I typically don't get along with YA contemporary fantasy, but when my sister Maddie charged me with reading Kara Swanson's Dust, I gave the genre another try. Maddie's view proved correct: I thoroughly enjoyed Dust, letting the story grab my attention for hours during the road trip to Tennessee.
The premise: Claire, a nineteen-year old orphan with mysterious dust that flakes continuously from her skin, travels to London in a desperate gamble to find her twin brother. Meanwhile, Peter Pan has been kicked out of Neverland, and needs Claire’s help to get his old life back. Kara uses the original Peter Pan as backstory, although I found myself enjoying this one more— Dust replaces Barrie’s extremely disturbing omniscient narrator with a first-person, present tense POV that alternates between Claire and Peter. The two narrative voices are distinctly developed, so much that the chapter headings declaring the POV are almost unnecessary. Kara’s reinterpretation of Tiger Lily, who voluntarily leaves her home in Neverland to accompany Peter after his fall to earth, was the most striking character in the book for me. She functions as a mentor figure to both Peter and Claire, which I appreciated, as it is rare for a girl (other than a love interest) to be the voice of truth in a male character’s arc. Tiger Lily and Peter have a deep, meaningful friendship, although without so much as a hint of romance. This makes sense, considering that Tiger Lily is light-years ahead of Peter in terms of maturity. Dust ends in a way that both satisfies all major promises made earlier in the story, and leaves us with a cliffhanger that sets up the second book in the series. Claire’s arc wraps up a chapter earlier than Peter’s. For a moment I prepared myself to turn the page into the acknowledgements and declare, “that was not a good ending!”. However, one final chapter from Peter’s POV sets all things right. Themes Kara Swanson is a Christian, but the Christian elements in Dust are implied rather than stated. Both lead character undergo powerful transformations. Peter is forced to confront the sins of his past and begin the long, hard journey toward growing up. Claire must learn to accept love despite finding herself worthy of rejection. Both characters’ journeys take us deep into their souls, and watching Claire and Peter grow helps the same growth take place in our own souls. Content Some fighting, but without much detail. Passionate kissing. Conclusion Although I normally don’t enjoy YA contemporary fantasy, Dust proved an exception. If you’d like to start with something shorter (and without a cliffhanger ending) try Kara Swanson’s earlier novella The Girl Who Could See. This basically serves as Dust-lite, with a similar premise and cast of characters, but a less complex plot. Now that I think of it, Kara’s short story Seaglass also has a similar premise, but on an even smaller scale. Almost as if her entire career has been building up to Dust. Interesting. This makes me eager to see where she’ll take her work next. Disclaimer: Up until my move to Tennessee a couple weeks ago, I attended the same church as Kara Swanson. I never knew her on a personal level, but my sister talked with her quite a bit. Anyway, Kara is one of Maddie’s favorite people, and Maddie is one of my favorite people.
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