Moira Young

In a distant future, eighteen-year-old Lugh is kidnapped, and while his twin sister Saba and nine-year-old Emmi are trailing him across bleak Sandsea they are captured, too, and taken to brutal Hopetown, where Saba is forced to be a cage fighter until new friends help plan an escape.

Blood red road

melanie 

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

Maggie Gordon

Meh with some infuriating parts. Review to come.

Leah Patton

I loved Saba. I can honestly say that she didn't annoy me through the whole book. She's a strong female character who doesn't fall for any of Jack's eel charmery and takes care of herself. I loved that she wasn't doe eyed and didn't become "painfully shy" around Jack. She took care of herself and spoke her mind. The romance is not lacking anything either. I also loved her voice on the page. The choppiness of her language made it flow through my head and I felt as if I really got her character. I recommend it for everyone who's looking for a read that goes over the top!

The book that will “blow you away”** has a dazzling new look in paperback! 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 four cloaked horsemen capture Lugh, Saba's world is shattered, and she embarks on a quest to get him back. Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the outside world, Saba discovers she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba’s unrelenting search for Lugh stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetic writing style, and an epic love story—making Moira Young is one of the most exciting new voices in teen fiction.

Shawna Gavas

If there was ever a book that screamed "make me into a movie...LIKE NOW!!!" it is this one.

The story is told through the eyes of Saba, twin of Lugh. Saba is on a mission to find and rescue her brother who was taken by the Tonton on orders from the King due to the fact that he was born under the midwinter moon. The King needs Lugh as a sacrifice and his death will be on midsummer's eve.

Saba heads out right away, leaving her sister Emmi in Crosscreek with a family friend and begins the dangerous journey toward Freedom Fields where the King's palace is located. Emmi (who's 9) doesn't stay put however and ends up accompanying Saba, much to Saba's dislike.

Then the story REALLY takes off....Saba and Emmi are captured and taken prisoner by a couple (the Pinch's). Saba is forced to be a cage fighter in Hopetown, if she doesn't co-operate, Emmi pays the price. She is quickly given the nickname "Angel of Death".....and for good reason. Saba never loses a fight. If you lose 3 fights, you run the gauntlet and the crowd kills you. This is not an option for Saba as she has to find her brother....until she meets Epona and the Freedom Hawks.

Together they form a plan to rescue Sabba and Emmi......

The story continues in heartpounding adventure. We meet characters, Jack, Ike, Ash, Maev and Tommo. Together they head for Freedom Fields in search of Lugh. 

I'm not going to rehash the rest, given that there are so many reviews already. But I will say this: READ THIS BOOK!!! You won`t be disappointed. The author has created a detailed world of the future, sucessfully incorperating details from the past (ie. the hillbilly way of speaking, the use of crossbows and horses) and making it work. The characters are not just likeable...they`re lovable. You can`t help but feel you are travelling with them, experiencing their fear, joy, sadness, pain......

I can not wait to read the second book in this series!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://lostinmyyouth.blogspot.ca/2013...

Dina

** spoiler alert **
           To be quite honest, I was actually enjoying it very much at first. If it had kept going that well, I'd have given it a solid 4 stars. I don't think I'd ever give it 5 stars, though.

The writing itself didn't bother me that much. It was weird in the beginning, but it's something you eventually get used to. I did mind a bit the lack of quotation marks. I don't know, it just threw my brain for a loop at times when, in the same sentence, you had two different people talking and all you had to go for was a capital letter in the middle of a sentence giving you a heads up. But putting that aside, the language itself was interesting and pretty consistent (only found one or two instances where I frowned at it because that word had appeared before and it wasn't written that same way, so that's not so bad).

As for the plot itself, it started off well, and though Saba seemed cruel towards her younger sister, it kind of made sense from her point of view, since, for her, she's the reason their mother died. I'm not saying it's right, but it definitely makes sense that she'd be more hostile towards her sister if this is what's constantly on her mind.

I have to agree with what someone else said in a review, and that is that I will never understand how Emmi kept going with them. She's 9. Yes, she kicks ass, yes, she helps at times, but more often than not, she's more of a hardship than actual help. She held Saba back during that desert part before they were taken, she was held at gunpoint closer to the end of the book... Man, just not good. And I preferred earlier Saba, because she didn't let her come with. Sure, she didn't do it because she had her sister's best interests in mind, but at least she was safe and wouldn't keep getting in the way unintentionally. That may sound harsh, but that's how I see it.

