Rebel Heart

Note: There are necessarily spoilers for the first book in this series, but not for this book, Book Two of a trilogy.

This is the second volume of a post-apocalyptic trilogy called "Dustlands," that takes elements of Hunger Games, Knife of Never Letting Go, The Scorch Trials, a little bit of Dune, and others, and combines them into a riveting story that gets off to an excellent start.

In Book One, Blood Red Road, Saba and her twin brother Lugh have just turned eighteen. They live with nine-year-old sister Emmi and their sad, possibly demented father on a hardscrabble farm in a sand-dune covered landscape ravaged by the “Wreckers,” Earth’s former civilization (i.e., us).

Right after a violent dust storm, a group of men on horseback show more show up, kill the father, and kidnap Lugh to serve as a human sacrifice to the “King.” Saba vows to get Lugh back, and she and Emmi take off after them, along with Nero, her intelligent and loyal pet crow. She picks up other followers on her way, including handsome and sensitive Jack, and a group of loyal women warriors. They have all met each other in depraved Hopetown, where drugged up citizens are purged of their aggression by watching caged people fight each other; after three losses, the loser is let lose in the crowd, which happily and eagerly tears them apart.

Saba was captured and became one of these fighters, and was so successful she was known as The Angel of Death. But one of her opponents turned out to be a member of the resistance, and together they outwitted their captors and destroyed Hopetown.

At the end of the first book, Saba, Lugh, Emmi and other survivors of the escape and set out for the fabled “Big Water” at the West Coast. But Jack can’t go yet; he has an obligation to fulfill. He promises to meet Saba there eventually.

In Rebel Heart, Saba, Lugh, Emmi and the others are making the long hard trek across the arid west to get to the ocean. As they wander through the desert to the promised land, Saba suffers a lapse in faith, and no longer knows what she believes or whom to trust. She is haunted by the deaths she has caused, and struggles to make sense of the changes in her brother Lugh.

On route, she finds out that the power behind the throne of the now-dead mad king, a man known as DeMalo, has reorganized the king’s army - the "Tonton” - and is “cleansing” the country for a New Eden led by him, “The Pathfinder.” Saba had two previous encounters with the charismatic and mysterious DeMalo; his gaze seemed to penetrate her very core, and he inexplicably saved her life both times. Now, he has put a price on her head, but demands she be brought to him alive. Meanwhile, Jack has become one of the Tonton, and Saba isn’t sure what to think. When she unexpectedly runs into DeMalo, her emotions, already raw from an encounter with a “Sky Speaker,” get turned inside out. She feels a Jane-Eyre-Rochester-like invisible line between her and DeMalo, and Saba doesn’t know what it means. She has a choice to make, and a lot of lives depend on her decision either way.

Discussion: This is a “middle child,” and as such there is more character development than world building. But the characters mostly take a turn for the worse. Saba is afraid she is losing her grip on reality like her Pa did, and for a while, it seems as if she might be right. And like Tris in the “Divergent” Trilogy following her own trauma, Saba can’t even shoot a weapon anymore. She has suddenly lost whatever had made her a warrior. Instead, she has become simpy, moony-eyed, and even cowardly. Saba is growing up, however, in some ways, gradually understanding that “Nobody’s like I thought they was. Nuthin’s like I figgered it. Nuthin’s like I thought it would be.”

Little Emmi is mature in many ways, except for her childish (and infuriating) loss of control whenever a lot of people’s lives are at stake and dependent on her cooperation. Again and again people die not because of Saba (as Saba believes) but because of problems precipitated by Emmi. She’s lovable and loyal, but that doesn’t help when so many die because of her.

Lugh, the “good” twin of the first book, is now definitely the bad one. There are a few allusions to some trauma he sustained while in the King’s prison, but could any trauma explain his total 180 in character?

DeMalo, menacing and minatory in Book One, is now like a little lovesick puppy, albeit one slightly off his rocker.

And then there is Tommo. In Book One, he is “near to [Emmi’s] own age.” Suddenly in Book Two, he’s closer to a man, and is clearly on the way to being a pyscho one at that.

Only Jack has stayed consistent. And Jack is a great character, but he plays only a minor role in this book.

