Blood Red Road - Moira Young

Blood Red Road – Moira Young

Pages: 592

Publisher: Marion Lloyd (Scholastic)

Release Date: 2^nd June 2011

I ain’t afeared of nuthin.

When Saba’s brother is stolen, red rage fills her soul.

She races across the cruel dustlands to find him.

Saba can trust no one. Even the boy who saves her life.

She must silence her heart to survive.

Blood will spill.

Blood Red Road is one of the freshest, most unique and best books that I’ve read this year. Why did I wait so long to read it?!

In all of this novel’s pre-publication buzz I’d heard about the strange dialect that Saba narrates her story in and I was intrigued as to how I’d deal with it. It’s unlikely that any of you know this, but I’m completely obsessive about grammar, punctuation and spelling so I thought I might have a few issues with the narrative style of Blood Red Road. But I adored it. It’s incredible authentic and it gives Moira Young’s world a distinct feel. I felt that how the words had morphed from how we say them now was natural and it seemed like an evolution of English that is completely possible. It actually reminded me a little of what I’ve read (a couple of chapters) of the Knife of Never Letting Go: it has that same individuality.

Behind Saba’s strange dialect is a very angry girl who is incredibly hard to like at first. Her love for her twin brother, Lugh, is all-consuming and could easily be described as obsessive and I found it a little difficult to understand, even though it was the driving force of the whole novel. This love also led to her utter contempt for her little sister, Emmie. I mean, my little sister is an absolute pain in the ass, but I could never actually hate her like Saba does; it was a little incomprehensible. But the way she matured and changed, in her opinion of Emmie as well as learning to trust and love was heart-warming and although she was still very difficult, I grew to love her. I did very frequently wish that she’d just give into her feelings, though. How was it possible for her to resist Jack for so long?!

Ahh, Jack. He is awesome. Although I really don't like over-confident, cocky guys in real life, in fiction, they’re irresistible. He’s cheeky and forthright and really knew how to push Saba’s buttons just enough to make her fly off the handle: it was brilliant to read their interactions. I looked forward to when the two of them had page time together and pretty much smiled through all of them.

Another of the many, many things that I love about Blood Red Road is the world that Moira Young created. It’s a world of violence, blood, and a serious lack of morality. It’s literally the perfect backdrop for a dystopian adventure: the deserted Silverlake, idyllic and secluded Crosscreek, the barbaric and ironically named Hopetown and the intimidating Freedom Fields. Pure genius.

I adored every page of Blood Red Road and I can’t wait to read the next instalment of this breath-taking series.

For my 2011 Debut Author Challenge, Dystopia Challenge 2011

Sophie