Blood Red Road by Moira Young - Review

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Excellent first installment of a post-apocalyptic series! If you are a fan of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, and/or Divergent by Veronica Roth, you will probably love Blood Red Road by Moira Young.

Saba has grown up with her twin Lugh, her little sister Emmi, and her father in a wasteland called Silverlake her entire life. As long as she has her best friend brother around that's completely fine by her. Everything changes with a huge sandstorm that brings the four horsemen who kill her father and capture Lugh. Saba is forced to learn about the ugly and lawless world outside of Silverlake when she sets out to get her brother back. Saba learns about herself on her journey when she teams up with the Free Hawks, a girl rebel group, and a daredevil called Jack. She realizes she's a fierce fighter, a survivor, courageous, and generally that there's more to her than she thought possible without her twin alongside her.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Heather Lind and she gave a very good performance. It took awhile to get used to the dialect, but for me it enhanced the vibe, tone, and the world the characters are a part of.

The characters are far from perfect, especially Saba who can be pretty stubborn, annoying, and sometimes cruel, but it was all the more meaningful to visibly see her (or hear, in my case) her grow over the course of the story. There is also a touch of romance when it comes to Jack, but gladly it wasn't overwhelming and Saba mostly feels the urge to punch him anyway. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Lugh, rather than primarily hearing about him as filtered by Saba.

I can't wait to read the sequel, Rebel Heart!

Notes:

Hope Town = Tortuga from Pirates of the Caribbean

Hell Worms = Graboid from Tremors + Sandworms from Beetlejuice

Saba and Lugh (as told by Saba) seem to have a pretty codependent relationship which got me thinking of Sam and Dean Winchester. They don't hunt supernatural creatures, but we do know that Saba becomes an extremely fierce fighter when trying to get to her brother.

And I was also thinking of Snow and Charming from Once Upon a Time to describe Saba and Lugh - the "I will always find you part" not the love story part.


I read this from May 23 - 28, 2014 and my review is also on Goodreads.