DNFed this at 26%.

Things I liked:
- It is in a setting that I haven't read much in books but have encountered a lot in movies and games.
- It's fast-paced and readable.
- It features a strong and independent female main character.

Things I did not like:
- The descriptions: it feels like the author is describing what Hollywood thinks a desert or post-apocalyptic wasteland should be. Nothing feels organic or lived in.
- The worldbuilding: for the sake of novelty, it changes the names of known concepts to make it feel like the people have created a new language of sorts. All it does is sound irritating.
- It keeps trying to work in messages that ~humanity/Old World ruined the earth blah blah~ without acknowledging ALL of the factors that have led to it. It feels very lazy.

Dustborn by Erin Bowman is a standalone YA sci-fi novel.

The book follows Delta of Dead River who carries a secret, on her back is a map that supposedly leads to a green paradise called the Verdant. In this dusty, dry world such a thing truly would be a paradise, especially as water resources are dwindling and this could be the answer to so many problems. Unfortunately no one in her tribe has known how to read the map for a long time but continue the tradition of branding the map down the line when an older map wearer passes. Delta only knows that she’s not supposed to tell anyone about the map unless she trusts them with her life.
While Delta is away from camp one day her tribe is attacked and taken, she decides to take it upon herself to get her people back from this General. She can’t afford to lose anymore of her people. When Delta was younger her best friend Asher, a fellow map branded person, died after their tribes split and the side he was with was attacked by raiders, all of them killed.
(Or well, Delta thought he was dead, imagine her surprise to find out otherwise. That’s not a spoiler btw, it’s spelled out in the book summary that Asher is alive.)
The General wants the secret on her back and he’s willing to kill for it, Delta has to work quick to unravel what the map is supposed to be saying if she wants to save her people and she has to learn how to trust the man that was once a boy who was once one of her most important people.
The answers the map hold though are world changing and could change everything depending on how it’s used.
***
The story was fun enough, the first 50% were interesting in a world building way but things really pick up and carry on after that. I’d give the book 3.5/5 stars.
Delta is a teen who is struggling with the faith her family holds, she’s not sure the gods are listening if they ever were and is convinced they’re not coming back to make things better. She would like to believe but what she sees and what she’s told aren’t meshing, but she is definitely a girl of conviction. She is single mindedly dedicated to freeing her tribe from the General, so much so that some of her decisions are pretty bad sometimes (and how she reacts to things other people try to tell her) but she’s growing and learning.
I enjoyed this book, fast quick read, will be recommending.
***
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Delta of Dead River has a map tattooed on her back leading to the rumored paradise land of Verdant. Though most people in the wasteland can't read it, the people would kill for that map. Delta and her family travel through the wastes, and most people can't be trusted, even the friend that disappeared a decade ago. Finding Verdant is one problem: the secrets hidden there could undermine the foundations of her world.

Dustborn is a cross between Waterworld and Mad Max Fury Road. In a desert world, water and supplies are at a premium, and it's certainly apocalyptic. The Old World made jars with lids that screwed tightly, knives of metal and molded plastic, rovers and rifles. Life is harsh, but it's even harder for those visited by raiders, or sold to work for the General. He controls Bedrock, a cache of weapons, and a source of water used to grow crops. To consolidate his power, he rules with fear, guns and drugged water, turning laborers into mindless drones. Children aren't taught anything but how to fight or harvest; if they spontaneously know how to read or any other skill, they're "gods touched" and given a place of respect.

The bits of Old World history, as well as the land of this world, is very subtly laid out as Delta moved through it. The tale of Verdant haunts everyone, the hope for a life with water, greenery, and relative ease compared to the desert and dried up ocean beds. Delta resents additional burdens at first and losing everyone she loves, some in brutally horrible ways, makes her realize that she can't live in isolation. While she originally counts those she grew up with as her pack, it's the relationships along the way that truly matters most.

The apocalyptic landscape was not exactly what we thought it was, and the twist was one that had me grinning for the author's ingenuity as well as feeling the characters' pain. It's splendidly done, as was Delta's gradual change from the start of the book. I was engrossed by her story from the start, and wished her luck in her future.

