Monday, October 3, 2011

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

It has been a while since I devoted an entire blog post to a book review and true to form, this will not be a long and in depth look at "Blood Red Road." Other reviewers do a much better job of that. But, as this is a YA title, and the blog was originally filled with YA book reviews back when I worked in a YA library department, I thought I'd indulge myself and share my thoughts.

Dystopia is the one of the current rages in YA due to the success of the Hunger Games. The post-apocalyptic setting in Young's debut novel is different from Collin's world in HG, and I kept getting a strong Mad Max vibe from her descriptions of the places Saba, the protagonist, experienced. Saba is catapulted into a quest when her twin brother is kidnapped by four men on horses. Just a bit of symbolism there. From that point we have a journey across the desert, death match cage fighting, amazon-esque warrior girls and plenty of looney-tune crazy people. There is a bit of romance, a bit of family/sibling loyalty issues, plus David vs. Goliath themes in this plot.

The book is a page tuner and the action is nonstop. I was cheering for Saba from the start and she is a tough and resourceful heroine.

However, if you have any problems reading dialect or reading a book without punctuation to indicate who is speaking, you will want to bypass this novel. The book contains quite a bit of violence, but I wouldn't have a problem letting my middle school kid read it.

Of course, as is usual these days it seems, this is book one of a series.

So, two thumbs up for "Blood Red Road"...as far as the current YA dystopian crop goes, it's a winner.

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