Every step of Saba's journey sizzles with danger... In a lawless land, where life is cheap and survival is hard, Saba has been brought up in isolated Silverlake. She never sees theangers of the destructive society outside. When her twin brother is snatched by mysterious black-robed riders, she sets out on an epic quest to rescue him. The story's searing pace, its spare style, the excitement of its fabulously damaged world, its unforgettably vivid characters, its violent action and glorious love story make this a truly sensatonal YA debut novel.
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''A shot of pure adrenalin. Exuberant, exciting and charged with emotion, its powerful, pared-down prose draws us into a world of adventure. More than just good fun. If a better book for teenagers is published this year, I'll be surprised'' --The Times ''Much of Young's writing has an elemental power, unfolding across achingly barren landscapes, full of blistering hotwinds and swirling clouds of orange dust. Scenes are brief, told in a few pages with fast-paced action. And the sentences are economical, dry and tight... The dialect takes getting used to, but the payoff is a musical brokenness to the language, which creaks along nicely with Saba's observations of her torn-up surroundings'' --New York Times ''It's 'Mad Max' and 'The Hunger Games' meet 'True Grit', except the protagonist, a teen named Saba, is arguably fiercer than the young women in those latter titles... Young's choices are refreshing. 'Blood Red Road' moves at an incredible pace, peopled by characters that spring up fully formed and swinging. This author moves between ruthless action and gorgeous, buttery narration... In the hands of a lesser writer, that style might have dragged. But first-time author Young is talented... This is a must-read, where girls rescue boys, and where the future looms up full of hope and loss, struggles and archetypes that give the story a timeless, classic edge'' --Globe and Mail
''Much of Young's writing has an elemental power, unfolding across achingly barren landscapes, full of blistering hotwinds and swirling clouds of orange dust. Scenes are brief, told in a few pages with fast-paced action. And the sentences are economical, dry and tight... The dialect takes getting used to, but the payoff is a musical brokenness to the language, which creaks along nicely with Saba's observations of her torn-up surroundings.'' --New York Times
''It's 'Mad Max' and 'The Hunger Games' meet 'True Grit', except the protagonist, a teen named Saba, is arguably fiercer than the young women in those latter titles... Young's choices are refreshing. 'Blood Red Road' moves at an incredible pace, peopled by characters that spring up fully formed and swinging. This author moves between ruthless action and gorgeous, buttery narration... In the hands of a lesser writer, that style might have dragged. But first-time author Young is talented... This is a must-read, where girls rescue boys, and where the future looms up full of hope and loss, struggles and archetypes that give the story a timeless, classic edge.'' --Globe and Mail
''Much of Young's writing has an elemental power, unfolding across achingly barren landscapes, full of blistering hotwinds and swirling clouds of orange dust. Scenes are brief, told in a few pages with fast-paced action. And the sentences are economical, dry and tight... The dialect takes getting used to, but the payoff is a musical brokenness to the language, which creaks along nicely with Saba's observations of her torn-up surroundings.'' --New York Times
''It's 'Mad Max' and 'The Hunger Games' meet 'True Grit', except the protagonist, a teen named Saba, is arguably fiercer than the young women in those latter titles... Young's choices are refreshing. 'Blood Red Road' moves at an incredible pace, peopled by characters that spring up fully formed and swinging. This author moves between ruthless action and gorgeous, buttery narration... In the hands of a lesser writer, that style might have dragged. But first-time author Young is talented... This is a must-read, where girls rescue boys, and where the future looms up full of hope and loss, struggles and archetypes that give the story a timeless, classic edge.'' --Globe and Mail
About the Author
Moira Young was an actress, comedian and singer before becoming a writer. She came to London from her native Canada to perform on the stage and toured with Travelling Opera in the UK and Europe. In 2003 she enrolled on a creative writing course at Bath Spa University. BLOOD RED ROAD is her first book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was recommended Blood Red Road after greatly enjoying the Hunger Games and Chaos Walking trilogies. As a 40 year old man, I am not really the target audience for "YA" literature. My 13 year old daughter reads "YA" books and it's nice to be able to talk about books with her, so when she gets excited about a book, I see if I want to read it too. I was greatly impressed with the afore-mentioned trilogies and was keen to further mine this genre, if it can be called that. Given the reviews BRR has garnered, I think I expected too much - Blood Red Road is fun, written in a compelling vernacular (similar to Todd's voice from the Chaos Walking trilogy) with some really good action scenes and an interesting heroine. However, I felt that the character development was limited; some of the characters were rather two-dimensional (in particular, the "baddies" of the piece), there were some gaping holes in the credibility of certain aspects of the story and there was far too much 'Mills and Boon'-level romantic prose. Without wishing to give away any spoilers, I also felt the final phase of the book pushed my ability to suspend disbelief too far.