Dustborn is a YA Science Fiction/Fantasy set in a dangerous, barren world. Delta lives with her pack, just fighting to stay alive. When her sister goes into labor, she must trek to the nearest healer to try and save her - and while she is gone her pack is attacked. She returns with her sister's baby but not her sister, who died in childbirth to find her pack gone. They've been taken by the General, who wants to use Delta to find Verdant, a rumored paradise that she has the map to branded on her back.

This book is so gritty and raw, it reminds me a lot of the Illuminae series in a way. Delta is really fighting for her life and the world she is existing in is ruthless and violent. She has to be strong, and hard, and fierce to protect herself, her niece, and her secrets. You can't trust anyone in this world, but Delta learns to trust and goes through a massive character growth during this stand alone by Erin Bowman.

I don't have many critiques outside of the pacing being somewhat slow at some points. There is a big twist that I didn't totally see coming. I did think the battle scenes could've been better written - they were confusing and all over the place for me, but this is likely more of a personal preference. Overall I enjoyed this book and absolutely love the cover, so I recommend it for those SciFi fans out there!

**Thank you to HMH Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

I liked Dustborn, though It wasn't a book that blew my mind or one I’m going to remember for years to pass

The premise was interesting and, even though reminded me a lot of Mad Max, had its own unique qualities that made discovering new things about it fun. The descriptions of the wasteland, dust storms, and old technology held my interest from page one.

The plot had twists I didn’t see coming, but the pacing dragged at places that it shouldn’t and quickened at points that needed more time exploring/developing.

The characters were okay. I cared about our protagonist, Delta, who was an independent and strong individual trying to save her people, but I didn’t harbor any feelings for the rest. Also, I wish we had more time to get to know our antagonist, who seemed too one-dimensional for my taste.

To conclude, Dustborn was a fun ya dystopian, and I’d recommend it to fans of the genre regardless of its flaws.


I received this e-arc from NetGalley for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Erin Bowman has become an auto-buy author for me. Her storytelling is vivid and lush and no matter if it is a dystopian, science fiction, western she draws you in. Dustborn is just as good and I was so invested in Delta’s journey which was full of dangers at every turn. However, if you have grown up living in the harsh conditions Delta does you would have some much needed survival skills.

Now to complicate Delta’s journey she is left with an infant to take care of under extreme circumstances. This is a book I would highly recommend to all ages!

"Dustborn" is indeed the perfect book for you if you love Mad Max. It's also the perfect book for you if you miss YA dystopias set in wastelands that are ruled by dust storms and solar flares. One of my favourite elements in "Dustborn" (apart from the barren landscape where one must be selfish and vicious to survive) was without a doubt Delta's character growth.

Update: I re-read Blood Red Road because "Dustborn" reminded me of how I much I loved it. I must confess I felt a bit disappointed afterwards, because the plot of "Dustborn" is so much alike to the plot of the "Dust Lands" trilogy (from burning the dead to send their soul to the stars to a god-like villain who wishes to control a land named Eden).

I was given an eARC of Dustborn by Erin Bowman in exchange for an honest review.

Dustborn is a dystopian science fiction tale, following Delta as she tries to survive in a harsh world and save her pack. And of course, there’s a bit more going on than you think there is. I could say this felt like a cross between Mad Max and Waterworld, but I doubt many readers would get those references and it instantly dates me.

Dustborn is written from Delta’s point of view. She’s harsh, has a wavering faith in the Gods, and knows how to look after herself. She has a big heart as well; she cares deeply for her family and pack and this is the cause of the situation she finds herself thrust into.

For Delta holds a secret on her back that she is to trust no one with; she has a map branded into her skin that supposedly shows the way to Verdant; a green oasis in the dead land they live in. The trouble is, no one can read so the map has been handed down, but no one is left who understands it.

Then there is Asher, who also has the brand in his back (always two in the pack carry the brand) a childhood friend who disappeared one day. I had trouble remembering if he was Delta’s brother for a bit, which meant the growing romance between the two was a little unsettling for a moment.

