Author: Moira Young
Published: May 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Series: Dustlands #1
464 pages (eBook)
This is another book I read on PulseIt, and this time around, I really, really liked what I read!
Blood Red Road takes place in the distant future. Us humans in our own present time are known as the Wreckers, and I guess we did something awful to earn that name. The setting in this book is in a harsh, dry, desert dustland. There isn’t a lot of modern technology (‘Wrecker tech’) available, except for what is salvaged from landfills. Human civilization seems to have taken a step backwards in time in this book.
The story is about a girl named Saba, who lives with her twin brother Lugh, younger sister Emmi and their father, Pa, in Silverlake, an ironic name since it’s just a dry desert. Their closest neighbour is three days’ walk away, so they’re pretty isolated. The children are oblivious about what the outside world is like, but they are, for the most part, happily content living where they are.
Saba’s whole world changes when four horsemen appear. They kill their Pa and kidnap Lugh. Saba is torn about the loss of her twin brother, the person closest to her in the whole world, and sets out on a journey to save him, her little sister in tow. However, the world outside is very different from the world she’s grown up in. It’s a dog eat dog world, a world of slavery and cage fighting, all ruled by one mad king. Saba only wants to save Lugh, but her encounters with the all female rebel group, the Free Hawks, and a flirtatious boy named Jack, Saba is persuaded into bringing down the corruption.
One of the most unique things about this novel is the writing. The entire narration is from Saba’s first person point of view, and she — along with everyone else in the book except one character — speaks in a very distinct way. I can’t tell, it’s either hillbilly or Texan or something. But anyway, the point is, the entire narration is written in this particular way of speaking, so all the words are spelled exactly the way they are pronounced: “yer” “cain’t” “ezzackly” “unnerstand” “pertect” etc. It takes a little getting used to, but I found I really enjoyed reading the book that way, and it certainly gives the characters more flavor. On the other hand, a thing I didn’t like about the writing was the lack of quotation marks around dialogue. It drove me nuts, to be honest; for example, when a new paragraph starts, I’m not sure if it’s someone else talking, or Saba continuing the narration.
I really liked the story and watching Saba mature throughout. She starts off, as her little sister Emmi would say, as a “meanie” — and it’s true, Saba isn’t the nicest girl in the world. She’s hard and stubborn and hell bent on getting her twin brother Lugh back. She’ll break her promises to do it if she must. One of the harshest things about her is that she would have rather Emmi been kidnapped than Lugh — and she admits she wouldn’t be chasing after Emmi if she was the one taken. Personally, I think she was just saying that, but later on, when Emmi is in danger (and Emmi gets herself in trouble quite a number of times), Saba is always there for her, as reluctant as she is. As the story progresses, Saba seems to grow up, in a way. Physically, she’s had to endure a lot (she becomes captured and forced to do cage fighting for others’ entertainment), but emotionally, she realizes that she can’t only be caring about her own needs. She realizes she can’t just tell Emmi to go away all the time — Saba is all Emmi has left in the world. And when she joins up with the Free Hawks and Jack for her own advantage, she realizes she can’t sneak away from them after all the help they’ve given her.
Besides Saba, the rest of the characters were amazingly written as well. I have two favourite characters: Emmi (I don’t know, I just found her so adorable, even though Saba finds her such a burden) and Nero, Saba’s pet crow. Yep, even a pet crow was bursting with personality in this book (Nero’s just awesome). Jack was pretty suave as well, and I loved the relationship he built with Saba. They bicker a lot like kindergartners who won’t admit they like one another, it’s cute.
The last half of the novel pales a bit in comparison to the first. The writing is fantastic throughout, but I think it’s the story. It’s much stronger, more interesting and intriguing in the first half — well, Saba is caught in quite the life or death situation — whereas the second half was more about journeying and her relationship with Jack. Don’t get me wrong, the entire book is really good, but I felt there was a noticeable difference.
However, don’t let that deter you from reading this book. It’s not really sci-fi, but it’s definitely one of the best dystopian-ish YA novels out there! I’m excitedly waiting for the sequel to come out now :)
My Rating: 4.5/5
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