I think I may have experienced the very best that YA has to offer in The Hunger Games and Chaos Walking - those books were not only great adventures, but also had deeper meaning and provided the reader with many important issues to think about, long after the books finished. If I seem dismissive, I do think BRR is better written and better developed than most any "adult" best seller. Moira Young has done a better job than I would expect from Dan Brown, for instance, but the book still falls short; it is, at best, an adequate time-filler, but I do not imagine that any of the characters or situations will stay with me beyond a few days. Great books stay with you forever.
Blood Red Road is a perfectly enjoyable adventure story and interestingly written and for that, worthy of three stars. However, to earn more than that (from me, anyway), it needs to offer the reader more than adventure alone, but also something to think about after the story concludes. I don't discourage you from reading Blood Red Road, but I think some of the cover sleeve comments and reviews are over the top in their praise. The publishers are hopeful that Hunger Games readers will pick this up for their Katniss-fix; a gross over-sell, I'm afraid.
An enjoyable adventure, but nothing more than that. Sometimes, that's all you want, so it's OK. But it's a league or two down from Hunger Games.
I think I may have experienced the very best that YA has to offer in The Hunger Games and Chaos Walking - those books were not only great adventures, but also had deeper meaning and provided the reader with many important issues to think about, long after the books finished. If I seem dismissive, I do think BRR is better written and better developed than most any "adult" best seller. Moira Young has done a better job than I would expect from Dan Brown, for instance, but the book still falls short; it is, at best, an adequate time-filler, but I do not imagine that any of the characters or situations will stay with me beyond a few days. Great books stay with you forever.
Blood Red Road is a perfectly enjoyable adventure story and interestingly written and for that, worthy of three stars. However, to earn more than that (from me, anyway), it needs to offer the reader more than adventure alone, but also something to think about after the story concludes. I don't discourage you from reading Blood Red Road, but I think some of the cover sleeve comments and reviews are over the top in their praise. The publishers are hopeful that Hunger Games readers will pick this up for their Katniss-fix; a gross over-sell, I'm afraid.
An enjoyable adventure, but nothing more than that. Sometimes, that's all you want, so it's OK. But it's a league or two down from Hunger Games.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have seen very mixed reviews of the writing style of Blood Red Road and I can understand why some people found it hard to read but I have to say that was one of my favourite things about the book. I'll admit it took a couple of pages to get into the rhythm of things - the story is told by Saba and her lack of any kind of education shines through in her phonetic spelling and the complete lack of quotation marks but that just makes her voice completely unique compared to anything else I've read. The book stands out immediately because of that and I found it was surprisingly easy to read once I got started. I have seen a lot of people say that they struggled with the style though so it might be worth reading a sample before investing in the book.
Writing style aside Moira Young has created a harsh futuristic world where food and water is hard to come by. The land is mainly desert and the few areas that are populated aren't really places you'd want to visit. Saba has grown up far from civilisation with only her family for company, they are so far from anyone else that they rarely even see people passing through. The person Saba is closest to is her twin brother Lugh, they have been inseparable since they were born and never spend any time apart. Her father hasn't been the same since their mother died while giving birth to her younger sister Emmi and has been retreating further away from them with every day that passes. Life in the wilds isn't easy for the family and it is getting very difficult for them to find enough food to support themselves but their father refuses to leave their mother's resting place. Everything changes for the family the day four armed horse riders appear and kidnap Lugh. Saba doesn't know why her brother was taken but she vows that she will find him no matter where he has been taken. So begins her epic journey across the desert to find the missing part of herself.
