Blog Tour Stop : Of Dreams and Rust by Sarah Fine
Summary (from Goodreads) Title : Of Dreams and Rust (Of Metal and Wishes #2)
Author : Sarah Fine
Publication Date : August 4th 2015
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble
War erupts in this bittersweet sequel to "Of Metal and Wishes", inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and called “relentlessly engrossing” by The Romantic Times.
In the year since the collapse of the slaughterhouse where Wen worked as her father’s medical assistant, she’s held all her secrets close. She works in the clinic at the weapons factory and sneaks away to nurse Bo, once the Ghost, now a boy determined to transform himself into a living machine. Their strange, fragile friendship soothes some of the ache of missing Melik, the strong-willed Noor who walked away from Wen all those months ago—but it can’t quell her fears for him.
The Noor are waging a rebellion in the west. When she overhears plans to crush Melik’s people with the powerful war machines created at the factory, Wen makes the painful decision to leave behind all she has known—including Bo—to warn them. But the farther she journeys into the warzone, the more confusing things become. A year of brutality seems to have changed Melik, and Wen has a decision to make about him and his people: How much is she willing to sacrifice to save them from complete annihilation?
Personal Thoughts
Sarah Fine is an author who manages to touch me in some way with her books every.single.time. I don't know how she does it, but her books make me feel so much and at the end of a series, I'm always left clamoring for more. Of Metal and Wishes was my favorite book of 2014. It was beautifully written, crushed my soul and turned me into one greedy reader. I was bubbling with excitement when I finally got the chance to pick up Of Dreams and Rust and going in, my expectations were rather sky high. Sarah Fine went beyond every expectation I had and made me fall harder in love with her writing and her characters.
I'm intimidated by beautiful writing because more often than not, I'm left feeling distant from the story. This wasn't the case with Of Dreams and Rust. There was a quiet beauty to the writing that spoke to every fiber of my being. It was stunning, and enraptured me to the point where I couldn't put the book down and HAD to finish it in a single sitting even though I wanted to absorb every word of this book slowly. It's hard to really describe Sarah Fine's prose - it's one that you yourself need to experience to truly understand the powerful impact that it can have on you. Of Dreams and Rust started off one year after the events of Of Metal and Wishes, Melik and Wen having been separated. This year ravaged by impending wars has changed both characters, but at the same time, they retained all of their core values and beliefs. Wen is one of my all-time favorite protagonists. She has gone through hell and more, but she continued to strive to bring happiness to others. This was a young woman who refused to bow down and persevered all for selfless reasons. With her kind soul and spirited nature, she is always going to be a character that I admire and aspire to be like one of these days. Wen struggled in Of Dreams and Rust because she comes to the realization that there is no right party in a war and she tussles with the guilt and choice of making the right decisions - betraying her own people, the Itanyi, or the Noor. Watching her go through that period was painful, but I knew that no matter what, Wen would make the decision that she felt deep down was right. She truly was a remarkable heroine and the essence of this entire series together with Melik and Bo.
Melik too, who I fell in love with in Of Metal and Wishes, was a changed man, the war against his people, having hardened him and leaving him with thick skin. He was very much a complement to Wen because of his giving and selfless nature and his willingness to help others out. I didn't think it was truly possible, but I fell harder in love with this boy in this book. It hurt to see him face obstacle after obstacle, and some truly horrendous moments, but through it all, he remained brave and battled for others' happiness. Thankfully, he had the support of Wen through the book. Together, these two were absolutely wonderful. The romance in this series is one of my favorite all-time romances. I love this couple fiercely. With the year of separation between them, I was nervous about how Wen and Melik would come together, but Sarah Fine made their relationship work in every way. Their reunion scene was emotional, beautifully written and had my heart aching. Theirs is a romance that will hurt you and make you feel, but in a really good way. It's the kind of ache that will have you thinking of the characters for a long time. They faced numerous tribulations in their relationship, but they continued to prove to me that they were meant to be and fought through every bump in the road with the power of their love. Wen's relationship with Bo also continued to be complex and complicated. It was clear that Bo had romantic feelings for Wen, but Wen's true feelings for him never truly strayed beyond a brotherly type of love, so I wouldn't consider this book to be a love triangle. Speaking of Bo, he very much surprised me in Of Dreams and Rust. He has always been an intriguing character whose intentions were never clear to me, but in this book, he finally became a strong character, who finally knew what he wanted and ultimately became a true hero. Of Dreams and Rust was a hard book to read at times, and I'm not going to lie, I was overcome with sadness at certain points. The final battle wasn't casualty-less - some of the deaths were truly bittersweet, but they were necessary and allowed the characters to shine. The ending was painful, but poignant.
