Blood Red Road by Moira Young
My rating: 4/5 cats
this book is one of the most-anticipated release titles in teen fiction, and i got to read it early because ariel is a gift to mankind. take that, teens!! you guys get fast metabolisms and hopeful outlooks and unlimited potential, and i get advanced readers copies. even steven.
so she gave me this book about twins and a bird, which is like giving a new young mother a buddy book where a kidnapper teams up with SIDS for adventures and romance. but i braved my fears and read what i was hoping would be cormac mccarthy for teens—a postapocalyptic meditation on evil where a chick on a horse roams the desert enacting vengeance and trying to reclaim her kidnapped twin.
sounds rad, right???
i started reading this on the subway home from going to see true grit. as blood red road is about a rugged sunbaked environment and a girl on a horse with a mission, there was no way i wasn’t going to visualize that true grit actress in this role, even though she was considerably younger than the girl in this book. this is simply anecdotal and maybe i am stalling??
the book is very fast-paced, and the story is exciting and original—the kids are going to love this. me, i had troubles with my disbelief-suspension because i have been around the literary block and have read all sorts of books, but i was still enjoying it and turning the pages rapidly with anticipation.
the cage match stuff was the best, and i would love to have read more of that segment. it reminded me of blood of heroes, which is an excellent movie. WHY DOES NO ONE AGREE WITH ME ON THIS? but in this book: two girls, one cage—anything goes. and any girl who loses three times gets to “retire” by being torn apart by the rabid crowd. why have any additional plot? this is all i needed to love this book. alas, it was but fleeting. but while it was happening, it was badass and i was riveted.
however, the romance subplot was the weakest element. she is eighteen, he is…older, but they act like teenagers in their mood swings and emotional fumblings. and ariel pointed out that in this situation, where there are so few people and no way to pattern behavior and no expectations based on media, etc, they would naturally behave in an awkward way, but if this is the case, it requires a lot of psychological extrapolation on the part of the reader, which seems unkind to a teen audience, who are necessarily weaker in their extratextual assessments, simply based upon inexperience, so i am dismissing that explanation. hear me, ariel—i dismiss it!
it was good, and i will read the rest of the books when they come out, no mistake, but it didn’t turn me inside out the way hunger games did. it just seemed…superficial. katniss has depth as a character—she is flawed, but her flaws make sense and humanize her. this character is just single minded to her own detriment, and prone to little hissy fits. again, this might be a result of not having anyone in her life to teach her behavioral norms, or just of different norms for a different world, but characters take really serious actions that should have repercussions and consequences, and they make these decisions so casually. YOU ARE LIVING IN A WASTELAND! WITH SCARY SANDWORMS AND A MANIACAL KING!! CAUSE AND EFFECT NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED, PLEASE. don’t just assume there is going to be a “later.” y’all need to communicate better.
it may be the next big thing, but it may not be my next big thing. i will most definitely read more of this series, and the rest of you can wait until june to make up your own minds.
read my book reviews on goodreads
