Thursday, January 16, 2014

Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Title: Blood Red Road (Dust Lands #1)
Author: Moira Young
Published: June 7th 2011
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Saba lives in Silverlake, a wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms where her family scavenge from landfills left by the long-gone Wrecker civilization. After four cloaked horsemen kidnap her beloved twin brother Lugh, she teams up with daredevil Jack and the Free Hawks, a girl gang of Revolutionaries.

Saba learns that she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Saba and her new friends stage a showdown that change the course of her civilization.

My, my! I remember reading Jenny’s interview with Moira Young on her blog Supernatural Snark prior Rebel Heart’s release and these two got me intrigued. I admit, I had never heard of this series until that point. You probably all know about my US paperback format quirk and since the US paperback was a pre-order back then, and therefore cheaper than usual, I got it. It was totally on impulse. I had no idea what I was setting myself up for. When I pulled a paper slip out of my unread physical copies list with Blood Red Road on it, I was fairly frightened to be honest with you. Turns out I had no reason to be! It was an absolute joy to read this thrilling, thrilling debut. 


“There can be beauty anywhere. Even here. An if it ain't there, you can make it yerself.”


When I cracked the book open and read the first three pages where Saba thinks to herself what went wrong, I was immediately hooked. However, the writing is something I imagine a lot of the readers struggle with. I have never read a book with such a huge dialect throughout the whole book. I guess The Maze Runner by James Dashner is somewhat comparable but not exactly. TMR also has quotation marks whereas Bloor Red Road had none. It took a lot of time for me to adjust, but once I did, I flew through the pages since the book itself is very fast paced and incredibly intriguing.

What happened to Saba and her little sister Emmi during the trip to Hopetown and during their time there was somewhat a blessing in disguise—this horrible thing brought them closer together. Saba was a good sister to Lugh, but she blamed Emmi for the death of their mother and basically hated her guts. She only took care of her because Lugh asked and she’d do anything for her beloved brother. When they were forced to work together in these awful situations, they grew closer and started to care about each other without Lugh having to be in the middle to patch things up. It was beautiful to watch.

I can’t NOT mention Jack in this review, can I? I loved his fun, strong, yet rational personality. He was able to calm Saba down in some very intense situations and I absolutely adored their chemistry and I can’t wait to see what happens in Rebel Heart. Also, the Louis XIV complex the King had was so hilarious and I couldn’t top smirking. There’s one thing I don’t understand though. Demalo. He remains a mystery to me and what in the world was that almost at the end of the book? “Until next time.” Say whaaaaat??? I need some answers!!!

In conclusion, I’d say that this book was one great ride of awesomeness that made me root for its characters on their journeys. I am everglad to have read that interview by Jenny. The short blurb on the cover says it’s better than The Hunger Games and while I can’t entirely agree, I found this novel to be amazing and I will definitely follow the series through to the very end since I can’t imagine it being any other way. You know a book is good when you can’t stop cuddling it and that’s exactly what happened to me.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Meet the author

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

10 comments:

  1. It's hard not to mention Jack whenever I just see the cover of this book! He's such a sweet, and lovable love interest, I was a little upset about things in book 2, but I'll shut up there so I don't spoil it for you. :D I'm so glad you enjoyed this book! The characters were def a strong point.

    Lovely review, Siiri! <33

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've had this book for a while but I haven't read it yet. I probably need to get on it soon since I've heard such amazing things about it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. YAY SIIRI! I'm so glad the interview made you decide to want to try this book! I actually still need to read it (I KNOW!), I have books one and two on my shelf and I can't wait to get to them. I've heard the dialect is a lot to deal with initially, but I think, given the length of the book, once I get used to it I won't even notice it as much. Super excited to meet Jack:) Fabulous review my dear!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I still haven't read the first, but glad to hear it is a wild ride in the follw up

    ReplyDelete
  5. Five stars?! How exciting! I'm glad you've found such a great series, Siiri. I want to give it a try at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  6. And I've been pushing this one aside all this time. Oh gosh, I'm such an idiot. I cannot believe it. It sounds so good and I love the sound of Jack. I need to meet it. Great characterization and great plot are all I can ask for. Great review, Siiri :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I feel like such a loser that I STILL haven't started this series. Becca raves about it constantly and now YOU! Okay. Okay. I will start it soon. You've convinced me with your fabulous review. *slinks off to the bookshelf*

    ReplyDelete
  8. I loved this one, too, Siiri! The language was a unique and wonderful addition to the story, although I know some readers don't agree. I also loved the sisterly relationship, how they grew to love and forgive each other. I actually met the author at an event when the book first released and she was quite a character! Lots of personality and really funny! You can see how she'd come up with such a great story. Wonderful review, my dear! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm glad you loved this book as much as you did! It's always wonderful to discover favorite books that have been out for a while. I wouldn't agree that it's better than the Hunger Games, but I thought it was a great tale and Saba is an interesting heroine to follow. I really liked Jack and Saba's relationship with her sister too. I've held off on reading the second one because the content made me nervous, so I'm waiting until 3 releases to decide whether to keep going. Have you picked up the next book yet?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I got started on this series recently as well and event though the writing was a bit difficult at first, I got used to it. Saba is an amazing MC, quite like Katniss and I loved the romance in the book too!! Can't wait for the last book in the series. Awesome review!

    ReplyDelete