Blood Red Road (Dustlands, Book 1) (original 2011; edition 2012)

4.5 stars
It took me a good 10% before my brain had finally adjusted to the writing style of Moira Young. Really makes me wonder how long it took the author to write this… if she had to stop and say to herself, “No, that sentence is much too proper. ‘They pretend it warn’t nuthin to do with ‘em.’ There! Perfect.” But really, I don’t think a lot of people will be able to put up with this book for that exact reason. I still recommend giving it a shot though, it may surprise you.
Blood Red Road tells the story of Saba who sets out to get her brother Lugh back after he is captured by a group of horsemen. Together, with her younger sister Emmi, they leave the only home they’ve ever known to travel into the unknown. Saba intends on leaving Emmi with a nearby neighbor (although not neighbor in the natural sense; they don’t exactly live in suburbia), however; Emmi is a stubborn little shit and insists on coming with Saba. At first, the relationship between Saba and Emmi drove me nuts because those two COULD NOT get along and Saba was downright awful to her. Saba had blamed Emmi for their mother’s death because she died giving birth to Emmi. The change in their relationship throughout the book was done in baby steps, but once they started to care for each other it was really touching.
I loved the Free Hawks… talk about one awesome group of kick-ass girls.
The relationship between Saba and Jack… cracked me up, at times. Talk about a love hate relationship. I kept slapping my forehead over and over saying, “MAN! Saba really needs to lighten up! She is way too uptight for her own good.” But, when it came down to it, that’s just who Saba was and it was nice to have a not so typical character for once.
Speaking of ‘not so typical’… hellwurms. They have giant worms in this novel… and they are called hellwurms. (Well, they're really just big worms but I felt the need to use Saba-talk). I recommend that when you get to the part where they are first mentioned? That you continue only if you have not eaten recently. Don’t know about you but those worms FREAKED ME OUT. Lol
I’ve said too much already. Suffice it to say, I highly recommend this book… give it a shot, don’t let the Beverly hillbilly language throw you off, it’s really a great story I swear.
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For eighteen-year-old Saba, her entire world has always been the dried up Silverlake, a place where sandstorms and drought influence everyday life. Although life is hard, Saba feels comforted by the fact that her twin brother Lugh is there for her. When some men ride up, shoot her father, and kidnap her beloved brother, Saba is determined to save him. As she navigates the chaotic world outside of Silverlake, Saba discovers that she’s a strong fighter and a quick thinker. With the help of the maddeningly handsome Jack and a group of girl rebels called the Free Hawks, Saba might just be able to save Lugh after all.

Moira Young’s tale of a girl living in a post-apocalyptic society is pretty epic. The first book in a planned trilogy tackles loss, love, the pains of growing up, and giant killer sand worms. This is an adventure story of the highest order, and it’s entertaining, engrossing, and worth every minute of its 450-odd pages.

Told in Saba’s phonetic, illiterate dialect, the writing takes some getting used to. Once the reader is able to adjust to Saba’s unique voice (there’s nothing to be afeared of here), they won’t be able to get enough of it. Saba’s voice lends authenticity to her tale, and Saba herself is remarkably well-drawn: she’s persnickety, and there’s a great deal of impressive character detail given to her and to her friends.

There’s a lot going on in Young’s novel–some people will argue that she crowds too much into it. There are so many subplots occurring that Young can’t address them all. As a result, some of them are dropped, but it’s this reviewer’s guess that they’ll be picked up in future installments. Despite being perhaps overly crowded with ideas and events, Young’s novel is extremely well-paced and completely captivating. This is an engrossing story that features a strong female protagonist in the same vein of Katniss Everdeen.

Recommended to fans of sci-fi post-apocalyptic fiction. Readers who are missing new installments of The Hunger Games might find a kindred book spirit here.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young. Doubleday: 2011. Electronic galley accepted for review. ( )

Rarely do I come across a book that I find very little in it that I liked. Blood Red Road is an exception. There were so few elements to it that I found enjoyable that I still can not believe I made it to the end. Especially, without the loss of hair or my sanity.

I'll start with the writing style. Blood Red Road is a futuristic dystopian, yet everyone talks like it takes place in the 1800's. I was espectin (yes, that is how they would say expecting) some toothless gold miner's to come rushing into the story. It's a lot of fer (for), yer (you're), babbies (babies), britches (pants), afeared (afraid, scared)... I'm sure you get the point.

