Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 459
Source: Galley from Simon & Schuster | Purchased final copy
Rating: 
Buy It: Amazon | Book Depository
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. – Goodreads
Review:
Hellooooo, new favorite book!
The first thing that makes this read different from others is the writing style. It has short and abrupt sentences, no quotation marks, and is written in Saba’s dialect which is grammatically incorrect. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness uses a similar technique, but Blood Red Road definitely takes it up a few notches. It took a few pages to get used to, but soon enough I was so completely wrapped in the story that I hardly noticed it. I could see this writing style turning some readers off, but I personally felt it gave the material a little more character.
The book is completely action packed! It opens with a sandstorm, four horsemen showing up, Saba’s father killed, and her twin brother, Lugh, captured by said horsemen. From there, we begin a journey with Saba to find and get Lugh back. Naturally there are quite a few bumps along the way — very intense bumps — but Saba proves what a complete badass she is, taking people down along the way and remaining unwilling to give up in her search for her brother.
Saba’s charm for me, though, is not how many punches she can pack, but how much of a flawed character she is. She’s selfish, stubborn, and can be very unlikable at times, but she’s also fierce, vulnerable, loyal, and it would be impossible not to empathize with the loneliness she feels without Lugh. She does love him to a fault, but she manages to grow throughout the course of the novel and becomes a bit more self-aware. This isn’t to say that she undergoes a magical transformation because, no, she does continue to screw up, but she’s beginning to take the steps out of his shadow and into her own identity. I’m very excited to see the continuation of her personal journey in the next books in the series.
JACK!!! I can’t have a review of this book without a mention of him. I absolutely LOVE him! Not only was the banter and tension between him and Saba delicious from the very beginning, but I wanted to give him a high five for being unafraid to call her out on her crap and her unfair treatment of Emmi. They’re such a perfect balance for each other! LOVE.
If I could pinpoint the one real issue I had with this book, it’s a certain event that happened in the last few pages. It completely took me by a surprise and I felt it was almost unnecessary. Perhaps it’s setting up something in the next books, but I’m skeptical since the characters seemed to move past it fairly quickly… This might bug me more later, but right now I’m just completely in love with the rest of the novel. This was a great debut from Moira Young and I’m looking forward to more from her, both in this series and any other future works.
I enjoyed this book so much that I’m giving away a final copy of it! The giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to you (check here). The entry form will close on June 21, 2011 at 5pm PST and a winner will be selected using random.org. You don’t have to be a follower to enter, but it is appreciated!
A special shoutout goes out to Samita for pushing me in the right direction to read this one! ;)
About Stephanie
Thanks for the awesome giveaway! I’ve been on the fence about this book, so I’m glad to know how much you loved it!
Okay, you have me convinced! I’ve been hearing that the writing style is very unique. I have a copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go sitting in my bookshelf (sadly unread!) so I’ll have to take a peek inside for an idea of what Blood Red Road is like. I really like how you describe Saba, she sounds like such a well developed character. And methinks I’m already falling for Jack! :D
Great review, I’m really intrigued by this one. Thanks so much for the giveaway!
Wee! This sounds so awesome! I love the way you describe the characters. And the writing style! I think a style like that might take a bit for me to get used to as well, but I know I would come to really love it. Okay, super excited about reading this one now :)
So glad that you enjoyed this! I really liked it as well. :) Thanks for sharing your review!
Yay! Glad to hear we are on the same page with this one. Sigh. I LOVE Jack as well. Hm, don’t quite know if I know the exact event that has got you irked at the end of the book… A lot did happen.
omg yay! I’m glad you liked it :D it’s definitely one of my faves this year (I think I already said this but it’s true!) Don’t forget Nero, he’s so adobs <3
I just finished reading this a little while ago and TOTALLY agree with you! The writing turned me off at first but once I was used to it it really helped add depth to the story. I LOVED jack and can’t wait to read more about him and his past. I’m intrigued to see what part DeMalo will eventually play.
I’d have to say that other than the Jack/Saba relationship I really liked how Saba and Emmi grew closer together throughout the story.
What was the thing at the end that you didn’t like?
Thanks for the giveaway!!!
I’ve just read this one and LOVED IT!
Lol at mentioning Patrick Ness – his Chaos Walking series is my favourite trilogy and the reason I picked Blood Red Road up was because the narration reminded me a lot of The Knife of Never Letting Go and the whole book cover design just had a similar feel :)
This was such an awesome book! I agree completely about the writing style, at first I was unsure about whether or not I was going to be able to finish it, but I got used to it fairly quickly.
My favourite character BY FAR is Jack. I love that he’s basically the voice of reason between Saba and Emmi. I also really like that he treats everyone in the group with a lot of respect. I think he would be a dream to have around :)
I’m really excited to read the next book!
Great review! I love that you brought up how Saba’s character changes throughout the book as she grows through each experience, but there is no “insta-change” that appears in so many other YA books these days.
- Alyssa of Redhead Heroines
Book Review of “Blood Red Road†by Moira Young