As much as I was instantly drawn into the story by Saba's voice I have to admit that I didn't find her the most sympathetic character at the beginning of the book. Lugh is the centre of her world and she doesn't seem to have any time or feelings for anyone else. As much as I felt for her when Lugh was taken I found myself particularly irritated by the way she treated her younger sister. Saba blames Emmi for the death of their mother and for the loss of the father that she once knew and because of that the sisters have never been close. Lugh is the one who always had time for Emmi and she is just as lost as Saba without him. There were times I wanted to grab Saba and shake some sense into her when she was constantly ignoring Emmi and pushing her away. I'm happy to say that this starts to change as the story progresses though, Saba does a lot of growing up throughout the book and it didn't take me long to start routing for her. The longer she is separated from Lugh the more she starts to let Emmi and others in, she is almost in denial to herself that she could possibly need help from anyone but you do see her soften up around her new found friends no matter how hard she tries to hide it. Whatever else I may think about Saba I will tell you she is a kick ass heroine who uses her fierce determination to find her brother to see her through some incredibly difficult situations.
Emmi was one of my favourite characters though, she is so young but at the same time she is incredibly brave. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for her to lose Lugh when he was the only one to care for her and it must have been even worse knowing that Saba would rather have nothing to do with her. I loved the fact that she was so persistent with her older sister though, she has definitely inherited Saba's stubborn streak and it comes in handy on more than one occasion! Another stand out character would have to be Jack, he can be so cocky and arrogant but he has a heart of gold and he isn't afraid to tell Saba when she is being out of order. I loved the way the two characters were continuously arguing with each other and you could just see there was chemistry between them even when they hated each other. My all out favourite has to be Nero though, all I'm going to say is that he's a bird with attitude and he is totally awesome - I would love a pet just like him!
The romance is definitely secondary to the action in this story and I wouldn't have had it any other way (although I am hoping we'll see a little more of it in the next instalment!) the pacing kept me completely gripped and I just had to keep reading to find out what would happen next. At just under 500 pages this is a monster of a book but I devoured it, I couldn't get enough of the characters and the world that Moira Young has created. So if you're looking for a book with a fierce but flawed heroine, action, adventure and a completely unique writing style then Blood Red Road is perfect and it's a book I'll definitely be recommending to fans of post-apocalyptic fiction.
Writing style aside Moira Young has created a harsh futuristic world where food and water is hard to come by. The land is mainly desert and the few areas that are populated aren't really places you'd want to visit. Saba has grown up far from civilisation with only her family for company, they are so far from anyone else that they rarely even see people passing through. The person Saba is closest to is her twin brother Lugh, they have been inseparable since they were born and never spend any time apart. Her father hasn't been the same since their mother died while giving birth to her younger sister Emmi and has been retreating further away from them with every day that passes. Life in the wilds isn't easy for the family and it is getting very difficult for them to find enough food to support themselves but their father refuses to leave their mother's resting place. Everything changes for the family the day four armed horse riders appear and kidnap Lugh. Saba doesn't know why her brother was taken but she vows that she will find him no matter where he has been taken. So begins her epic journey across the desert to find the missing part of herself.
As much as I was instantly drawn into the story by Saba's voice I have to admit that I didn't find her the most sympathetic character at the beginning of the book. Lugh is the centre of her world and she doesn't seem to have any time or feelings for anyone else. As much as I felt for her when Lugh was taken I found myself particularly irritated by the way she treated her younger sister. Saba blames Emmi for the death of their mother and for the loss of the father that she once knew and because of that the sisters have never been close. Lugh is the one who always had time for Emmi and she is just as lost as Saba without him. There were times I wanted to grab Saba and shake some sense into her when she was constantly ignoring Emmi and pushing her away. I'm happy to say that this starts to change as the story progresses though, Saba does a lot of growing up throughout the book and it didn't take me long to start routing for her. The longer she is separated from Lugh the more she starts to let Emmi and others in, she is almost in denial to herself that she could possibly need help from anyone but you do see her soften up around her new found friends no matter how hard she tries to hide it. Whatever else I may think about Saba I will tell you she is a kick ass heroine who uses her fierce determination to find her brother to see her through some incredibly difficult situations.
