View all 49 comments. Jan 07, karen rated it really liked it Shelves: why-yes-i-ya , from-publisher-or-author , girls-gone-wild , my-biggest-fear , live-through-this. View all 21 comments.
And for those who think I am overreacting, this is what we had to work with: Lugh thinks fer a moment. Then he says, Love makes you weak. This book definitely takes place in a dystopian world because quotation marks are extinct.
So, as you can see, getting past the writing is a feat on its own which I was not able to overcome bc I was too busy clawing at my eyes after reading 3 sentences Thirdly, saba is a terrible main character. Yer in my head. Yer in my breath, yer in my bones You have bin since the first moment I set eyes on you. View all 42 comments. Jan 12, Flannery rated it really liked it Shelves: read-in , young-adult-teen , wishlist-for-dtbs-to-keep , arc-galley-or-first-reads , reviewed , so-good-i-stayed-up-to-read-it , read-on-tour.
Have you ever wanted to read a bleak quest novel narrated by a rough and ready Elly May Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies? Just kidding. Er, sort of. In fact, it actually felt comfortable. Saba, the protagonist in this work, lives in a barren dustland with her Pa, younger sister Emmi, and her twin, Lugh. Trust me. Think on that. I want you to be as surprised as I was—and there were several moments when I was super excited to find out what would happen next.
This novel has a very strong set of supporting characters. Saba is supported in her mission by her sister, Emmi, whom Saba undervalues and disregards for much of the book. I had a smile on every time Epona showed up in the story--any fellow Zelda lovers will know why. They show up several times in the story, and will likely be part of the series to come. I can see how the romantic elements of this story might annoy some people or feel unrealistic.
She fumbled a bit, they both did, but I believed it in this world where people are lacking human connections. The love that frustrated me the most was that between the siblings. Saba is willing to risk her life more than once to save her brother, who we only get to know for the first 10 pages or so. Emmi, on the other hand, Saba is willing to just dump off several times in the story. Young does give an explanation for this but it just comes off as Saba being absolutely one-minded about saving Lugh and her self-involvement.
She really does come more into herself by the end of the story—and I hope she continues to become the woman she could be in later series installments. Anyway, I was thinking about how to describe this book and here it goes… Just give me the Wizard of Oz quest with grit and less happy fun times.
Just give me The Road with teenagers and a fantasy vibe. Just give me a post-apoc Dune not in space and with less bizarre shit. Just give me The Fellowship of the Ring set in Mordor without the overly burdensome description or any of the fantastical beings. Pretty much everything is derivative these days and that is not always a bad thing. I love all of the books I compared this one to and Moira Young did a fantastic job of telling a gripping story.
I agree with other reviewers who argue that the first half of this book is much more solid than the latter half. My gripes with the novel were few but the most glaring was the number of coincidences. In real life, plans don't go off without a hitch and people don't show up at the exact moment you absolutely need them.
I think this book stands out in the YA dystopian scene and it is a solid 4 star read. Jan 22, Caitlin rated it it was ok. I wrote a review for this probably in the middle of the night--or early in the morning when I first finished the ARC. Going through that review, I cringe a bit. It's riddled with mistakes and some of it doesn't make any sense.
So, I decided to write a briefer, clearer review. But if you're interested, I'll leave the old one under a spoiler tag. This is a long review by the way :] First off, I was really excited about this book.
I love dystopians not bas Alright. I love dystopians not based around a controlling society, but a anarchy. Plus, I love the desert, wasteland feel.
Growing up in the desert, I know a thing or two about it. But this also may be the reason why I'm so hard on the book.
Blood Red Road has so much potential, it's practically overflowing with greatness. But sadly it falls short of just that. I liked the book, but there's a ton of stuff I didn't like about it too. And as always, dislike over rules like. First things first. There's a few books out there that have the same type of prose. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Every heard of it? Using dialect is difficult. It lacks detail on the surroundings and goes more in depth with characters. Plus, sometimes it's difficult to read dialect in your head. Young does a great job at writing her voice mostly. I mean, I wanna know about the world. About the battles Saba and friends face. I want to feel the gritty earth beneath her feet and feel the urge to win in cage fighting. But we only get the minimum.
This may be a dystopian, but I still treated it as if it's a fantasy. It's a whole new world--a wasteland full of thieves and murderers. Yet, even after experiencing it, it still failed to show me. I wanted more of everything. Another thing about the prose that drove me insane was the way Young wrote everything.
