Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Ohmyfreakingawd! This book was so good.

We’re in the future – there has been severe ecological damage somehow, we’re never privy to what happened, which is fine since it is way outside the scope of this story. Saba, her twin brother Lugh and younger sister live alone in a dried up lake. There is no one else around except some dude their dad tells them to stay away from. Then one day in a sudden devastating sand storm a posse of horseman ride into town. They kidnap Saba’s brother and kill her father. Saba vows to find him and thus begins her epic journey.

Saba was to my mind, very close in feeling to Temple from The Reapers are the Angels. Partly it was the spare, rough, phonetically spelled dialogue, partly it was that both books eschewed quotation marks, partly it was that both had a western feel to them, and partly it was because they both kicked ass like nobody’s business.

So, yeah, Saba is one tough cookie. She is sold into gladiator slavery where she earns the nickname the Angel of Death. She is unflinchingly violent and willing to do anything to survive. Luckily, her growth as a character is as uncomfortable for her as it is believable to the reader.

My critique of the book is mainly that there is an awful lot packed in here. Maybe the author could have cut some of it out, but, you know, I found I didn’t really mind because the action was break-neck and I couldn’t put the book down. The characters, the dialogue, the descriptions, they really propelled the story along. There are a few stray “ya’lls” that pop up late in the book that were a little incongruous with the rest of the dialogue and then were never used again. Perhaps the love story was a bit clichéd, but damn, it was hot, so I give it a wide pass on that one.

There is even a small homage to Tremors, Kevin Bacon’s greatest (greatest!!!) film.

I loved this book! So much fun.

=========================================
Book Source = Tayshas Review Copy