Blood Red Road

By Moira Young

Published by: Margaret K McElderry Books

My Rating: 

Blurb From Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

I read/listened to the Audiobook of Blood Red Road. This book was referred to me by Jenn at The Bawdy Book blog, and I am very happy that I took that recommendation to heart. It took me awhile to understand the world which is slowly revealed as the characters travel through it. It is a dystopian world, a more simple world full of violence, open spaces, and dangerous creatures.

One day, Saba is home with her family when suddenly, a dust storm blows in bringing the TonTon who kidnap her twin brother Lugh and kill her father. Saba collects her younger sister and sets off to get her brother back. With every turn, her sister Emme proves determined to come with her and the entire trip is full of danger. Along the way, Saba makes new friends, enemies, and finds love.

While I really enjoyed this story, and the characters, I didn’t find it perfect. Saba is very stubborn, and at times her stubbornness and her single-mindedness is off-putting. She is mean to her sister a lot, given this does improve as the book goes on and Saba learns more about the world. Before she left home, her world revolved around her brother. With all of her adventures, she learns there is much more to the world than her brother. Even though she learns, she is always determined to get her way and flat out stubborn. She proves to be a vicious fighter, and I love her for her determination to stay alive and to find her brother. That same stubbornness that can be off-putting is why she manages to stay alive despite circumstances turning against her.

Saba’s love interest is Jack, a fellow fighter turned friend and guide to her brother. Jack is, in many ways, just as stubborn as Saba. He puts her down a lot, in front of her sister. He does help her to relate to her sister more, but their relationship is full of ups and downs. Neither wants to admit to the attraction between them, and instead they spend a lot of time being frustrated with each other. I will say that Saba manages to grow up a lot through the story. I always love when characters are able to grow and mature, and Saba is an excellent example of one of these characters.

Blood Red Road is a compelling story set in a unique world. While the book is marked as a Young Adult, it is definitely intended for more mature audiences, simply because of the violence. The violence is vicious and a constant throughout the book. The character development is excellent, the characters have their own faults, charms, and backgrounds and I was completely captivated with the story.

Readers, if you like fantasy, dystopian type books I highly recommend reading Blood Red Road. I am anxiously awaiting the release of book 2, Rebel Heart, when it releases later this year.

*Note about the audiobook* I am very happy that I listened to this book. The characters have various accents and slang that are sometimes off-putting when reading a book. The narrator does an excellent job with the accents and the slang. She even has to sing a bit on occasion, and I was very impressed with the quality of the narration.

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