Rust: The Boy Soldier

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.