Your persistence will be greatly rewarded

Blood Red Road

By Moira Young

Let’s hear it for even more dystopia!

Eighteen year-old Saba has spent her whole life in the static, uneventful wasteland of Silverlake. Far away from anyone, she has grown up with only her father, twin brother Lugh (pronounced Lu), and later her younger sister Emmi for company. Everything changes, however, when the relative calm of Silverlake is broken and mysterious riders kidnap Lugh. Saba, who had, up until then, lived her life in her brother’s shadow, must take control and track down Lugh, with 9 year-old Emmi in tow. Saba travels across the land and despite discovering her skill as an unbeatable fighter, she must fall in with the rebel gang The Free Hawks, and a mysterious stranger named Jack, to reach her brother by midsummer.

When I originally found Blood Red Road, my thoughts were something along the lines of Heck yes, ruthless fighters, rebel gangs, dystopia, this is going to be AWESOME! Then I started reading. I’m always wary when language is changed in books (been becomes bin, cant becomes caint, your, yer…) even if it does create a better sense of place or character, nevertheless, I stuck with it. I started to have doubts when Saba’s relationship with Emmi becomes apparent - Saba blames her for their mother’s death – I put Blood Red Road down when Saba started being nasty to Emmi. I picked it back up and decided to stick with because I really wanted to like it. As I got further into the book, Saba’s character arc became more apparent, her relationship with her sister began to change, and it became an amazing book.

The whole book is narrated from Saba’s perspective, and she can be a harsh judge, of everyone, including herself. She doesn’t sugar-coat anything, and while she can come across as quite unforgiving, her softer side gets revealed. Sometimes, you do want you grab her by the shoulders, shake her and yell “EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS!” but you get past that. Also, her blunt opinions make a nice change from the standard “look at me skipping as I go off on an adventure!" attitudes of some heroines. Saba is a strong, feisty take-no-prisoners heroine, and she doesn’t need to be rescued. Even when she’s locked in a cage.

So if you read Blood Red Road, stick with it, and let the true awesomeness be revealed…

Feisty chick-o-metre: 10/10
Age Rating: 14+
Rating: 8/10
Book or audiobook: Audiobook
Stand alone or series: Series(!) in 5 days... not that I'm counting...
Last word:  do.
Length: 466 pages