Review : Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Title : Blood Red Road Author : Moira Young Reading Dates : 19 May - 27 May 2012 Total Pages : 417
Dustlands Blood Red Road Rebel Heart
From Amazon : The book that will “blow you away”** has a dazzling new look in paperback! Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when four cloaked horsemen capture Lugh, Saba's world is shattered, and she embarks on a quest to get him back. Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the outside world, Saba discovers she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba’s unrelenting search for Lugh stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetic writing style, and an epic love story—making Moira Young is one of the most exciting new voices in teen fiction.

Book Review of Blood Red Road.

Blood Red Road took some getting used to since the story is written in the first person and the main protagonist, Saba is supposed to be illiterate.

At first, this fact didn’t quite add up for me. I mean there were all these grammatical mistakes and mispronunciations of the simplest words mixed in with some pretty bombastic words, not the standard vocabulary I’m expecting from an uneducated girl from nowhere. The incongruity simply made Saba fake instead of ignorant.

However, once Saba’s precious brother, Lugh is kidnapped and she sets out on her journey to rescue him, the story picks up. Saba’s description of the landscape she sees, where she discovers the dying remnants of what must once have been our present world, is interesting. The question of how things wind up the way they do and whether Saba’s future adventures are going to shed more light on it, certainly had me intrigued.

The other part which interested me is how Saba sees herself. On one hand she sees herself as the lesser twin, on the other she goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure her own survival. It is a contradictory mix which gives rise to unnecessary situations in her search for Lugh. It also doesn’t make Saba likable but it does make it easy to understand why she’d be attracted to a troublemaker. The only problem is why Jack would feel the same about her.

As for the story itself, the events and characters were largely predictable. The only ones who I’ve yet to figure out are Saba’s pet crow, Nero and the mysterious De Malo. Nero is not an ordinary crow and it is obvious De Malo will have a further role to play in Saba’s life.

Unfortunately, the only way I’m going to get answers to these questions is by reading the subsequent books and I can’t say that I have sufficient motivation to read on.

Blood Read Road was a hardly an inspiring or unforgettable read.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Not likely.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series ? Only if I can't find something else I'd like to read.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? No.
• Who would I recommend this too? Maybe dystopian readers would enjoy this, but I wouldn't recommend it personally.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Borrow it.

In My Mailbox

Teaser Tuesdays

Challenges : 2012 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge; 2012 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge