Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Dustlands
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Margaret K McElderry Books
Rating: Essential

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. - Goodreads

This book took a little while to get into because of the style in which it was written. Luckily, I had read The Knife of Never Letting Go shortly before so I was used to a different sort of writing style and language, but I wasn't used to having no speech marks. It was very strange at first, but I got used to it after a few chapters and then I got sucked in.

I love adventure novels, in which the characters go on a journey to find something or someone, and this is what this book is. Saba goes through a lot of stuff to get her brother back, and I adored reading about her journey. Again, it reminded me a little of The Knife of Never Letting Go, because Todd goes on an adventure sort of thing as well.

Saba was an awesome character, although she did annoy me a little in the beginning. She was incredibly mean to her little sister, and this got to me. I also really liked the secondary characters as well, including the villains! They were simply awesome.

There's a huge cage fighting sequence which I adored. It totally reminded me of Spartacus which is always a plus! Saba turned into a badass after this and it was when I really starting to root for her.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was Saba's little sister. Which may sound weird because I had just been complaining about Saba being mean to her, but she was really bloody annoying. She makes the same mistake over and over again, and caused so much hassle. If my younger sibling had acted like that I would have handcuffed them to a tree until I returned.

I do think this book would have worked really well as a standalone, and I don't see why it needs a sequel to be honest. Nonetheless, I'm really looking forward to the second book in the series which comes out in the autumn!