Blood Red Road (2011) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 4 stars

“A quest of survival to rescue her brother, Saba learns the power of love.”

• Rated 5 stars

“-;-A Interesting Book Thats Stays Exciting All The Way Around-;-”

• Rated 5 stars

“This is a fast pace adventures story with surprises that you never see coming. It is an amazing book and I do recommend this book for people who love high energy books that keep you wanting more!!”

• Rated 3 stars

“This YA Dystopian debut by Canadian author, Moira Young, is pretty good. It won numerous literary awards, including: Sunburst Award Nominee for Young Adult (2012), Costa Book Award for Children's Book (2011), Cybils Award for Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult) (2011), and Teen Buckeye Book Award Nominee (2012).

Saba and her twin brother, Lugh, are 18 years old. They are as close as siblings can be, and Saba lives and breathes for Lugh. For the most part, they have been raised by their father. Their mother died in childbirth when their younger sister, Emmi, was born when the twins were 10 years old. Saba is resentful of Emmy and blames her for causing their mother's death. Lugh is the kinder one, and he does what he can to make Emmi happy.

Saba's father, Willem, reads the stars. Lugh thinks it is nonsense, but Saba believes her father when he warns her to be strong and not give into fear because, one day, Lugh and Emmi and many others will need her. He makes her promise to never give up, and she assures him that she is not a quitter. Four horsemen come, and they take Lugh away. Willem is killed during the melee, and Saba promises Lugh that she will find him.

Saba and Emmi now only have each other. Willem always told Saba to go to Crosscreek and find Mercy, who was her mother's friend, should anything happen. It is a three-day journey on foot. Saba explains what has happened and asks Mercy to look after Emmi while she goes off in search for Lugh. Mercy agrees, and Saba sets off. Saba gets captured and is taken to Hopetown, where her head is shaved and she is forced to engage in cage fights against other women. She earns the nickname of "The Angel of Death." There, she meets a mysterious man named Jack who is another cage-fighter. Saba discovers that Lugh has been taken to place in the mountains called Freedom Fields and that the King intends to kill him on Midsummer's Eve. Every six years, an 18 year-old boy who was born on Midwinter's Eve is sacrificed because the King believes that his power will be renewed by the sacrificed boy's spirit. Saba has to find Lugh before it is too late.

I thought that the premise of the story was great, but I really did not care for Saba. She is self-absorbed and selfish, and I loathed the way that she treated Emmi. I felt really sad for Emmi, having been brought into a world where no one really cared for her. Willem was never the same after his wife died, and Saba rebuffed Emmi because she was the reason why their mother died. If it wasn't for Lugh, Emmi would have had a miserable existence. What is even more heart-breaking is that Emmi is used to the neglect and does not expect anything more from Saba! So sad. Saba does evolve during the course of the book, and she ends up a better person than she started out. I do like how Young showed Saba's strength in the face of adversity.

Aside from having a hard time embracing the heroine of the story, Saba, I had a really hard time with the dialog in the story. Nearly every line of dialog ends with either "I says," "he says," or "she says." It is so redundant, and there is no variation.

Heather Lind is a new-to-me narrator, and I had a hard time with her narration in the beginning. Her soft-spoken voice practically lulled me to sleep, and it took a while before I was able to get into the story. She was "just okay" for me.

Overall, I like the book enough to want to read the next book in the series, Rebel Heart, which was released in October 2012.

I received this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own. ”

• Rated 1 stars

“This book was okay, I liked the story and all but when it came to how it was written I just didn't like it at all. Glad to be done with it and will most likely not be reading the rest.”

• Rated 5 stars

“I really admired the main characters stubbornness. It reminded me of Katniss, but i enjoyed Saba's personality much more in comparison to katniss's”

• Rated 4 stars

“Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Angst ridden dystopian that follows one girl’s terrible journey to find her brother. The writing style takes a little time to get used to but it fits the story perfectly.

Opening Sentence: Lugh got born first.

