City of Rust: an out-of-this-world sci-fi adventure!

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Set in a future where junk orbits the Earth and the privileged have moved to a vast Glass City, the book follows Railey and her pet gecko, Atti. Alors oui, c’est un mix entre Wall-E et Star Wars, mais ça n’a pas suffit pour me donner envie de continuer ma lecture jusqu’au bout.

J’ai commencé ce roman de science-fiction jeunesse pleine d’espoir car ça faisait très longtemps que je voulais le lire et que je n’avais pas lu de SF !Les vilains ne le sont pas vraiment et le motif de la guéguerre finale est basique et presque sans intérêt.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.Railey is a brilliant heroine and I loved her determination and talent for engineering, but her relationship with Atti was what really endeared me to her, because Atti’s wit and cynicism made him my absolute favourite thing in this. But when junk is all that is left, it becomes a commodity, a currency, a beast that sustains existence as much as it threatens it… You could say that this vision is a direct consequence of our current-day throw-away lifestyle. I believe this book is aimed at 11ish year olds, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I was 11 a very long time ago! The main human characters, Railey, Laurie and Care, are appropriately tough, moulded by their hard environments, all possessing that grit that comes from wanting to live and thrive at all costs.

They’re best friends, companions, and they love racing drones together in their container-constructed city of Boxville.

I would recommend it to pretty much everyone, especially for people who enjoy sci-fi stories, or are passionate about the environment. Railey and Atti are a brilliantly acerbic and loving duo: their story is packed full of fun and adrenaline. I loved the fact that she was fearless and so very sarcastic yet adorably awkward when it came to showing any kind of affection. Im not quite the target demographic, (besides it was the cover design itself that attracted me to the book, never underestimate the power of visual draw, good design and an exciting palette.

Care was absolutely wonderful as a secondary character, as was Laurie, and I defy anyone not to adore Tring, who is an AI NannyBot. RAILEY BRUSHED HER HAND ALONG ATTI’S BACK AND HE FELT A LITTLE STEADIER - JUST LIKE THE RACES - THEY WERE IN THIS TOGETHER. There are heart-in-throat moments, and, thanks to Gemma’s incredibly visual writing (I felt like I was watching a film throughout), it feels urgent and real. This was a really great book and it kept me entertained but I feel like there was a bit too much going on for it to be really cohesive. Malheureusement, j’ai abandonné ma lecture à la moitié, parce que je n’arrivais pas à m’attacher à la protagoniste et parce que ça manquait cruellement de background !City of Rust has been shortlisted for the Dudley Children’s Book Award, The Weald Book Award, and The Tower Hamlets Book Award. I say that, because one of the big final scenes – an exhausting attack on the kids and their stamina – doesn’t tread lightly on the grounds of danger and threat. In fact, all the children are flawed and there’s a lot of growing up to do along the way; there are lessons to be learned. Two brilliant things about this book, the incredible cover and inside illustrations, and Atti the gecko. No sooner have they escaped the bounty hunter, they have a bigger problem on their hands – hiding from the fearsome Junker gang who are hell-bent on firing a colossal trash-bomb back towards Earth.