Review - Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Blood Red Road (Dust Lands Trilogy #1)
by Moira Young
Release date - January 3rd 2012
Published by Margaret K. McElderry
Hardcover, 459 pages
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Description (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 four cloaked horsemen capture Lugh, Saba's world is shattered, and she embarks on a quest to get him back.    Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the outside world, Saba discovers she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba’s unrelenting search for Lugh stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. 

Quote

They call me the Angel of Death. That's becuz I ain't never lost a fight.

My Review

 The isolated and sheltered life that Saba has lived with her family came to an abrupt end when the Tonton rode into Silverlake. They mentioned that they wanted a boy that was born at midwinter. Then they took Lugh, Saba's twin brother and disappeared into a red haze. Tied down with her younger sister Emmi, she goes searching for her brother. She's vowed to find him no matter the risk and the risk is was high. Saba was prepared to take on evil to get Lugh back, but she never expected for a second that she would find help, and learn about friendship and love.

 I immensely enjoyed reading this dark dystopian, young adult novel. The first thing that I noticed about this story was the writing style. The story kind of runs together with the narration and conversations because there are no quotation marks indicating when one of the characters were speaking. This wasn't a big problem for me due to how well the storyline flowed. The words are also spelled the way that they should sound. This gives the characters an accent that you are able to hear in your head.

 My first look Saba was when she was with her family at the beginning and I was thinking that she seemed to be much more immature then a 18 year old. My opinion of her quickly changed when I discovered how fierce, determined and head strong she is. Saba is absolutely fearless! Without so much as a second thought she leaves the only place that she has ever known to save her twin brother from the men that abducted him. She was actually quite frightening, after all she wasn't called the Angel of Death for nothing. Her time spent in Hopetown was definitely my favourite part of the book. Being held captive and forced to fight while her sister was held as leverage was a real page turner.

 I loved Jack! Even if he did seem to be a little to perfect. I liked the way that he made Saba feel and that she fought her feelings for him every step of the way. The comedy and romance that he brought to the book was just the right touch. I also really enjoyed reading about Ike and the Free Hawks. These guys are the ones that eventually were able to help Saba open up and evolve into a better person and more caring person.

 There was only one thing that disappointed me. I really wanted to know what happened to the "Wreakers". What did they do to make the world the place that it was in this book? What was the rest of the world like? I am also curious about Saba's father and if he could he really read the stars, or if he was just crazy. Hopefully I will be able to learn the answers to these questions in Rebel Hearts , book #2 in the Dustlands series.

I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.

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