Evaluation: Part of what made the first book in this series so good was the character of Saba, a loyal and fierce heroine who inspired admiration. In this book, Saba is wavering; her sister Emmi is annoying; and her brother Lugh is hateful. Still, it manages to be a good story. It’s not a standalone, however, and I’m hopeful for the third installment. show less

Nobody's like I thought they was. Nothing like I figgered it. Nothing like I thought it would be.

wow, those lines pretty much sum up this book for me.
It's not at all what I thought. The writing drove me crazy in the first book. This time, I just flew right through. It was a race to turn the pages and the story just kept drawing me in.

and with each turn, I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. And my heart broke every which way....over and over, for so many different people. These are rough lands in rough times.
And this barren land takes no prisoners, it just leaves a trail of dead bodies in its wake.

Saba and Lugh, Molly & Jack, Emmi, Maev, Demalo - all of them are back to share their story and take you on this adventure. It's show more an amazing ride.

and those last lines. They took my breath away. I can't wait until the next one. show less

Rebel Heart by Moira Young is the second book in her Dust Lands trilogy. Set in the far distant post-apocalyptic world, this book carries on right where the last one left off. The main character, Saba is with her twin brother and younger sister, heading for sanctuary while the love of her life, Jack has gone to inform his friend of the death of her loved one. Of course, something happens that cause Saba and her friends to go back, while Jack appears to have turned traitor and joined with the enemy.

I really liked the first book in this series but I believe this book suffered a little story wise. It felt very much as if the drama was forced simply to justify the length of the trilogy. Certain situations have been set up and I assume will show more be resolved in the third book. Still, I enjoyed the writing and the world building and certainly plan to continue on with the third book at some time. show less

The story picks up right where Blood Red Road left off, so be sure to re-read the ending before diving in (unless you’re reading the books right after the other, or you’ve got an excellent memory). The first part of Rebel Heart might seem a bit slow, but thing pick up towards the middle. The story heads in unforeseeable directions, which speaks to Moira Young’s creativity. Nothing is ever simple with Young’s stories, and that’s the way I like it.

I'm totally amazed at how easy and quick these books are to read. Rebel Heart is engrossing and unputdownable. It'd been a while since I'd read Blood Red Road and Moira Young gives no recap but eventually everything came back to me. I love these characters. I love Young's writing style. It's effortless and smooth. Saba's pain and fears were my pain and fears. My first act upon finishing this book was to look up the publication date of the final book (just a few weeks away). I recommend picking up this series and checking it out.

Rebel Heart by Moira Young is the second in the YA Dustlands series, following the breakout success, Blood Red Road. The latter got these kind of comments:

"Blood Red Road is an eerie and adventurous dystopian fantasy on par with Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games and Paolo Bacigalupi's Shipbreaker" - LA Times

"A natural for Hunger Games fans." - Publishers Weekly (red star review)

"Fans of The Hunger Games's Katniss will find in {Saba} similar reserves of hidden good nature and ferocious fighting abilities . . . Young has leveraged an intriguing action-romance story into a Mad Max-style world that'll have readers both satisfied and eager for more." - Booklist

In the first one Saba fought to rescue her twin brother Lugh in Plague Town and show more took on the "mad king", acquiring her nickname "Angel of Death" in the process. This one starts a few weeks after that, as she and other survivors try to travel west to the fabled and paradisiacal land of "Big Water". To do so, they have to cross dangerous Mad Max-like territories. At the same time, Saba wants to find romantic interest Jack, a formerly unreliable adventurer who may or may not have reformed. She is haunted by what happened in the first book, including those she had to kill and mistakes she believes she made.

This book is more concerned with romantic conflicts (Saba in particular has multiple suitors), and therefore doesn't achieve the action drive of the first volume. At the same time, it digs deeper into the characters than the first book did. Saba believes she is losing track of her identity and purpose, and needs the help of young "Sky Speaker" Auriel to sort some of it out. Meanwhile, charismatic DeMalo has reorganized the "Tontons", essentially a gang of ruthless mercenaries, to "cleanse" the environmentally plagued land, recruit new members, and give them a new beginning in the Eden he envisions. The old and the weak need not apply for residency; only the young, healthy and strong will have a place. Everyone helping Saba is at the same time struggling with the consequences of what happened in the first book. Her twin was damaged during his time imprisoned by the Tontons in ways he won't share, and others, like Saba, grieve for those they lost and experience guilt that they survived when others didn't. As to key character Jack, is he out for himself, or a traitor, or something else entirely?

