Angel from the Rust

Earth Medieval, Book 1

By: Jason Link

Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan Baker

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

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 bloodline: 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.

©2022 Jason Link (P)2022 Jason Link

A unique sci-fi fantasy world

This book was a unique, interesting read. I really enjoyed the premise of humanity after essentially the rise and fall of technology, and the high-fantasy vibe it brought with it. The world building was great, and I enjoyed exploring it with the characters on their journey. The audiobook was well narrated and the visuals were easy to fall into. But the characters fell a little flat for me. I felt like the MC lacked agency, and in general, the POV characters spent a lot of their time in their own heads and were missing the growth and relationship that would've really brought them to life for me. But if you enjoy plot-driven epic sci-fi and fantasy, I'd definitely recommend you give this a try!

Fast paced, fantasy vibes, sci-fi touches

This was a fast paced and exciting read that really didn’t waste a sentence of prose the whole way through.

It is multi-PoV but the story is absolutely cohesive and the switches happen at the appropriate times and switch to the character best suited to the scene. There aren’t PoVs for characters are different continents, there’s just the one plotline and the perspectives of everyone in it as they travel together with the story.

I loved the father daughter relationship with Corvala and Exodus, and Exodus pretty quickly became my favorite character. But I also really enjoyed getting the villain PoV to add that extra dash of darkness and depth to the pot.

The worldbuilding was grounded and wonderful with the tech-explained magic of the past. Definitely recommend for those who enjoy efficient, fast paced prose and a mix of genres (postapoc, fantasy, sci-fi)!

An interesting dystopian fantasy.

I enjoyed this unusual story way more than I had expected. (This is not to take away from the author; it is just that I don’t usually read apocalyptic fiction as I am not a big fan of the genre.) It makes an engaging attempt at putting together a plot with many novel aspects.

The audiobook, clocking at 11hrs 50 min, is narrated by Tiffany Morgan Baker. She does an amazing job, voicing all the characters to perfection. She even sings well! For a book with some many characters and parallel plots, the audio is surprisingly easy on the ears.

Recommended to those who enjoy dystopian fantasies with spunky heroines and slow-burn thrills.

First of a planned series; no cliffhanger ending.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.