Usually writers use short sentences to create tension, to really get the adrenaline going during actions scenes. Young uses short sentences all the time. Enough to kill the tension. After awhile I didn't care whether Saba was fighting for her life or just riding a horse. I'm not kidding you. By the end of the book which is nearly pages I was pulling out my hair. I couldn't finish it one sitting because I couldn't stand the structure. Sounds like I'm being picky, but as the book progressed the more annoyed I became.
SABA: FOr the first few breaks there's no chapters just little breaks that probably waste half the book due to white paper I actually liked her. She was a stubborn naive girl. She loved her brother and her father, living on her dry farm, blah blah blah.
Then as soon as her bother is taken away, suddenly she's a changed individual. I mean, she's like, "I'm a bad ass who hasn't left my little isolated farm and can't read! I'm not afraid to kill! It's possible she could develop from naive girl, depending on her father and brother, to warrior chick, but we don't see any of that development. It wasn't till over half way through the book she started to fall back into my favor again. But that was due to different characters and the development between her sister and Jack.
Shows that she's vulnerable but not too vulnerable! Usually I don't mind swiss cheese. It's an okay cheese, but books aren't suppose to be swiss cheese. As long as the holes can be patched up in a book or two, then I'm alright. I don't even care. But the holes in this book are purely fact based. There's on moment where Saba is traveling. She's thirsty so she drinks water then splashes her face with water. My thoughts at that time: "What are you doing?
You're in the desert? Don't you need water? Why are you wasting it? But then a little bit later she's like "We're low on water! Didn't you think of that before? Stuff like this happens through out the book. She could have killed the bad guy, half way through the book, but instead just says, "Oh he looks dead. So he's dead. I don't know. Some may disagree--and I'll admit. She had moments where she seemed "naive" but not enough moments.
I mean, I don't care if your 18, you can still be a child. And the prose may be partially to blame. The lack of detail and short sentences don't help expand ideas or the surroundings. Blood Red Road actually didn't have many cliches, but the ones that existed in the text, were the ones that mattered.
If you've ever watched a western--or are a western fan, then reading this book may feel familiar. Jack which is a total western, rough and tough name and Saba's relationship is cliche I hate you, then love you but even the characteristics between them are cliche Jack's the tough loner traveler.
Bad ass, only cares for himself blah blah blah. No plans just ideas. Wild card. But of course he can't resist Saba's stubbornness. I won't go any further.
I'm not saying I didn't like it, but man, I'd like to see some originality. Then, besides the romance cliche, you have some other western cliches. You know, scary lookin' guy, but he's a all soft Ike, sound familiar? Or the end--yea, that was a cliche too. Airs as in, half this book gives off this "this is impossible, air. Hardly anyone's bleeding. Now wasn't that easy? I felt like every other event was like this. Talks it up, all big and scary and ends up finishing in a page or two.
I just found myself sighing, wishing for more. AGain this may be due to the prose. That realistic, "this makes sense" feeling was missing.. Okay, so I know I'm raggin' on and on, but I did enjoy the book.
I mean, yea I hated the prose, ready to put it down, but I kept reading because the plot was intriguing. So much more can be explored, but Young did a good job at leaving the book as a stand alone BUt it's gonna be a series. It says so, damnit. They're many unanswered questions--who's the Tonton? What about that Chaal? What about Jack? What about the stars?
I don't need to tell you there's action. You're guaranteed you'll be blown away instantly like literally because of the dust storm and if you loved that never ending stream of activity, well this is the book for you. Blood, fights, instincts. All here. My favorite part was Saba and Emmi's relationship development. In the beginning it was obvious Saba despised her little sister, but by the end it was love all around.
It was a nice easy pace unlike Saba's own transition and I was pleased. Overall, this book may seem great, but once you sit and think about it, things fall apart. But in reality, this book isn't a "thinking" book. It's an action book.
All that is required is "go go go go" and you definitely go go go. All the time. I've read worse, but I've definitely have read better. I give a solid 2. Part of my harsh review may be because I was hyped up for this book and after reading it, I discovered it to be a big let down. Anyways, onwards. The biggest problem with this book is how fragile it stands. With little pressure, everything collapses.
