Review of Blood Red Road by Moira Young

I picked up this book to read as I heard about it winning the Costa Children's Award. Also it is on the Carnegie longlist which I am working through with my reading group The Bookaholics, each person selecting a title they would like to read and review for the group. As it was on the school kindle, I took it home to read last weekend.


Initially I had to get used to the dialect which took only a few minutes, but after that I was hooked. 'Blood Red Road' tells the story of Saba, who lives in a dystopian world with her twin brother Lugh, her father and her younger sister Emmi. Her life is shattered when her father is killed and her brother is taken from her by a mysterious group of riders.


Saba is a wonderful character, feisty and difficult, full of complicated emotions. Devoted to her brother, she struggles with her little sister and sees her as a nuisance who will hinder her on her quest to find her brother. She attempts to leave her behind but Emmi has her own ideas and is another wonderfully complex character.


I don't want to give too much away but I didn't expect to be reading a book about cage fighting! Saba is captured and is soon known as the Angel of Death as she becomes unbeatable in the cage. Saba is fiercely independent but her character mellows along the way and she realises she needs to trust other people. She makes friends with a group of female warriors, the Free Hawks who help her to escape and continue on with the search for her brother.


A group of people gather around Saba on her journey to the rocky red mountains - a real mixture of interesting characters. One of these is Jack, who Saba fights constantly but eventually comes to understand why the stone she wears around her neck gets hotter the closer she gets to him. Their relationship is yet another battle for Saba to deal with.

There are many adventures and battles along the way and I found it hard to put this book down. The changes in Saba's personality are reflected as her attitude changes to finding her brother at the end of the story and  the outcome she would like shifts. The way she feels about her sister also changes. I loved the constant tussle she has with feelings - Saba is a truly great character - there is no shortage of strong female characters in this book.

I have already started recommending this book to students. As for me, I am now reading The Hunger Games, as the Bookaholics want me to take them to see the film, so i need to see what all the fuss is about!