Emmi was one of my favourite characters though, she is so young but at the same time she is incredibly brave. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for her to lose Lugh when he was the only one to care for her and it must have been even worse knowing that Saba would rather have nothing to do with her. I loved the fact that she was so persistent with her older sister though, she has definitely inherited Saba's stubborn streak and it comes in handy on more than one occasion! Another stand out character would have to be Jack, he can be so cocky and arrogant but he has a heart of gold and he isn't afraid to tell Saba when she is being out of order. I loved the way the two characters were continuously arguing with each other and you could just see there was chemistry between them even when they hated each other. My all out favourite has to be Nero though, all I'm going to say is that he's a bird with attitude and he is totally awesome - I would love a pet just like him!
The romance is definitely secondary to the action in this story and I wouldn't have had it any other way (although I am hoping we'll see a little more of it in the next instalment!) the pacing kept me completely gripped and I just had to keep reading to find out what would happen next. At just under 500 pages this is a monster of a book but I devoured it, I couldn't get enough of the characters and the world that Moira Young has created. So if you're looking for a book with a fierce but flawed heroine, action, adventure and a completely unique writing style then Blood Red Road is perfect and it's a book I'll definitely be recommending to fans of post-apocalyptic fiction.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By F.L
Format:Kindle Edition
Blood Red Road (BRR) was a highly enjoyable book, with an incredible plot line. It is an amazing post-apocalyptic book that has action, romance and that extra thing that just makes the book a wonderful read. The characters are very well written and you easily find yourself empathising with some of them, like Emmi. The only criticism I have of BRR is its lack of speech marks. There are no speech marks in BRR. Ever. It can sometimes get quite confusing because of that. However, whilst that annoyed me greatly, I am glad I carried on reading it. I would most definitely recommend BRR. It is a gripping read!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this book!
Loved the book, the adventure, the escape. If you loved Hunger Games, you'll love this! How can you go wrong with a story looking at what our would could look like if we keep... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Knavesmere
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of A Trillian Books
Blood Red Road is an enjoyable read once you get used to the writing style. Fortunately this didn't take too long for me. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tasha
3.0 out of 5 stars
Awkward... to say the least.
It took me a while to get in to this book, but i perservered because it was the only thing that i had to entertain myself with during a 12hr shift. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Juliet's dagger
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good read
This is in my opinion the best book in the Dustlands series and engages you more then its counterpart. The plot is very interesting with many twists and turns. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ian Parkinson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it!
Brilliant! A troubled tale with a diverse story line, not to mention the red-hot romance, as it grows and becomes true.
Published 2 months ago by Katie
5.0 out of 5 stars
a brilliant book
This is a brilliant book ! I couldn't put it down once I started to read it, I can't wait to see this being put into a film. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Meggiec18
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unputdownable!!!
I really enjoyed this book - the atmosphere young has created is gripping and leaves you constantly waiting to find out what is coming next. Read more
Published 4 months ago by marvelsloth112
5.0 out of 5 stars
post apocalyptic book for teens
I bought this book for my teenage grandson who just loves to read books in this genre especially with kick ass girls as the protagonist (his words)
Published 5 months ago by cathk
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly Good!
Blood Red Road is one of them books that I have seen all over the blogosphere for some time now, and truthfully, I was never really interested in reading it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Book Passion for Life
4.0 out of 5 stars
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book!!!
this book is great!!!! i couldnt put it down!!! a great holiday read. really good for the hunger games fans if your suffering from the hunger games withdrawl symptoms!!! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Paramorefan<3
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