“This book is a brilliant imagination of what would happen if tech geniuses from the future invaded the primitive civilizations of the past.”

Review by Rayleigh Setser

They say Earth was a place of wonders, where towers pierced the clouds, cities lit up the night, and flying machines streaked across the sky. It was magic. But the magic conjured the End War. Fire fell from the sky, and metal beasts leveled the cities. That was six hundred years ago. Now the ruins of the Ancient world are buried or overgrown. And the technology of the past is feared as forbidden magic. Corvala, a young musician on the run from the law, never intended on getting mixed up with history. But when a murderer falls from the heavens and sets himself up as a god, she’s driven into the wilderness and discovers the secret of her a code of immense power embedded in her DNA. The code could save thousands—or plunge her into madness. To defeat the tyrannical false god, Corvala must do something more terrifying than confront the demons of Earth’s history. She must confront her own.

"When you look for evil, that's all you end up seeing."

I devoured this book!

Angel From The Rust marked all the boxes for me: dragons, trolls, and goblins? Check. AI robots? Check. Father-daughter dynamic? Check. Mysterious helmeted bounty hunter? CHECK. VIOLINS? CHECK! And yes, I could keep going with the hype-building; there were so many things that made this book a blast to read!

This book is a brilliant imagination of what would happen if tech geniuses from the future invaded the primitive civilizations of the past. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, humanity is rebuilding from the ashes of nuclear weapons with new parameters in place that label all tech as "demonic". So what happens when these civilizations see someone wield electricity or fly a spacecraft? You guessed it, they'd call them a "god". Luckily for humanity, someone from the past saw this coming and had a plan. Corvala and her violin, "Sir William", are part of that plan.

"'I can make my own choices.' 'You better make them wise.'"

Angel From the Rust was such a refreshing book to read. It's full of action, twisting and turning around corners you'd never expect, all the while keeping the light of hope shining in the darkness present. The book is lined with faith-based characters, but Corvala herself struggles with the concept of a deity, especially once this false god appears. Her journey, though not hers alone, is more than just saving people, it's coming to terms with her faith and what it means to trust blindly. I'm typically not a fan of blatantly placing God or Christianity into fantasy/science fiction, just because it often feels out of place and a lot like preaching, but this felt so natural and that it truly BELONGED in the story that I loved it!

This book is a little difficult to compare to others, all I could think of were movies, so I would say that aspects of it reminded me of WALL-E, Iron Man, and even Big Hero 6 (if you're a fan of Baymaxx, all I'm saying is you'll love Serapha). The closest comparison that I can think of, however, is actually my favorite video game: Horizon - Zero Dawn. So, if you enjoy wholesome, exciting science fiction that will have you biting your nails, Angel From the Rust should be on your TBR!

Content Ratings:

5, Action present (frequent and mildly detailed battle sequences and/or fights)

0. None.

0. None.

Other Trigger/Content Notices:

Trigger Warnings: Gore is the only thing I would caution for younger readers. Some heavier topics dealing with mind-control and human sacrifice that might be too mature for younger audiences, however, these scenes are not overly detailed or horrific.

Our Reviews of Other Books by this author:

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