Now, I understand that Saba and her siblings are raised in a remote setting with the lack of any sort of education or influence. Therefore, it is understandable that they would have some lazy way of speaking. However, almost everyone in this world speaks this way. It was worthy of some pretty major teeth grinding on my part. It felt too contrived, too forced and really unnecessary. I don't think it needed to be such a big part of the book and I felt it took away from the story.

Saba is horrid at first and by the end only slightly better. She's stubborn in the most awful ways, she's rude to damn near everyone, she is plainly the biggest bitch ever to her little nine year old sister and is entirely too obsessed with her twin brother. She would, quite literally, abandon her sister Emmi to get her brother back from his kidnappers. I spent about 75% of the book disliking her, the other 25% scratching my head.

She, somehow, manages to rally up quite the cast of helpers. I'm still confused by what they saw in her at first. But, the gang that helps her out are pretty remarkable characters and I enjoyed them quite a bit. The girl gang who go by Free Hawks were quite fun and I would like to read more about them - assuming they learn how to speak in somewhat proper English.

The villain was not a villain, he was a joke. I don't know where the hell the idea of him came from but I did not get it what so ever. I won't say what is so clown-like about him because I like to be spoiler free, but - wow, just wow, really? He didn't even seem like a threat. I don't know, I'm starting to ramble here. I'll stop now.

As far as the audio goes, if the narrator was directed to make every character sound dull and slow-witted; job well done.

I feel like this is a about as harsh of a review as I ever post and though I am not alone in my feelings on Blood Red Road, I am in the minority. Therefore, I am giving you some links to bloggers I love and trust who enjoyed this read. I encourage you to check them out.

Rally The Readers' Review
The Starry-Eyed Revue ( )

An intriguing and dingy world filled with characters you can grow with. I thought it ended in a way that wouldn't call for a sequel but publishers can't let go of money-making dystopian teen fiction that easily. The world that Young created is fascinating: it would fit in the Firefly universe seamlessly and perhaps that is why I'll pick up the next book.
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This is not a review.

Not really.

This is me expressing my surprise on how good this book is.

And yes I HAD super duper high expectations from this book but I have in been in such a down in my head this past week I had seriously started doubting my ability to love anything I read.

And I absolutely freaking loved this book!

Okay, So maybe this IS a review.



This book, for one, was not AT ALL what I expected it to be. I expected it to be a dystopian novel about a girl living in a world where nature has been destroyed and people are struggling to get food and other necessary stuff. The girl's brother is abducted and she goes out to search for him and meets with rebels who were rebelling against the said nature-less society and they team together to bring it down and save the girl's brother and the world as well. Somewhere enter a hot guy who makes the heroine's blood boil with his cocky attitude and they get on each other's nerves until they fall in love and the heroine realizes that the guy knows something and he's not telling her and stuff. Also maybe another guy who captures the heroine's attention and makes her catch her breath. You know, the usual dystopian society and its quirks and heroines with a hidden violent streak.

THIS WAS NOT THAT STORY.

Okay, it was but not in the way you would think it would be... nope. This book is unique for the lack of a better word (and yes - I am still searching for the better word).

I was at first taken aback by the writing style - it reminded me of [b:Forrest Gump|186190|Forrest Gump|Winston Groom|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347932072s/186190.jpg|1500218] with all sayins an whatnots jest writeen like the reader 'ud kno ta figger out whats bein writeen. It kind of put me off at first but it grew on me as I kept reading and I even enjoyed the carefree way the story was written. I neeva ekspekted to.

Saba was a strong heroine - though idiotic at times as heroines usually are. I can't say she's my favorite character in the book - eventhough she kicked ass and had a lot of attitude. Emmie - I loved her. And the supporting characters were all good. As was Jack as the devilishly handsome and cocky love interest. I am seriously intrigued about one particular character though and I do wish he had made an appearance that lasted for more than 8 total lines in maybe three different times in the book. Hell, I definitely hope DeMalo has more to do in the sequel(and doesn't let me down)

The plot - it's worth reading the book just for the plot. It's a different kind of dystopia than all the Hunger Games knockouts we see around. It put me constantly on the edge. I couldn't have put this book down even if I wanted to. And I DEFINITELY did not.

Strong heroine. Check.
Hot Hero. Check.
Awesome butt characters. Check.
Unique Story. Check.
Gripping plot. Check.

Add to it that not cliffhanger not making me want to bang my head on a wall ending and hell - why wouldn't it be a 5 star book!

Off to get myself a copy of the sequel! ASAP! ( )