I'm sad that the Of Metal and Wishes duology is over, but I couldn't be happier with the way this phenomenal book wrapped it up. Of Dreams and Rust wasn't the easiest book for me, emotionally - it left me in a mess at times, but it's a book that's worth reading and a book that I'm sure I'll be re-reading a million times more.
Rating
Cover : 5/5
Plot : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5
Snapshot Review
Author Interview
Hi Sarah! I'm thrilled to have you on Nick's Book Blog as part of the Of Dreams and Rust tour.
Firstly, for those who haven't read the Of Metal and Wishes duology, can you describe the book in a Tweet made up solely of emojis to convince them to check it out (140 characters)?
Here—since I’m old and incompetent with emojis, I’m just gonna challenge YOU to show me how it’s done (please?). But as for a Tweet to describe the first book:
A loose retelling of Phantom of the Opera set in a slaughterhouse. With mechanical spiders.
Ha! I may be a teensy bit obsessed with emojis so here goes: ;)
As promised @finesarah! Of Dreams and Rust was one emotional ride: 😢😕😦😰😱😍😍😦😭😭😍😍😍💑💏💪💕💔😢😭😭👫👬👻😭😭💑💏. Basically, it was perfect. ☺— Nick (@nicksbookblog93) August 6, 2015
As a reader who seeks diversity in her YA books, I'm always pleased to see authors tackle characters from a variety of cultural and ethnic background. Your Of Metal and Wishes series features Asian characters. What made you want to visit Asian culture specifically in this series?
One of my sisters has lived in China (she’s a linguist and studies minority languages) for the better part of the last 20 years. She’s married to a Chinese man (and I have two adorable nephews and one incredibly cute niece!), and we’ve spoken a lot about her life there and their cross-cultural relationship. I think that’s what first inspired me to set OMAW in a fictional East Asian society.
You come from a heavy psychological background and I always feel like your characters are realistic. Does being a psychologist help you craft your complex characters and relationship dynamics?
I’m so happy that my characters come across that way. I became a psychologist because I was curious about human development, interaction, and reasoning, and that hasn’t changed. I think a lot about my characters’ past and how it shapes them, including traumatic experiences. I know a reasonable amount about how those things can alter the way people think and react. But the key with writing a novel is to render all that on a very small and intimate scale, something so many writers do naturally and extremely well. The challenge for me is to keep from getting too academic about it and let the story guide me.
You often have important themes that you discuss through your books. The most obvious one in Of Metal and Wishes and Of Dreams and Rust is discrimination. Are there other themes you hope readers of the series will take away from your books?
Discrimination is the most overt subject in play, but I hope that these books might leave people thinking about the assumptions they make about others and about the value of certain ways of being. We’re all taught this stuff very early on, through our parents, community, media, etc. It’s sometimes overt (comments made by our family members, for example) and sometimes it’s just the residue of observing the behavior of those around us (quietly rejecting or avoiding certain people). It sinks in, though, bone deep, and is pretty hard to shake. In OMAW and especially in ODAR, Wen has to go through this process of digging up those assumptions and holding them to the light. I guess I hope these books will do the same for readers (but mostly I hope they will simply enjoy the story).
My final question for you, if you had to be stuck on an island with either Wen, Melik or Bo, who would you pick and why?
What an interesting question! I guess I’d pick Wen. She’s selfless and knows how to take care of injuries and illnesses. And I think she’d be pretty resourceful if it came down to a matter of survival. Also, she wouldn’t need as much food to survive as Melik or Bo would, so more for me.
Thank you for taking your time to answer these questions, Sarah. I truly appreciate it and I wish you all the best with Of Dreams and Rust and your future writing endeavors.
Author Biography
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Giveaway
Prizes :
- 2 sets of Of Metal and Wishes and Of Dreams and Rust
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Be sure to check out the other tour stops below:
August 4: My Friends Are Fiction
August 5: Reading Teen
August 6: Rainy Day Ramblings
August 7: The Starry-Eyed Review
August 10: There Were Books Involved
August 11: Writer of Wrong
August 12: Love is Not a Triangle
August 13: The Quiet Concert
Thank you to Gaby Salpeter and Sarah Fine for letting me be part of the Of Dreams and Rust Blog Tour.
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