BLOOD RED ROAD by Moira Young

Okay, so today's book is the second part of why the next book I write is going to have the word "red" in the title.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young. It's a dystopian novel, so that right there thrills me. I love a good dystopian novel.

Here's the lowdown on BLOOD RED ROAD: 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.

Why I Liked It:
1. Saba is a fantastic character. You can't help but root for her along every twist and turn of the story. She's fiercely loyal, something I really like. She's determined, a quality I like in girls. She's multi-faceted, which kept me turning pages.

2. The language. Okay, I'll freely admit that at first, I didn't think I could read the book. It has no quotation marks. None. And there's a ton of slang and dialect (I guess that's what it's called). But I vowed to give it 100 pages and if the manner of language and dialect and lack of quotations bothered me, I'd quit.

Well, I didn't quit. After about 30 - 40 pages, I barely noticed those things. It's written in a conversational-enough style that the things I thought were drawbacks, weren't.

So put BLOOD RED ROAD on your list! If you like dystopian stories, this is one you must read.

What's the last book you finished reading that you started out thinking "Oh, man, I don't know..."?





Check out what the other Bookanistas are up to this week at the Reading Room.

Or on their blogs:

• LiLa Roecker shivers over A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie
• Beth Revis loves The Last Little Blue Envelope
• Carolina Valdez Miller gushes over The Girl of Fire and Thorns – with arc giveaway
• Bethany Wiggins cheers for Chime
• Rosemary Clement Moore is enraptured by Entwine
• Stasia Ward Kehoe applauds The Predicteds
• Christine Fonseca is wowed by The Near Witch