By Moira Young
This is yet another book written in the Hunger Games genre: America in the post-apocalyptic age, teen woman coming of age, fighting/killing in order to survive, possible love interest, and an attempt to save a family member. At the same time, this book is very different. The difference is in the style the book is written.
The book is written in first person vernacular with no punctuation for dialogue. It drove me crazy for the first few chapters and I almost gave up on the book. I was also not crazy about the protagonist. But at one point the book and the character grew on me and I was hooked. So much so that I read this book in one day!
Saba must leave the only home she has known to save her twin brother, Lugh, from the people who kidnapped him and killed their father. The only problem is that her nine year old sister Emmi, whom she can’t stand, wants to tag along. Their journey across the dessert and among the evil drug filled town of Hopetown begins to define who they are as well as provide them with some faithful friends.
Saba is a person who has built walls around herself -- this protects her in some ways and yet leaves her lonely and unwilling to trust or to love others. I really enjoyed seeing her begin to allow herself to feel and let others in to her heart, including her own sister. Her love interest was particularly brave and tenacious throughout all she tried to put up to keep him out.
Blood Red Road made me think of my faith when Saba and another character, Maev, talk about trusting one another. They agree that neither trusted the other, yet they each had to rely on the other to get them out of tough situations. Otherwise, they would have died. They speak of their trust in one another as a leap of faith. I think in some ways, that is how our faith in God has to begin. Without that first leap of trust, we cannot know how God will take care of us or save us. As we mature in faith, our leaps become higher, longer and more trusting. We still don’t have all the answers but we have built a relationship in which we can put our hope in God.
I highly recommend this book!
Happy reading!
Amelia
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