Blood Red Road

By: Moira Young

Narrated by: Heather Lind

Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

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 a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.

©2011 Moira Young (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

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.

Highly engaging

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I would. I found the book really sucks you in and sets the scenery for the apocalyptic wasteland perfectly. Many of the books I read focus on the immediate aftermath of a post apocalyptic event, whereas this one was likely many decades later. Because of the time that has past the pre-apocalyptic people (known as Wreckers) are all but a legend and technological advances we enjoy on a day to day basis are objects of mystery and tall tales.

The book had the right amount of action, drama, character development and world exploration. I really enjoyed Young's setting and hope she writes more within it, perhaps even with different characters or parts of the land. I do in the meantime intend to pick up volume 2 and 3 of the series.

What did you like best about this story?

I really enjoyed the character of Saba in general. A few times her whole "loner who doesn't let anyone in" got irritating but overall she was awesome. Additionally I have to say the obsession she had with Lugh, seemed pretty unhealthy almost incestuous. I mean I get he was her twin and she loved him but she seemed almost obsessed with him. I felt that was laid on a little too thickly, but it got better after a bit.

The parts that highlighted Saba as "The Angel" were great.All her scenes as a fighter in Hopetown were awesome and you could really relate to and empathize with her.

Have you listened to any of Heather Lind’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No this is the first one. I have to say I really enjoyed her delivery and pronunciation. I don't know what some people are complaining about. Yes it sounded a bit southern, but it is important to remember the setting is long after the modern day. Accents shift and evolve, words change etc. This is especially true in a relatively low tech world with no formal education.

I would absolutely listen to Heather Lind narrating again, and in fact plan on getting volume 2 and 3 of the series soon.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes I actually really enjoyed it and found myself looking forward to the next listening session.

Any additional comments?

I tend to really enjoy books in the post-apocalyptic and dystopian genres, but there are not many female authors writing in that space. I stumbled upon this book as a recommendation on Audible and wanted to give it a try.

I am very glad I did. A female writer certainly emphasizes different aspects than a male writer and portrays scenes differently. For instance the romance with Saba and Jack seemed far more in depth and rich than most male writers seem to develop in their works. Also it was really nice to hear a female voice in all the post apocalypse madness.

Great narrator

Very much enjoyed the story but the narrator was just fabulous I would recommend it to any age audience

OK but not up to The Hunger Games or Divergent

The story has some interesting moments but tends to be a bit flat and it is predictable, as are the characters. The writing is good and the descriptions are generally vivid.

Heather Lind reads well and has an interesting way of interpreting shouting which is effective without being loud. Her accents are appropriate.

All in all, an average listen with nothing really negative but nothing outstanding either.

Pretty awesome story with tons of gore

Violence, action packed moments make the book a good read, narrator was a little annoying

Narrator.

The narrator is not good at yelling because she whisper yells. But read well.