Book Review ~ Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Title: Blood Red Road
Author: Moira Young
Genre: YA/Dystopian
Release Date: June 14, 2011

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

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 a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.
 
Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.

Review:

Blood Red Road is easily on the Top 5 Best Books I've Read in 2011 list!  At first the writing style was a bit weird to me.  I'm so used to reading books that have been edited the crap out of so you the reader are pretty much reading "proper" English.  With Blood Red Road the dialouge is written in a "less is more" type fashion.  I read several reviews on Blood Red Road on goodreads where several reviewers thought of it as what I percieved to be a distraction.  Once I was aware of the style and got my head wrapped around it it was pretty smooth sailing for me.

What I really enjoyed a lot about this book was Saba.  In my opinion Saba is my #2 Kick Ass Chick of the year.  In the beginnig of the book Saba is a follower, she's constantly following around in her twin brother Lugh's shadow.  But all of that changes when Lugh is kidnapped, their father is murdered and Saba is left with her baby sister Emmi to find Lugh.  As the book progresses transitions from a follower into a leader.  As the book progresses Saba becomes meaner and more aggressive, majority of the time her life and the lives of the people around her are dependent upon that meaness and aggression.

I think Jack was the perfect fit for Saba.  Jack is pretty fearless, has been for a good chunk of his life.  Then Saba happens. They both have their own daemons and I think that the budding romance between Jack and Saba brought the humaness back to Saba's mean and aggressive exterior.  I'm not quite sure that I would call the romance "epic" at this point but it certainly did build up to any future books that are forthcoming.

The action in this book is pretty non-stop.  To quote author Nancy Farmer from the back of the book..."The pace never lets up.  No situation is so bad that it can't get worse in the next couple of pages."  Which for me personally, made for a pretty intense reading experience (in a good way of course).  My personal favorite action sequence was the final showdown.  This scene too leads up to any forthcoming books, when a certain character escapes from the showdown after saying "Until next time."

Overall, I would recommend Blood Red Road to anyone who enjoys the Dystopian genre or is looking for a book that is similar to The Hunger Games trilogy or Divergent.  If you crave action in your reading there is plenty to be had in Blood Red Road.