Asher, when we meet him again early into Delta’s story, has changed. He has faith in the Gods because he needs to believe. But he has had to survive in a cruel world, which has made him sharper and untrustworthy from the boy Delta knew. This gives a lot of opportunity for the two to clash on their out look of life, and how Asher doesn't think of his pack as family anymore, whereas Delta tries to convince him that family is important and they should look out for each other. It made me wonder what it was Delta saw in him for most of the story.

I felt that the story took some time to get going, but there was necessary world-building and character establishment, otherwise Delta’s goal wouldn’t have meant as much to the reader. I loved the world we find ourselves in; it’s bleak and rather unusual in a YA book these days. There really is no hope, just the need to survive one day after the next. The time taken to establish the world and Delta's part in it meant that by the second half of the book, the threats hurt more because I knew these characters. And I understand how the world worked.

Delta is a likable character. She isn’t perfect, but her flaws do not cause her to make stupid mistakes. She cares, and in a world where that is dangerous, it’s nice to see that she still has that compassion in her. She tries to solve problems in the best way she can, even when there is no right answer.

The antagonist, the General, is a man who believes he is doing the right thing, even though the reader and Delta knows it is done in the wrong way. But in a land as harsh as this one, the General is doing exactly what most others would do. I understood his actions, even if I did not agree with them.

The second half of the story really picks up pace and rattles along to is kind of hopeful conclusion, or pause in the tale. I felt that the ending was satisfying; Delta’s tale had run it’s course, but of course it’s not the end of the battle for survival and I’m pretty certain another book is on the way. But Dustborn was neatly wrapped up, with the realistic but hopeful view of the future one that Delta has hung onto for her whole life.

Having Dustborn told from Delta’s view means the science fiction elements of the world are accessible, making it a good story for those new to the genre. And it does a very good job of showing a people who have lost their past and what that means for them.

Over all, Dustborn is a bleak, but optimistic dystopian with an obvious but hidden twist, determined characters and loyalty to your family at it’s heart. It has a gentle romance bubbling under the surface, some harrowing scenes and great descriptions of sand storms.

I enjoyed it very much.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this, and while it's not a bad book, I think it just wasn't for me. It felt slow a lot of the times and I never really connected to the characters, unfortunately. I think I just wasn't the right audience for it.

The dry, hopeless and kind of depressed atmosphere is already there in the first chapters of this story. The world seems to be getting to it’s end, and the only survivors live in small groups, desperate for a way to stay alive. Delta is one of them and perhaps one of the strongest too. From the moment she takes her sister to Zuly to save her, to the times when she has no choice but to do what she has to to stay alive. The world she grew up in is parched, starving and everyone seems tob e looking out fort he promised land: the Verdant.

Soon it becomes clear that Delta is one of the few that does not only think about themselves. She thinks in the interests of her group, her family. But that doesn’t come without any problems. With a scarce supply, but just enough to survive, Delta travels through the parched landscape looking for a way to save her people. The few things she owns all serve a great purpose. The author uses Delta’s knowledge to show the reader what it would take to survive in such circumstances. In such a way, it turns out quite realistacally. As a reader you can almost feel the discomforts during reading.

Although Delta always has a plan in mind and her purpose remains quite the same throughout the story, there are plenty of things that thwart her. It if isn’t the barren and hopeless landscape, then it’s an old acquantance who turns against her or a ruler who’s looking for answers and thinks they can find them on the map on Delta’s back. There is constant danger, but Delta’s character brings a little positivity from time to time. Also some of the contacts she makes brighten up the place no wand then. The more people Delta gets to know, the more interesting the concept of the story becomes. Delta is discovering more and more secrets, but with those secrets, the world is also becoming more dangerous. Family, survival, trust and self-interest are important and recurring topics in this story. The currption of mankind as supplies in the world become scarcer is almost unbelievable. And so Delta comes in contact with things she never expected to find.

