Title: Blood Red Road [Dust Lands #1]
Author: Moira Young
Synopsis:
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.
If you follow my day-to-day blog regularly, or my Goodreads, even, you’d know that I started this book way back in April. I heard so much about this book. My friends were raving about how good it was, how it was better than The Hunger Games. So I read it (or well, started it). I got to page 108. Ironically, I stopped after I had completed the boring part of the story. Then, yesterday night, I restarted from page 1. This time, I made it to the end (I finished it this afternoon). I have to say, due to my high expectations, they fell kind of short.
Saba is your stubborn, pain-in-the-butt female lead who does not trust anyone who isn’t her twin brother Lugh. She hates her younger sister, and doesn’t like to accept help. The book started out and I was instantly like “I hate Lugh and Emmi, Saba’s cool” then came the middle “Saba’s alright, Emmi’s not too bad either… I like Jack” then came the end “HOLY HELL SABA YOU’RE SUCH A WASTE OF TIME! LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER AND JACK FUUU–” But then, at the very end I liked her again… though I also liked Emmi too. And loved Jack~ haha. I don’t know if Young wanted me to feel so at a loss with her characters once I finished the book, but that sums ’em up, pretty well. The change in the characters throughout the novel was astounding. It was interesting to see, and I like that I ended up liking most of her character.
Honestly, the action doesn’t start until she meets Jack… Well, actually, it doesn’t start until a little bit after.
The thing about this book is that everyone has varying opinions. I personally liked everything after page 160 something. Comically, that’s when I started hating Saba a little bit more each turn of the page, but then Jack kept getting better so it kind of evened out. On the other hand, my sister liked the beginning to when they meet up with the Free Hawks. Then she got bored until the climax of the novel (like page 340 something). It depends on the person, of course. But doesn’t it always?
Although Saba drove me insane, I liked this novel. The language of it… well that was hard to get past ’cause it was relatively irritating. Unique, but mildly irritating. (You’ll see in the quotes). Conversely, Young managed to still create this world that captivated me. She invented machines and creatures that added to her plot. She made a world in which no one was really safe, not even the crazy King. So even though this book was absolutely maddening, there was something about it that kept me reading (the second time around).
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Cover: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 4.04/5
Quotes:
Ever heard of the rule of three? he shouts as we run.
No!
If you save somebody’s life three times, their life belongs to you. You saved my life today, that makes once. Save it twice more an I’m all yers.
-Jack and Saba
Marry me, he says. I got all my own teeth, I wash twice a year an I’ll cut you in fer half the business here.
-Ike
I’m sorry, I says.
Fer what? he says.
Fer always bein … you know … so-
Ungrateful? he says.
Yeah, I says.
Ornery?
I guess so.
Rude? Pig-headed? Violent?
I ain’t violent!
Oh yes, you are. Very. But I like that in a woman.
I laugh. Yer crazy, I says.
I was fine till I met you, he says.
-Saba and Jack
Lugh got born first. On Midwinter Day when the sun hangs low in the sky.
Then me. Two hours later.
That pretty much says it all.
Lugh goes first, always first, an I follow on Behind.
An that’s fine.
That’s right.
That’s how it’s meant to be.
Because everthin’set. It’s all fixed.
The lives of everybody who’s bin born.
The lives of everybody still waitin’to be born.
It was all set in the stars the moment the world began.
-Saba
Between Printed Pages 