesto’s genre-bending novel offers full-bodied romance and electrifying twists. Ages 14–up. Agent: John M. Cusick, Folio Literary Management. (Feb.)
Booklist
A good match for reader who like their fights bloody and heroes unapologetically brash
VOYA, February 2016 (Vol. 38, No. 6) - Brandi Young
After watching her family murdered (and eaten) by cannibals and losing an arm in her escape, Westie is nursed back to health by the Wintu tribe and then adopted by renowned inventor, Nigel, who fashions her a mechanical arm. The town Nigel lives in, Rogue City, is appropriately named—a lawless place full of saloon brawls, creatures, and magic. The Wintu magic casts a dome over Rogue City that keeps everyone within it safe and does not allow humans to kill creatures or creatures to kill humans. But, as more settlers come to mine the land for gold and pollute the waters outside the dome, the magic of the dome is fading. Nigel has developed an invention that will amplify the magic from the land to save the dome, but needs investors to finish it. The wealthy family that comes to town looking to invest in the invention seems too good to be true, but that is because they are: they are the ones who killed Westie’s family and she is out for revenge. The only problem is that no one believes these well-to-do folks could ever be cannibals. With the help of her childhood friend and Nigel’s assistant, Alistair, Westie is determined to prove their guilt by whatever means necessary, even if that means killing them herself. But will she lose the family she has now in the process? Steampunk and science fiction unite in this amazing page-turner. Modesto has made sure there is something for every type of reader in this book; there is romance, action, monsters and creatures of all kind, inventions, technology, magic, and wonder. Not only that, but it is also an excellently written story with surprise after surprise that catch the reader off guard. Be warned, once readers start this book, it is impossible to put down. Readers will anxiously ask when the sequel will be out. Reviewer: Brandi Young; Ages 12 to 18.
School Library Journal
12/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—A page-turning, steampunk-esque Wild West adventure crawling with supernatural creatures. Seventeen-year-old Westie may be one of the most notorious citizens of Rogue City, a magic-filled town in California where creatures such as elves, ogres, vampires, and humans all live in relative peace thanks to the magic wards of the Wintu tribe. Westie comes to Rouge City as a one-armed child after escaping the cannibals who consumed her family. From that day on, she is raised by Nigel, a brilliant inventor who creates a mechanical arm for her, as well as Bena, a Wintu woman, and Alistair, a fosterling of Nigel's who wears a mechanical mask (another of Nigel's creations) over part of his face. Westie has spent years searching for the cannibals to extract her revenge, succumbing to alcoholic binges along the way. Then, the very people she is seeking arrive in Rogue City as potential investors for Nigel's newest invention—one that will help save the magic that is quickly being lost in the city. But how will she prove they are the same people who killed her family? This slightly gruesome story really has something for nearly everyone—there's romance, revenge, gunslinging, magic, vampires, and zombies. Yet somehow Modesto makes it all work. The only nagging issue is that the Wintu are portrayed as mystical, magical people, which makes them seem more "other" than the non-Wintu humans in the book. VERDICT A rollicking story, although not without flaws.—Heather Webb, Worthington Libraries, OH
Kirkus Reviews
2015-11-03
For years, Westie's hunted the cannibal family that killed hers and took her arm; now they've arrived in Rogue City to invest in the machine her adoptive father, Nigel, is building to protect the area's humans from magical creatures, but he's reluctant to believe her. Nigel designed her mechanical arm and later rescued another child victim, Alistair, and built his mechanical voice box. While they used to be close, he's distanced himself from Westie (long in love with him), which hurts. Her friend Bena believes her, but her people, the First Nations Wintu, are losing their ability to work the magic that keeps them safe and sustains the dome, and they need Nigel's machine. As evidence mounts that the Fairfields are indeed cannibals, Westie's drinking habit returns. Determined to vanquish it for good, she chooses a cure (vampires are involved) that's equally dangerous. Shadowing her everywhere, Alistair remains aloof, unlike James, the handsome newcomer and the Fairfields' nephew, or Costin, the dangerous, alluring vampire with a thing for Westie. Her strong character—smart, impulsive, funny, and unfeminine (in a good way)—ties this sometimes-reckless conflation of genres into a mostly convincing, mostly seamless whole (the extremely low-maintenance horses are an exception). This strong debut will delight fans of the genre, especially its Western subdivision, and despite a few passages that make the Donner Party look like vegans, the suspenseful plot should keep even squeamish readers engaged. (Steampunk. 14-18)
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