While she’s on the run from several oppenents and looking for a way to rescue her people, Delta’s past continues to unfold. She discovers secrets about her group and about herself that she never thought possible. Quite a bit of time passes during the story and the author doesn’t hesistate to use time jumps. So the story keeps on going quite well and the story doesn’t get tedious. The writing style is also very pleasant to read. The author has woven some ‘older’ but als new terms into the story. Which makes it possible for this story to have happened in the past, or in the future. The chapters are also not too long and since the story is entirely written from Delta’s perspective makes the story less predictable.

As Delta and her henchmen get closer to the final battle, the story seems to slow a bit down. Plans have to be made and this takes up quite some time. Fortunately, the author does not describe all of it and the showdown takes place fairly quickly. All events from the story have led tot his one moment and the end has become a true spectacle.

There is absolutely no shortage of action, adventure and survival methods in this sory. In Dustborn it’s all about surviving, power, knowledge and most importanly: water. This is a great dystopian YA story!

3.5★

This book is very fast paced, which is great since it's a standalone. The world isn't very complicated, so not too many pages were dedicated to world building. The blurb basically says it all: Delta and the rest of humanity live in a desert-like world that is plagued by all kinds of geomagnetic storms and dust squalls. There is hardly enough water for everyone, and you can imagine that crops aren't plentiful either. There is no central government; everyone lives with their own pack, and no one really travels because the chances of survival are very slim. I did love this world, because it's very harrowing. Bowman really doesn't beat around the bush with how harsh this world is to live in, and I really liked that.

The plot was very interesting, too. There is an air of mystery to this story, and you want to find out more about the Verdant, and about the General. I really had no idea where the story would go, which to me is great, because that makes it unpredictable. There are some slight twists in the story that I didn't even consider as a possibility, so that was a lot of fun.

However, even though this was a fun and fast read, I do think that some aspects of the book were a little underdeveloped. The characters, for instance. The whole story is told from Delta's perspective, so we don't get the chance to know the other characters as well. I liked the characters, but they fell a little flat for me. In my opinion there wasn't enough emotional development, so in the end I wasn't really attached to any of them. I did like Delta's character development, though. She went from being incredibly harsh to... well, she's still harsh, but also a lot nicer.

I loved the idea of this story, the sandy and hot atmosphere reminded me of Dune and Mad Max. There were, however, a few things I did not love but I will get to that shortly.
Delta is a badass female MC and she has a good reason to be. Not only does she live a hard life at Dead River, but she also is one of two people with a secret map to Eden branded on her back. One night she takes her sister to receive help with her pregnancy and although Delta loses her sister to childbirth that night, she takes the baby and returns to her people, her family... only to find out that raiders trashed their settlement and took her family to Bedrock which is where a man known as the General rules like an overlord.
The story honestly just gets better and better. What I had difficulty with was not being able to really feel that the characters were being genuine and realistic when they communicated with one another. The way they spoke felt forced to me personally.
I do think this was a fun and fast paced read, definitely original with some mystical touches to it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this arc. All opinions are my own.

This book didn't thrill me.

The plotline seemed good, I liked the juxtaposition of sci-fi and old western, it had Dune vibes. But the MC did not seem realistic at all to me. I just could not connect with her.

SPOILER ALERT!

She loses her sister and mother and doesn't mention them again. She talks about saving the rest of her pack and yes, I get that it's a pretty big distraction from her grief. And maybe she's holding it in for later? But the book never says that, she hardly even mentions them again. So I was never very invested in the outcome. The plot twist was excellent though, I never saw it coming and was glad I finished the book to read that part. I almost wish she had taken it further, that they had tried to send out a distress signal, that we could find out more about this Federation that abandoned them. The bits and pieces we got were so interesting, and then the book just ends.

As a fan of both Vengeance Road and Contagion by Erin Bowman, I was excited to see her marry these two western and sci-fi genres. Dustborn sounded super exciting and fun, and I had high expectations for this book.

One of the strong points of this novel is the setting. Erin Bowman never disappoints on her settings, I've noticed. Dustborn's sci-fi western is gritty and dusty and had me feeling so dehydrated the entire time I was reading this book. Every scrubby bush, every volcanic landscape, every mountain range... it was so vivid in my mind. This is mostly a journey book, so the fact that each setting was so unique was wonderful, though the world felt cohesive and familiar in some ways.

