Title: Blood Read Road
Series: Dustlands Book 1
Author(s): Moira Young
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adul, Adventure
Publisher/Year: Margaret K. McElderry/2011
-Webpage/blog: ??

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.


Rating:  

Review:  When originally I heard about this book I was very excited.  I'm not huge on dystopian novels, but in the case of this one I was ready to invest a considerable amount of time into it because it was a rather long novel (450 or so pages) and the MC is older then most (as far as young adult fiction goes).  I kept away from early reviews and excerpts because I wanted to go into the book with a fresh set of eyes, no preconceptions whatsoever.

I really wish I had read a couple at least, so I was prepared.

As a plot BLOOD RED ROAD was thoroughly engrossing.  This story is 100% Saba's; her voice, her perceptions, her feelings.  Saba doesn't hold back or try to sugar coat things, she's very upfront (to the reader at least) about her faults as well as her strengths.  She readily admits that her younger sister is an unwelcome burden, a constant reminder of what they had (a happy family) versus what they didn't have when their mother was alive.  She also admits that Lugh is the bright light, the one that leads them and is their guiding force.  She doesn't say anything of this with bitterness, she merely accepts that he leads and she follows.

The closeness the twins share is a steady pulse throughout the novel, even when Lugh is taken away and Saba has to face a world where he isn't there to show her what needs doing.  I wouldn't say that Saba suddenly realized 'Gee I'm just as smart as Lugh!', it was more of a gradual understanding that Lugh's understanding of the world came from how he saw it.  As her perception changed so too did her her ability to interact with the world.

As I said, the plot held me captivated.  So its with some irritation that I report it took me nearly two weeks to finish this novel.  In that time I put it aside so often I got nearly three times that many pages done on various other books.  Even while I sat wondering how Saba figured out a way to keep going, I could not make myself read it any faster than I did.

To put it simply the writing killed me.  Not that Young couldn't write, its just because the book was from Saba's POV everything was written as if Saba was writing it down.  And since Saba's education was rudimentary at best that meant a whole lot of spelling mistakes, grammar headaches and weirdly placed punctuation.  At first I thought it was because it was an advanced reader's copy, but with a sinking feeling I realized that's how the ENTIRE BOOK is written.  If it had just been when Saba or the others talked, I could have tolerated it.  But when Saba is describing a scene and its in that broken mostly phonetic spelling it grated on me.

That's a personal problem however.  As I said, the plot is gripping, I just couldn't get beyond the narrative tone.


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