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.*

Cleopatra Confesses

Everyone thinks they know the story of Cleopatra, right?  Or at least the movie version that brought Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton together?

Cleopatra Confesses introduces us to a new Cleopatra, not the seductress, but the favored daughter who loved her country more than anything, and who was forced into a loveless marriage with not just one younger brother (as was custom), but when that one died, her other younger brother!

Here is the summary from Goodreads:
It is the first century B.C. Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh's six children, is the one that her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm to cause two of history's most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely--herself.

I really liked this book.  It was well written and researched, and I liked that it gave a different perspective than the seductress Cleopatra.  The Cleopatra portrayed in this book is one who is fiercely loyal to her country, a woman who is smart and sensitive but is often a pawn in her own life.


Cleopatra's story is narrated by Cleopatra and starts when she is roughly 10 and follows her through her father's rule, exile, the joint rule of her sisters, her father's return, becoming Queen, and her two great loves, Caesar and Marc Antony.  



The last chapter is so sad when she talks about Caesar's death and then Marc Antony's death and leading up to her own suicide by asp.  


Because it was interesting and well written, I gave it a 4 on goodreads.  




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

Wrapped

 Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury is the story of Agnes, a feisty Regency era debutante who unwittingly stumbles across a great mystery and ultimately uncovers a spy and helps her country.

The summary from Goodreads: 
Agnes Wilkins is standing in front of an Egyptian mummy, about to make the first cut into the wrappings, about to unlock ancient (and not-so-ancient) history.
Maybe you think this girl is wearing a pith helmet with antique dust swirling around her.
Maybe you think she is a young Egyptologist who has arrived in Cairo on camelback.
Maybe she would like to think that too. Agnes Wilkins dreams of adventures that reach beyond the garden walls, but reality for a seventeen-year-old debutante in 1815 London does not allow for camels—or dust, even. No, Agnes can only see a mummy when she is wearing a new silk gown and standing on the verdant lawns of Lord Showalter’s estate, with chaperones fussing about and strolling sitar players straining to create an exotic “atmosphere” for the first party of the season. An unwrapping.
This is the start of it all, Agnes’s debut season, the pretty girl parade that offers only ever-shrinking options: home, husband, and high society. It’s also the start of something else, because the mummy Agnes unwraps isn’t just a mummy. It’s a host for a secret that could unravel a new destiny—unleashing mystery, an international intrigue, and possibly a curse in the bargain.
Get wrapped up in the adventure . . . but keep your wits about you, dear Agnes.

I like a good historical fiction book.  I like the feeling of going back in time, and as dorky as it sounds, learning something about that time period.  I did feel that to really get a good grasp of this book, the reader needed to have some sort of understanding of Regency England, its society and morals. 


I really liked that Agnes was able to keep her plucky attitude and didn't have to follow the same path as many women of that time, of her station.  I appreciated that the author didn't push modern views on marriage and women on an era that felt totally different about those things, and on the other hand, she didn't create this feisty, lovable girl and then force her into a dull, loveless marriage.


I was able to guess the "bad guy" as soon as he was introduced, and was also able to guess that he would be a spy long before it was introduced as a possibility.  


All in all, if you like a light, fun, historical fiction, this book is probably for you.  There are elements of romance, but nothing sexual.  If I taught middle and high school, I wouldn't have any problem having this book on my shelves.  I gave this book a 4 out of 5 on goodreads.


I was able to download and review this book thanks to Simon & Schuster and their free GalleyGrab program.