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bookphilia

bookphilia

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Magic or Madness
Justine Larbalestier
The Engineer of Human Souls
Paul Wilson, Josef Škvorecký
The Maze Runner
James Dashner
Prodigy
Marie Lu
Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) (Wool, #1-5)
Hugh Howey
More Than This
Patrick Ness
Blood Red Road (Dust Lands, #1) - Moira Young Spoilers Ahead

I think it'd be difficult to understand what I exactly loved about this teen book. Firstly, I guess I should say, it's not an average teen book. I mean, sure there's a new post-apocalyptic and dystopian teen book every week, but they all usually start and end with angst and the most annoyingly dominant love story ever.

Blood Red Road threw me off first because of the prose. Not only does it demonstrate an existence of dialects, but also the lack of education and a loss of something we all hold dear: knowledge through books.

Young starts us off near the end of a drought by the dried up land once known as Silverlake. We see a glimpse into of the lives of our narrator, Saba, her twin brother Lugh ("Lug"; named after the Irish deity) and their younger sister Emmi. It becomes clear, right off the bat, that Saba is not perfect. In fact, she's just as selfish and sometimes just as childish as Emmi. And just like every other family, even this one comes with it's inner turmoil and tension.

When Lugh is kidnapped by Tonton and their father killed, after a sandstorm, Saba is determined to get her twin brother back.

While her adventure reminded me of Westerns and True Grit, this is not a mission of revenge. This is not an angry 18 year old going after the world, determined to kill all obstacles. In fact, the most human thing about this entire story is Saba's dislike for killing and her guilt, especially when she is forced to cage fight; after her sister and she are captured by a nasty couple on their way to Hopetown.

While her relationship with Jack, who she met while in captivity, is very Beatrice and Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing), it is also a source of much needed humour.

Finally, the idea that drugs have power and society is unorganized is a nice change.

I really do think this series or trilogy or whatever it may be, has much potential. Although sometimes I say that more often than not about teen trilogies, I will be anticipating this one the most.