Blood Red Road

Set in the post-apocalyptic future, Blood Red Road by Moira Young, is at its heart, a story of the importance of family.  It also doesn't hurt that the heroine could kick your butt from here to next week.

Here's the summary from Goodreads:
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.

If I can be 100% honest, what drew me to this book was that someone had told me it was like The Hunger Games (and we all know how much I love THG).  I can definitely see the similarities:
*set in the future after some huge disaster that has destroyed the landscape, the government and most technology
*Hard to like, but harder to dislike, heroine, Saba.
*Saba, much like Katniss, can kick your butt.
*Forced fights to the death
*Evil, crazed leader
*corrupt government
*the idea that family is one of the most important things in your life

However, there are some differences:
*Saba doesn't have to go at it alone (and learns the value of friendship and how to trust others).
*Saba is actively fighting to save her brother (while Katniss is actively fighting to save her own life, and inadvertently, her family).
*Saba ignores her sister, is almost at the point of hating her and wishing she was never born
*Saba is sly and cunning, but she is always honest about her intentions and actions.
*Not just kids fighting kids.
(I'm sure there are more, but lets not get too deep here).



I was a little disappointed that this book took me about 130 pages to really get into, and honestly, I could have put it down and not finished it and would not have cared.  But then, the action started and it was nonstop!  I had a hard time putting the book down after that!  I'm so glad I kept reading!

Besides the story being a little slow in the beginning, I would have to say my only other downfall with it, and this could very well just be a problem with the e-galley edition, is that there were no quotation marks around speech.  This drives me crazy!  I couldn't tell who was speaking, if it was speech or thought and it really bothered me.  However, like I said, this was the e-galley, so it might be different by the time the real book comes out.

Another issue I'd like to point out is that the book is written like the characters speak, not "proper" English.  I can see where some might be bothered by this, but I thought it made the book more real.

All in all, I gave this book a 4 out of 5 on Goodreads.  Yes, if you like THG, you might want to read this book.  But if you didn't like THG, you might want to check it out, too.  Its not just a rip-off story.  It is a powerful book in its own right.

*I downloaded this book for free thanks to Simon & Schuster's GalleyGrab program.*