The setting, the characters, the development, the logic --everything. As much as I had fun, I found everything I slightly touched crumble in my metaphorical hand. Some obvious offenses are simple logical things. Saba at one point, while traversing through the hot, dry desert pours water on her face.
As she's doing this, my thoughts are this: "lolwhatareyoudoingwithyourprecioussupply? Small even big ones, like the wtf-sandworms scene and how Saba was stupid enough to let the bad guy live things like this are spread across the text.
Tiny things that add up and eventually it's a free for all. I just gave up caring. I just held on for the ride, frowning all the way. While some people find the prose to be engaging--and it is, somewhat--but I've read far more engaging minimal prose.
Dialect or not. Cormac McCarthy? The man writes pages of dialogue--sparse of any punctuation. Huckleberry Finn? Yes, his dialect was fun and held tons of literary satire. Young's use of minimal dialect, felt more like a gimmick rather than the real thing. Maybe for readers who haven't read dialect before, or minimal may find Young's prose something worth to write home about, but it's not. In fact, I think this book, being pretty much a fantasy with a very under developed setting, would have benefited with third person, present.
This story is far more plot driven than character, which is what Third person first person is character driven emphasizes on. But I digress. So, with that out of the way. Let's talk about Saba.
Saba is my least favorite thing about this book. Her character, her development. Near the end she started to feel more Saba is a perfect example of what today YA heroines suffer from: lack of fear. I don't understand how people read The Hunger Games and then sit back and call Katniss a badass heroine, when in reality, she was far from "bad" and she certainly wasn't an "ass.
Katniss at one point says, "Stupid people are dangerous. A force to be reckoned with. She see's the fear--she respects that bad things can happen from stupid people. Hell, at one point she even says, "Flight is essential.
It keeps you smart, it keeps you alive. Many heroines are out there try mimmic Katniss' "toughness. But they all fail in my eyes--especially Saba.
Saba while cage fighting depends on this "red thing" which I'm assuming it's her instinct to survive. Instinct isn't going to keep you alive. I mean, everyone is born with this innate animal instinct. What sets them out from their opponent? Well, it should be skill. But in Saba's case, as long as she's more "animal" like, then she wins. No fear of death, no fear of her opponent. Just red rage to fuel her through fight after fight. How can a girl, a sheltered one at that, be able to be the champion of cage fighting?
Never losing? How can she suddenly be tough as nails? Young fails to write a convincing transition for Saba. I fail to understand how she suddenly has the balls to just make a stand. First of all, she shouldn't understand anything around her. She can't read or write. She's uneducated in other ways. She should be a bit helpless. She should be scared See there's that word. Her character is very unrealistic. Her character is an entire HOLE in the book. She is the biggest problem and makes me cringe thinking of the second book.
View all 14 comments. View all 6 comments. Recommended to Joyzi by: Veneficus. Shelves: favorites , author-american , book-series , reviewed , fiction , e-book , ya-books , dystopia , sci-fi , 5-stars-or-more. Do you love Hunger Games? Do you love the dessert? Do you love the desert? Do you love cage fighting? When I started reading Blood Red Road I did not like it that much because the beginning was a little bit cheesy especially when they talked about stars and prophecy. Also, the writing style d Also, the writing style did not help, there are a lot of spelling mistakes and grammatical mistakes.
The words in this one spells like how they would sound like for example: exactly will be something like ezackly, stomach will be stummick, respect will be respek, afraid will be something like afeard and so on and so forth There are also grammar mistakes on the subject and verb agreement like I says was used rather I say. But once you start reading it you will get used to it in the end. Once you meet Miz Pinch that is when the story will get more exciting. Once you read this, you are brought to different places, different situations and different characters.
I really like the places they are different and I can just imagine them. The world Moira Young creates is really something. It's like Graceling and Lord of the Rings, the world is just rich. The Silverlake, Hopetown, Freedom fields, etc. There are many places and they are really amazing. It is also unpredictable I'm always looking forward to what will happen next. There are a lot of characters from the good ones and the bad ones.
The characters are really great you will root for them, and care for them like they are real. The love story was also a good one Saba and Jack. Saba is stubborn and strong. She reminds me of Katniss and Katsa. Jack is happy go lucky, cocky and teasy. He reminds me of the lead guy in Tangled If you're still having trouble, follow these steps to sign in. Add a library card to your account to borrow titles, place holds, and add titles to your wish list.
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