Book Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Eighteen year old Saba has lived her entire life in Silverlake, her life is  all about surviving the hash life there. Dangerous sandstorms and drought is a part of everyday life, still Saba likes her life as long as her twin, Lugh, is there by her side.

One day everything changes, out of a big sandstorm a group of riders emerge and they take Lugh, by force, with them. Saba swears that she won't stop searching until she finds her brother again. To find Lugh Saba has to go out into a very unsafe world and if that wasn't hard enough in itself her little sister Emmi insists on tagging along.

My thoughts:

Blood Red Road nearly took my breath away, it was that good. The first few pages was kind of a struggle because the entire story is written in dialect, but that was so easy to forget. I might add that the whole dialect aspect brings another dimension to the whole world author Moira Young has created in this novel, it shows how the people lack education. These people have a lot more pressing matters to tend to than learning how to read and write. When I had the time to sit down and enjoy this novel I devoured the pages(just almost literally LOL), I was sucked into the story and didn't want to close the book until I made it to the final page.

In Blood Red Road we travel with Saba through her adventures journey towards freeing her brother, Lough, from captivity. What I really loved about this story was that the whole quest was about so much more than one initially was lead to believe. Saba is in no way a one dimensional character, she feels genuine, she is though and not always the nicest kind of person. Saba can behave in a way that tugs at your heartstrings, still you have no other choice but to root for her.

I would like to add that this is a most excellent and well thought through debut novel I've read in quite awhile. This was a fabulous dystopian YA novel that I wholeheartedly recommend others to read. Blood Red Road can work as a stand alone but it seems to be a sequel in the making. I hope Moira Young can pull it off with that difficult second book, one which I'm longing for already.

Book trailer:

The cover:
I actually think it depicts the harsh conditions in which Saba lives quite accurately(at least how I imagine it to be).

My rating of this book:

- this is one awesome dystopian!

Want a second opinion?:
Presenting Lenore 
holes in my brain
Emily's Reading Room

Want to know more?
Add Blood Red Road to your Goodreads wish list
Visit Blood Red Road's homepage
Full disclosure: Review copy from the Norwegian publisher.

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.