Dust and Grim by Chuck Wendig

I've read Wendig's young adult series, "The Heartland Triology" (where you can find my thoughts, here, here, and here) previously. By the end of the series, I wasn't looking to start a bonfire so I thought it would be a hoot to give his middle grade debut a try. While I had problems with some components of the "The Heartland Triology," the overall storytelling was strong. I grew with the story and kept wanting more. Unfortunately, Dust & Grim seems to suffer the opposite problem. I have no qualms with the components, but it took me more than a week to read a middle grade novel. The book just never screamed to be picked up. Even regular chores had more appeal.

Don't get me wrong. Molly and Dustin have some charm. Full siblings each raised by a different parent in the divorce has led to two very unique people. Molly finds out about the other half of her family upon her father's death, and uncle's insinuation that the world is completely owed to Molly for her upbringing. She is a cosplay enthusiast, and Dustin is a closet Hawaiian somewhere on the spectrum.

Dustin has been running the family mortuary since his mother's death--and the concept of a mortuary for the supernatural is endearing. Now two orphans are clashed together in an epic battle of whose (strange) caretakers advice is better.

Writing it out like this seems readable, but there was just something missing in the execution. Most of the time Molly just got on my nerves. Way too much angst. I didn't like it at her age, I certainly don't like it decades later.

My recommendation would put this at a strong 3 star book that should be read if you've hit the bottom of that TBR pile. It's completely average. Clean writing. Funny characters. Plot moves forward with some twists. It just didn't have the chops to make it to 5 stars, every kid needs to read this status.