Which brings me to Jack. Man, he was cool and confident and I didn't really have any problem with him... until he basically forced Saba to take Emmi with them. Like, dude, I know your heart's in the right place, and, sure, someone would have to eventually show Saba that she was being unfair towards her sister about the whole mother thing, but going somewhere as dangerous as Freedom Fields with a stubborn 9 year-old? Not the brightest idea!

I liked the cage fighting parts. I think it was probably one of the few moments in the book that made me really feel the character. Her hot rage, how she had that one goal in mind - save her brother - and would do anything to make that happen, even if she wasn't too happy about it. It was that low point the character had to go through, you know, the end justifies the means and all that.

But, yeah, as the book went on, her character changed, but I don't think it was for the best. Not all of it. I'm glad she's on good terms with her sister now and that she opened up to someone other than her twin brother, but she went from being all goal-oriented and doing things the right way to just "winging it" and risking everything (even having to kill one of her friends). I didn't like that.

All in all, it was okay, I think. Nothing too special. Had good high points there where I could understand the character's feelings, thoughts and choices, but towards the end, it just went a bit downhill for me. The way the book ends sort of gives me the choice to stop it here. It doesn't wrap up everything as nicely as it would, were I to finish the series, but I just can't. I feel like I can't really connect to the main character anymore, and the story isn't strong enough to keep me around for two more books.

Alice Goad

It took me a good 20-30 pages to get into the writing style. But my goodness am I glad I did! I absolutely adored Saba, her personality and heart were everything. The whole premise felt new and fresh to me and the descriptions brought the whole world to life. This is honestly one of the best books I have ever read and I don’t say that lightly!

Jessica Nottingham

Narrator Review: 
Starting out, I wasn't sure I liked Heather Lind's different voices. However the more I listened, the more I got involved in the story, I started to realize that they were spot on! She has just enough difference in each character's voice to make them easy to distinguish. Best of all, she makes Saba sound like I thought she would. Tough. I loved it.

The pacing is perfect. Her speech is rich and well pronounced. It's honestly hard not to feel like the audio book of this is far superior to the print copy. I didn't just read this book, I got to live it.

Audio Book Rating: 5/5 - A must listen!

**********

Book Review:
Blood Red Road was a book that greatly surprised me. I wasn't expecting to fall in love but, without warning, I was sucked in to Saba's world. All that hype that you saw when this book first came out? Completely and utterly spot on. I absolutely adored this story.

Saba is a tough character to love. She's stubborn, fierce as all get out, and witty too. In other words, a recipe for my perfect female character. However her stubborn attitude more often than not causes her to make very rash decisions. I'll fully admit that there were multiple times I wanted to reach in and just slap her for a moment. I understood why Moira Young created her this way though. Saba is used to having to take care of herself. She's used to being a lone wolf.

That is, of course, until she meets Jack. Ah, Jack. Witty, lovable, and sometimes completely lost Jack. He was definitely my favorite character. The perfect opposite to everything that Saba was. Their relationship was rocky, it was real, it was amazing! All work and no play makes Saba a dull girl. Good thing Jack was around! Seriously though, every single character that travels alongside these two shines off the page. They are so well-crafted, that it is hard not to find yourself rooting for them as you read.

What else can I say to make you pick up this book? Refreshingly, Blood Red Road is unlike a lot of other dystopian novels out there. Instead of focusing solely on a society, with a bit of characterization thrown in, Young's book is all about the characters. You'll find yourself beside them as they fight to survive, tackle problems thrown in their path, and wrestle with the age old question of who they really are. It seems odd that this would work so well, but it honestly does. I was able to get so lost in Saba's world, that I honestly didn't want to come back out.

At the end of the day, if you are a reader of dystopian fiction this is a book that you're going to need to pick up. The twists and turns in the plot will delight you. The fierce, dogged pace of the story will make you feel like you're on the brink of exhaustion. Then you'll meet the characters and realize that there is no turning back. Moira Young did a fabulous job with this book. I'm just going to come right out and say I want more. Soon.

Bridget Howard

So I just finished this book last night and it was an awesome read. Saba is the main character in this book and she has a twin brother who is taken at the beginning of the book and she promises to get him back. So this book is about her journey to find him. She has a lot of strugles throughout the book and she meets many interesting people. She is a very strong person but she has many flaws that make her more human. The love interest in the book is that cocky beautiful boy that everyone loves but Saba!!! Their love story is fun and I can't wait to see when happens in the next book. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because it took me a little to get into the book and at times throughout the story it would drag for me a little bit, but after I finished reading the book it was totally a 5 star read. The writing takes a little getting used to, the author writes it all in Sabas point of view and it is rough english if you read the book you will know what I mean. I can't wait for the next book to come out later this year!!!!

Blood red road

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