Rust

May 1, 2016

Gr 3-8-Jet Jones has been on an extensive journey to discover his humanity. A robot built as the ultimate weapon for a long-ago war, Jet is more concerned with saving lives than taking them and wants to find his place in the world. Unfortunately, he is the last of his kind, and there are forces that will stop at nothing, even the taking of innocent lives, to bring him in. Billed as a prologue, this title collects the portions of the previous books that dealt with Jet Jones's time in the war, 48 years before the rocket boy makes it to the Taylor Farm. There is only about 30 pages of new material here, which, according to the back cover, will be part of the upcoming final volume in the series. The additional content is constructed in a new reading order and provides further details about the accident that caused Jet's crisis of conscience and led him to do away with his experimental cell in favor of an oil one, but does little more to further the narrative. Libraries with limited funds may want to pass on the book, since the material will be available in a future volume; however, it serves as a solid introduction to the main story and will fill the gap for readers until the final installment is available.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 2, 2012
A boy named Jet turns out to be a flying robot who helps save the family farm in this steampunk comic that includes
elements of other classic “boy and his robot” tales like The Iron Giant. The setting is an alternate world where in the past a huge war was fought with mechanical men increasingly standing in for humans as the war progressed. Forty years later, Roman Taylor is a teenager struggling to keep his family’s farm afloat in his father’s absence with the aid of Jet, who appears one day locked in battle with a larger war robot. This first volume of a proposed four-book series is heavy on setup and planting seeds of future mysteries: Why are so many children around the farm crippled? Where is Roman’s dad, anyway? Lepp tells the story as an animated storyboard—whole pages of moment-by-moment breakdowns make the action easy to follow, and the beautiful sepia-toned art gives a strong sense of both windswept wheat fields and clanking robot battle. However, the story is marred somewhat by flat dialogue, and some of the action sequences drag on. Still, a promising beginning for an intriguing tale. Ages 12–up.