Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Title: Blood Red Road
Author: Moira Young
Published: June 7, 2011
Pages: 512/Hardcover
Series: Dustlands #1
Challenge: 2011 Debut Author Challenge
Source: Simon & Schuster Galley Grab


Summary: 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: Wow. Wow wow wow wow. This was such an amazing book! It was really hard for me to get into this book at first because the grammar and wording was so strange, but that was just part of the story.


As I just mentioned the grammar and wording was a bit of a problem in the beginning. For example, If someone was talking there wouldn't be quotation marks or a "he said" or "she said" to tell who was talking, but after the first bit of the book I got used to it. That's when I realized that the grammar "mistakes" were really just a way to show where these characters are coming from. They're living in a time when learning how to spell and talk aren't the most important things, survival is. 


Once Lugh was taken Saba has to make her journey to find him with her little sister who she really doesn't like (I think the word hate really would apply here). I was so amazing to see Saba's relationships evolve throughout the book. She didn't just go from hating her sister to loving her. It was a gradual thing that was very realistic and at time quite touching to see. Her relationship with Jack and the Free Hawks was also something that progressed slowly but realistically. 


I love books that have to do with travelling because usually there are a lot of mini stories inside one big story. While trying to find Lugh Saba meets a lot of different people who enter and leave her life within a few pages. She also gets put into situations or places and she's there for a few chapters, but then something else happens. These two things are what made me love this book. I loved seeing Saba change her views of people and life through her different encounters that made up her whole story.


The overall plot of the book was quite lovely and original. I wouldn't really categorize this as a dystopian book, but that's the closest thing I can think it would relate to. I noticed that Blood Red Road is actually the first in a series. I thought the ending left all of the characters in a very nice place and I don't really see where the sequel will take them, but after reading this I can't wait to see what Young has coming up!