The author doesn't try to recreate the success of the first book. She changes up what has come before and its significance, taking risks with her characters and showing she has a clear vision of where this story is going, even as she takes the reader through one unexpected twist and turn after another. This second book doesn't reach the heights of the first one, in my view, but it is a well done, intriguing follow up that has me looking forward to finding out what's up the road.

A couple of excerpts:

(A memory from growing up): "I tug on Pa's shirt. Pa? You never said. What'm I gonna be? Good or bad?

He kisses the top of my head. Whispers in my ear, so's only him an me can hear.

You, my darlin daughter, are gonna be something else entirely."

"Jack pulls up his horse. He breathes in. A long, deep, grateful breath. He drinks in the view. On the cleared valley floor, a small lake glints in the sun. Beside it stands a junkshack with a bark and sod roof, the rest of it cobbled together from Wrecker trash, stones, dried mud and the odd tree trunk. A man, a woman and a girl are working in the well-tended patches of cultivated land." show less

This is the second book in the Dust Lands series by Young. I absolutely adored Blood Red Road and was so excited to read this book. To be honest this book was a bit of a disappointment. Gone is the fierce Saba from Blood Red Road, she’s been replaced by a whiny emotional wreck of a young woman.

I listened to this on an audiobook. The audiobook was very well done. The narrator does an excellent job of capturing the stark language and slang used throughout the novel.

We hear briefly from Jack a bit in the beginning. The rest of the story is with Saba and her siblings as they journey across the Waste to the west. Saba is seeing shadows that are slowly driving her insane; she seeks help from a spiritual healer in a nearby town. This part show more of the story was a bit odd and I don’t understand why it was included here...but whatever.

Then when Maeve stumbles into town she brings word from Jack. Saba and crew abandon their quest to go West and turn back to travel to the Storm Belt to meet up with Jack.

Gone are the awesome action scenes and kick-butt Saba from the first book. In her place we have a selfish, wreck of a girl that's a shadow of herself. Saba doesn’t come off as tough but more of an emotional wreck whose world is slowly falling to pieces. Seriously Saba is so overly emotional about everything, sometimes following her mercurial changes in temperament just plain wore me out.

Saba continually makes rash emotional decisions that end up hurting the group. She never seems to learn from her mistakes. I understand that Saba's ability to feel emotions so keenly is special in this stark wasteland; but by the end of the book I wanted to smack her.

For some reason it seems like Saba is defining her whole existence by the men in her life. Her actions are driven by her brother, Jack, and even her enemy the Pathfinder and her emotions about them. It’s so different from the tough and pragmatic Saba in Blood Red Road.

Saba’s brother Lugh is just plain creepy throughout the book; he is controlling and a bit evil. His manipulation of Saba and his possessiveness gave me the creeps.

The best characters in this book are Em, Saba’s younger sister, whose incredible wisdom and cheerfulness add a lot to the bleak story. Also Saba and crew steal a cart from a medicine man named Slim; Slim ends up accompanying them on their journey to the Storm Belt. Slim is an awesome character; he adds some humor and seems to genuinely care about this group of wandering kids.

I still enjoyed the stark language and dusty, dank post-apocalyptic setting. I also enjoyed the glimpses back into the old Wrecker culture that made this horrible bleak world what it was.

Overall didn't like this book as much as the first one. I continue to enjoy the dank dusty world and stark language used to tell this story. I did not enjoy the emotional wrecked and selfish Saba that we deal with in this book. I didn’t understand the why behind the whole first half of the this book and hope that somehow it ties in with the third book and makes sense. Hopefully the final book in the series will be better and make some of the things that happened in the second book more meaningful. I will definitely read the final book in this series just because I did love Blood Red Road so much and I do love this world. Still, this definitely wasn’t a strong continuation of the series. show less