Blood Red Road- Summer Reading Challenge
Blood Red Road
By Moira Young
Published by: Margeret McElderry
Published on: June 2011
Summary Taken from Goodreads:
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.
Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.
Let me start by saying Saba is annoying. I wanted to throw her up against a wall and tell her to stop whining and being so selfish. In a crazy way, this a good thing. Feeling some strong emotion from a character means that the book is having an effect on the reader. And boy did I have some strong feelings about Saba. She is absolutely a flawed hero. When she was great- wow was she fantastic, but when she was being a brat- whew.
This book has heralded fantastic reviews, it has optioned for a movie (to be directed by Ridley Scott). Those are big shoes for one book to fill. I have heard fantastic things from bloggers all over the internet.
At first I was shocked. The way this book is written and the language of the characters (very.... backwoods) was hard to follow and understand. I have to admit, I read about half of the book and put it down disappointed. I am not entirely sure why I picked it back up (probably the storyline), and I am so glad I did. The second half of the book really picked up. I felt as though even though the language was awkward at times, it flowed so well- I really couldn't put it down. (And when I did, I caught myself staring at it, wondering what would happen next.)
This book was not what I expected, and I do hope that the movie gets made. I think I would really enjoy this story more if I could SEE it.
