Blood Red Road by Moira Young - spoilers

Published: 2011
Publisher: Marion Lloyd Books
Pages: 417
Format: Paperback
Rating: 5/5

Summary from Goodreads:

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

First of all, I just want to say that I was a little put off at first by the writing style of this book. It is written the way Saba and the other characters are supposed to speak, and as a result a lot of words are misspelled on purpose, such as ‘afeared’ meaning afraid. Also when characters talk, there are no speech marks for when they start speaking so it takes a little bit of getting used to.

At first, I found myself adjusting my reading style to the style of the book and after about fifty pages I hardly noticed the no speech marks as I was so engrossed in the story by that point. I really liked that the story was a dystopian tale that took place in the middle of a desert in the beginning; this gave the reader a chance to form their own imagining of where Saba lived, and you never knew what she’d encounter in the desert.

After reading The Scorch Trials by James Dashner, which also largely takes place in a desert I was a little apprehensive as to where Blood Red Road would go with the story, since I was a little bit disappointed with The Scorch Trials, but thankfully, Moira Young plunges straight into the story straight away as we follow Saba on her quest to find and retrieve her brother, Lugh.

I really loved the characters of Jack and Emmi the most, especially as Saba is quite mean to her little sister in the beginning but gradually begins to appreciate her and care for her properly. As for Jack, I loved the way he and Saba spoke to each other; he was a great bad-boy character and even though it took a while for her to admit her feelings, it was well worth the wait as they finally reconcile. He is definitely one of the best book boyfriends I’ve ever encountered.

Finally, I loved the way the plot just took you in so many different twists and directions, and how you never know what trials and dangers Saba and the other characters will meet on their journey (especially when some of them were truly evil people who deserved what was coming to them), but overall, along with the good characters, they made the story worthwhile, especially when the majority of the book takes place in a desert.

I loved this book and can’t wait to get my hands on Rebel Heart. A fully deserved 5/5/ stars.