Blood Red Road

De: Moira Young

Narrado por: Heather Lind

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.

Brilliant

This is one of the brightest debuts of any author I've read in a very long time. A dystopian novel that can not be compared to any other. With a hint of Cormac McCarthy and a tinge of Suzanne Collins this is undoubtly going to be a hit. Destined for the big screen!

Improves on the book

I read the book Blood Red Road upon its release last year and liked it a lot. It has a different vibe than the other YA dystopians on the shelf and it’s one I recommend frequently. The author’s distinctive writing style translates well to audio, and I think I enjoyed listening to the book even more than reading it. The story holds up well and is as action packed and intense as ever.

Blood Red Road is the story of a girl named Saba whose life falls apart when four cloaked horsemen kidnap her twin brother Lugh. She sets out to rescue him, and much to her dismay her little sister is along for the ride. Saba and her family have lived in isolation in the sandstorm-stricken Silverlake, and now she has to venture into the scary unknown to try to keep her promise to her brother. On her journey she finds out what she’s really made of as her character faces several dangerous challenges.

Saba ‘s strength and determination made me root for her. She rises to every challenge and doesn’t back down from her chosen path – a true survivor. She’s not perfect, and she still has a lot to learn, but I liked seeing her come into her own and grow throughout the book.

Along the way Saba meets several characters on her journey, some more helpful than others. The secondary characters fill in some of the missing details in Saba’s knowledge about the politics of their world. Some of the characters are fairly mysterious and I hope to find out more about them in the sequel. I also liked the dynamic between Saba and her love interest Jack and am curious to see how that progresses.

One thing that tripped me up a little when I read it the first time is the writing style. Saba’s character can’t read or write and her character’s dialogue is written phonetically. I found it a bit of a challenge to get through initially, but eventually I was caught up in the story and appreciated the style choice. With the audiobook, Heather Lind narrates with an accent and makes it easier to get immersed in the story. She gives a distinct voice to all the characters and brings them to life. Lind does a nice job portraying Saba in her different emotional states, and also Jack sounds just about how I’d imagine he’d sound. In this case, I think the audiobook experience improves upon the book and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Though I like all the action and adventure of the entire book, the first half sticks with me more. Listening to it again helped me to fill in some of the holes in my memory from the second half, getting me up to speed for the sequel. Being the first book of a trilogy, there are a lot of mysteries left unsolved, though the book is still pretty satisfying on it’s own. I’m looking forward to the rest of this series, and think Blood Red Road has the potential to be a very cool movie.

Story Hooks You From Beginning

The world building is well done and the characters pull you in. I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining it was. Unique voice throughout really immersed me in the story, and was well-performed.

Only two things to criticize:
1) the story was predictable, but very entertaining as I said
2) the narration made the unique voice feel and sound natural, EXCEPT for when a character was yelling or raising their voice - I always felt aware of the microphone when this happened.

Otherwise, definitely worth a listen.

loved it

But Im debating on the second, mad she likes that @$#!, just don't see it

Best of the dystopian genre

What made the experience of listening to Blood Red Road the most enjoyable?

My mother says I've regressed, but I say that young adult dystopian novels are exactly what they should be: entertaining. I specifically read them because they aren't intellectually challenging or emotionally exhausting. For the half-hour commute home from work, I (hope to) lose myself in a world of high-stakes adventure and impossible young love. Most of the time, the writing is okay. It exists to tell the story but not for itself (Divergent, Hunger Games). Occasionally (Delirium, Matched) the writing is so distractingly bad that I can't even make it to the story.

Then, there is Blood Red Road and the other two Dust Lands books. Not only do we get a great adventure story full of love, life and death, but we get great writing, unique character voices, and innovative language. The imaginative vocabulary - "I'm afeared, Jack" - gave Saba her own voice.

What other book might you compare Blood Red Road to and why?

Lonesome Dove for the stark landscape, compelling cast of characters, and epic adventure.

Which character – as performed by Heather Lind – was your favorite?

Heather Lind did a great job capturing Jack's swagger, but she became the voice of Saba more than anyone else.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

From the dust comes hope.