Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

[Haunted-Sunshine]

Blood Red Road is Moira Young's first novel and the first in the Dust Lands trilogy. I picked up this book expecting a typical, trope filled, young adult dystopian romance novel. I'm thrilled to say I was completely wrong, don't judge a book by its cover could never be more true. The main character, Saba, is tough, funny, relatable, and severely flawed, which was my favorite part about her. She seemed like a real human being, which is so rare in YA fiction, especially in female protagonists. There was no hint of a love triangle anywhere, thank god, and the plot had my heart racing. All the characters are lovable and fully three dimensional, it's so easy to fall into this future world and experience the action right alongside Saba and Jack.
While I loved the characters and the plot, it was a rather difficult read. The beginning hundred or so pages are very slow, it's a lot of exposition, which is necessary for the rest of the book, but tedious to get through. The language the author uses helps to submerge the reader fully into the world, but takes some getting used to. There are no quotation marks, and the use of goin, fer, and ain't are commonplace. But once you get the hang of it, I guarantee that you will not be able to put it down.

[zero_macabre]

I've had many experiences with books with slow starts, and that often causes me to stop reading the book. But I do like characters that actually have flaws and aren't too perfect! Hmm.. maybe I will consider checking this book out.