Revenge and the Wild

Gr 9 Up—A page-turning, steampunk-esque Wild West adventure crawling with supernatural creatures. Seventeen-year-old Westie may be one of the most notorious citizens of Rogue City, a magic-filled town in California where creatures such as elves, ogres, vampires, and humans all live in relative peace thanks to the magic wards of the Wintu tribe. Westie comes to Rouge City as a one-armed child after escaping the cannibals who consumed her family. From that day on, she is raised by Nigel, a brilliant inventor who creates a mechanical arm for her, as well as Bena, a Wintu woman, and Alistair, a fosterling of Nigel's who wears a mechanical mask (another of Nigel's creations) over part of his face. Westie has spent years searching for the cannibals to extract her revenge, succumbing to alcoholic binges along the way. Then, the very people she is seeking arrive in Rogue City as potential investors for Nigel's newest invention—one that will help save the magic that is quickly being lost in the city. But how will she prove they are the same people who killed her family? This slightly gruesome story really has something for nearly everyone—there's romance, revenge, gunslinging, magic, vampires, and zombies. Yet somehow Modesto makes it all work. The only nagging issue is that the Wintu are portrayed as mystical, magical people, which makes them seem more "other" than the non-Wintu humans in the book.