Review:

Blood Red Road is a dark and terrifying dystopian set in a distant future where humans are few and far between. Saba, her twin brother Lugh, her father and her “horrible” sister live on the edge of Silverlake. The lake has long since dried up but her father doesn’t want to leave. Saba’s world is turned upside down when Lugh discusses leaving. Unfortunately he drops this bomb on Saba just minutes before he is attacked and taken away by a group of strangers who want him because of the significance of his birthdate.

Saba can’t live without her brother so she embarks on a journey to save him. She is forced to take her younger sister with her as she begins her journey, much to Saba’s dismay. Saba has been taught to distrust people in the world around her, especially places where there are lots of people, so it seems quite strange when she tries to be friendly towards some people who are traveling to where she wants to go. Things for Saba just go downhill from there and just when you think things can’t get any worse for Saba they do.

The bleak nature of Saba’s travels underscore how desolate and alone she is in this world. It really shows how terrible people can be even as Saba learns the kindness of strangers, that she doesn’t have do to everything herself. Saba has a strange nature. She has a crazy love towards her brother (if she hadn’t met the mysterious Jack that she finds herself attracted too, I would almost say it could be incestuous what she feels for her brother) while she unduly treats her sister like trash. There are more times I felt sorry for her sister than I did for Saba but she had to be tough if she was going to survive to save her brother. In the end Saba learns some life lessons, good and bad, that transformed her outlook on life.

Saba is the narrator for Blood Red Road. She is uneducated and lives away from most human interaction so she has a strange way of talking (*see notable scene below*). Also, there is absolutely no use of quotation marks when someone is talking. It does take a little bit to get used to but this style really fits this dystopian world and how Saba would really talk and think. Once I got used to the style I could clearly see this world and I was engulfed in Saba’s trials and tribulations.

If you like your novels with emotional turmoil and constantly wonder “how is she going to get out of this mess?” Blood Red Road, the first novel in the Dust Lands Trilogy is for you. I can’t wait to learn more about Jack and the next step in Saba’s journey. Thankfully I don’t have to wait long, Rebel Heart is available now!

Notable Scene:

He hurries to finish with Emmi, then moves over to me. Whaddya mean, she killed the last one, I whisper. What last one?

He don’t reply. I try to make him catch my eye, but he won’t, he jest stares down at the bowl. His face is shiney with sweat an the spoon trembles in his hand. Fer the first time, I notice his hands an wrists is covered all over with ugly purple burn scars. Like somebody’s gone at ‘em with a hot poker.

So that’s what she means when she says she’ll give him the burn. That’s what she does when he crosses her. He ain’t gonna help us. He’s too terrified.

We’re on our own.

An I feel calm.

It seems crazy, seein how we’re both chained hand an foot an there ain’t a soul to help us, but I’m calm. Because now I see what I gotta do. An what I ain’t gotta do, which is waste time thinkin that anybody’s gonna help us. That somebody’s gonna come along an rescue us. I cain’t count on nobody but me.

So what I gotta do now is watch. An learn. An think. An plan. I’m gonna make sure we stay alive, Emmi an me. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll do what the hellhag tells me.

But I’ll be watchin an waitin. An when the time comes, when it’s the right moment to make a move, I’ll be ready. I’ll know what to do an I’ll git us outta here.

FTC Advisory: Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster provided me with a copy of Blood Read Road. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.”

• Rated 0 stars

“I learned of this trilogy from Jordan M who liked this one and the second one in the series also. This is on my wish list!”

• Rated 0 stars

“YA”

• Rated 5 stars

“ This book is by Moria Young.
This book is about an 18 year old girl named Saba. When her twin brother, Luh is taken by mysterious men, that also killed her father, she has to go after him. Along with the unwanted help of her little sister Emmi, they aim to rescue their brother and get revenge on the men who killed their father. Saba will discover thing about herself that she didn't even know, and some how, this all is related to the circumstances of the day she and Luh were born.
This is a very good book.”