Review: Blood Red Road

Title: Blood Red Road
Author: Moira Young
Series: Dustlands #1
Published: 2011 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Obtained: Bought

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives bearing four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on a quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside, 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. 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.

First Sentence: “Lugh got born first.”

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Holy cow. This is one of my new favorite books (good thing I already bought it!). I just love everything about it. Shall I make a list?

1. Jack
2. Saba
3. It’s Dystopian
4. the cover
5. the western feel
6. Emmi
7. The Free Hawks
8. …OH GOSH, Just EVERYTHING.

This book is seriously amazing. From the western slang writing to the extensive and well-thought-out fight arena concept to the genius evil worm thingys.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! I’m having a little fan moment over here just remembering all the fantastic scenes this novel packed in.

Okay. I’ll calm down and try to explain a little better.

The time is long after our civilization and most of the area is sand and mountains. There are droughts and junk heaps, basically the place is a mess. Saba’s family is out in the plains with less rain than usual, a recent-ish death (the mother), a maybe a little crazy dad, and not much food. Then these raiders come and take Lugh, her slightly-older brother, away. Now, to Saba, Lugh is the sun and moon. She adores him. She wants to be just like him. So obviously she has to go after him. But his capture wasn’t just ordinary kidnapping, it was a long time plan of The Sun King, the sort-of drug ruler. This makes her life even MORE complicated and so the book rushes on with a million different awesome moments and more amazing characters. Along the way Saba realizes that, yeah Lugh is great, but I’m also pretty smart and I need to stop thinking I’m second-rate.

One of the issues many people have with this book is the simple writing style. This is a result of western slang, Saba’s simple thought process due to lack of education, and the nonexistent quotation marks. I know. If you’ve read Girl in the Arena, you know how frustrating it is when author’s change basic grammar rules. However, in Blood Red Road, it works. It’s not that confusing if you just read it like a narrative. For me, who likes to skim past long narrative bits and get to the “good stuff” AKA dialogue, this kind of writing actually makes me read more of the novel, and not get so caught up in the quotation marks. So I didn’t mind too badly, instead, I enjoyed the different style.

Oh. Jack? He rocks.

I pretty much NEED a sequel. Right. Now.

Probably going to reread this as soon as I have time. I miss it already.

Rating:  Yeah.

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Content Warnings: Saba curses a lot. I mean, A LOT. Aside from bad language, there’s kissing (and not too much, that I remember).