Published:
June 7th, 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry
Source:
Library
Format:
Audiobook
Challenge(s): Support Local Library, 2012 ABC Challenge
Grade Rate: B-
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.
My Review
First, let me start by saying that I listened to Blood Red Road. I clarify that because I have seen some
comments about the dialect used in the book, but since I listed, not read the book and from my point of view it
was perfect. Although there are some
parts of this book that I didn’t like, I really enjoyed Blood Red Road.
Saba is our protagonist and she is not very
likeable. She is rude, has no manners,
is stubborn, opinionated, violent, ungrateful and more. Saba’s fixation with Lugh was a little hard
for me to identify with. I have siblings
and I love them dearly, but Saba’s feelings for Lugh seem extreme (then again I
don’t have a twin.) It seems to me that
Saba was a mix of Katniss from The Hunger Games and Katsa from Graceling, but
not getting quite there yet. I found
hard to believe that a girl that was so sheltered and isolated could be this
violent and resilient. Some of her
faults can be attributed to said isolation, I mean when you live with only
three other people as companions, I guess manners are not necessary. On the other hand Saba is strong and
inspiring to others, and she did changed and grew up a little.
Emmi is Saba’s little sister and she is very sweet and a
saint to put up with Saba! Lugh doesn’t
take a big part of the book, so I’ll reserve my judgment for the sequel. Other characters were very well developed and
are abundant. Now it’s Jack’s turn. Jack is kind of hard to figure out. He is a handsome dare-devil and knows a lot
about everything (I think he thinks he knows it all). He is very easy going and doesn’t know what
to do with Saba, but he is very good with people and especially with Emmi. I really liked Jack and I hope we can see
more of him in the series.
Other than my few issues with Saba’s character the story
is fantastic. It takes place somewhere
in a distant future, where people don’t read (can you imagine?) and where
people are very violent and life is hard and short (sort of like living in the
wild west). The writing is beautiful,
well paced, with enough for us to know the setting and background information,
but keeping an air of mystery at the same time.
I really enjoyed Blood Red Road and I am looking forward to book two,
Rebel Heart, to be published in
October of this year.
Have you read
Blood Red Road? Did the dialect bother
you?
About the Cover:
The cover is okay for me, nothing exceptional about it. What do you
think?
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