I really liked Delta, especially in the beginning. She's fierce and will do anything to protect her family, no matter the cost. She shows this in the beginning, when she drags her pregnant sister across the desert so she can be healed after her pregnancy goes wrong. This is continually showed, though as the story goes on, I came to realize that her willingness to protect her family was sometimes her only character trait--it took over her completely, even to the detriment of others. I love a flawed character, and I did love Delta in the beginning, but I think her stubbornness rubbed me the wrong way at times, especially when she wasn't willing to listen to others (and when she harms an animal with no reason). And when she finally was able to her, the change felt a little too abrupt, not gradual enough for my tastes. I did like her character arc, though, especially as she learned to trust other characters. There are a lot of characters in this story, which made for little time to flesh out any except Delta (with a little time spent on Asher and Reed). Reed was definitely my favorite side character. He surprised me in many ways, and I liked where the story took him. Bay, Delta's niece, is adorable, and I wish she could have been in the story more. Her general babyness next to Delta's grit and hardness was a wonderful juxtaposition.

The plot was exciting and interesting, with a lot of unique twists, a couple of which I didn't see coming at all. At the 50% mark, I felt there was one thing that took me out of the story because it was too convenient, but other than that, it's a fast-paced dystopian-style sci-fi that was exciting right up to the end.

Overall Feelings

Compared to Vengeance Road and Contagion, Dustborn falls a little bit short, but I do still think it's a strong book that is perfect for fans of dystopian with lots of action. And if you haven't read any of Erin Bowman's books, this is a great place to start, since this is a standalone. Erin's writing and plotting is still top-notch, and I continue to look forward to what she writes next.

Ok number one thing that drew me in? That cover is wicked. Seriously, its amazing!
Post-apocalyptic world, which was fleshed out really well. Good description writing so I could visually see what was going on in my minds eye. The character development was unbelievable. Delta is a great MC. I love a fierce chick willing to go to the ends of the earth. Plot twists were very much 'ohmigosh'! Loved it.
Great book!! Recommend.

This book bridged a very fine gap between Western, Dystopia and Scifi and did it extraordinarily well. Erin Bowman managed to create captivating characters against a bleak wasteland of a post apocalyptic world to the point where you felt their pain and their loss of family and their need for hope.

The most disappointing aspect of the book was definitely the lack of development in certain areas. With the issues the author faced with publishing the book and reducing what should have been a multi book series into a single standalone meant that certain aspects could have done with more development.

but despite this single short fall - the book was gripping and entertaining.

Another great book from Erin Bowman! This is an action-packed sci-fi novel that takes place on a dry and desolate planet whose inhabitants are barely surviving. The map on Delta's back holds the key to renewed prosperity in Verdant, but nobody can read it. When Delta's pack is kidnapped by the General and she is reunited with her childhood friend Asher, she discovers that there is so much more that she never knew about her planet than just the location of Verdant.
For fans of: Aurora Rising, Illuminae, Nyxia, and Contagion

Delta of Dead River has a secret literally branded on her back, and she has been told since her earliest years to never reveal it to anyone. It is the location of Verdant, a rumoured paradise. Living in a wasteland that is dust squalls, geomagnetic storms, and solar flares by constant drought, dust storms and raids, Delta wants more for her village, so when they are all taken by the General, she sets off to find them all.

While traversing the Wasteland with a newborn baby, Delta is taken hostage by someone she thought she would never see again, and that is only the start of a very thrilling adventure.

A great post-apocalyptic book. I felt in some respects this needs to be part of a series to allow some of the questions I have still. But after a slow start I was hooked.

It started off slow and I put the book down a few times before the story gripped me. Dustborn reminds me of Mad Max with the desperation, the sand, the grittiness, and survival. I enjoyed Delta's determination and temerity. One factor that annoyed me was the lack of diversity with the characters--how are there no brown or dark-skinned people? How did a bunch of pale-skinned people end up in the desert? Overall, a decent read but did not jump off the page for me.