Blood Red Road

Moira Young (author)

Scholastic, UK: September 2011; 492pp

ISBN: 9781407124254

Genres: adventure, dystopian, science fiction

Issues: family, friendship, identity

'Lugh got born first, on Midsummer's Day, when the sun hangs low in the sky. Then me. Two hours later. That pretty much says it all. Lugh goes first, always first, an I follow on behind. An that's fine. That's right. That's how it's meant to be.' (p1)

But four riders in black kidnap Lugh; their father is killed in the fight; and Saba is left on her own. Well, there's nine year old Emmi but she doesn't really count; Saba feels torn in half without her twin. So she follows, as always. Following leads her to places and experiences that will haunt her dreams for the rest of her life – all part of the cost she must pay if she is to save Lugh. But will that cost include Emmi's life? Or Saba's? Or just her sanity?

The Hunger Games has been followed, as such original creations invariably are, by a string of copycat novels. This is not always a bad thing, if the breakthrough novel/series has opened a publisher's doors to quality writing that might not otherwise have been considered.

Blood Red Road is one of a better class of similar books that have followed Suzanne Collins' challenging series. There are similar elements: a strong, beautiful, fierce girl fighting for her life and the life of someone she loves; a world with limited resources; an unexpected romance. But these are plot elements that can be found in many YA novels. What is important is that Moira Young uses these elements well. As the novel progresses it becomes that Saba is not the two-dimensional character she first appears; her bond with her twin, a devotion that excludes all others including her little sister, stems from the loss of her mother in childbirth. Emmi's arrival caused not only their mother's death but their father's consequent loss of direction and capacity to bond with his children. It becomes more understandable that, for Saba, Lugh was her sun, her anchor, her guide, her only friend. The Blood Red Road is the path that Saba must follow to rescue not only her twin but her own future. The journey, the pain, the loss, are all essential elements that facilitate the self-discovery that will enable Saba to become the person she should be. Only by separation from her brother can Saba discover her own abilities, identity and value – and the capacity to care for more than one person.

Written in the first person in an at times irritating 'dialect', Blood Red Road is set in a post-apocalyptic world where survival is hand-to-mouth, technology very basic and twenty-first century objects and buildings a source of wonder. The world is arid, the people mostly driven by greed and/or drugs. In this apparently bleak, brutal world, Young has set a protagonist who has to choose – the one or the many, the vile or the good, the harsh but familiar present or the hope for a better but uncertain future.

There are flaws, certainly. The novel has good characters but is plot-driven and somewhat predictable. But Young's acting experience has informed her writing, so the characters are believable, unique individuals, and the relationships are mostly realistic. The writing is succinct, at times terse, and highly visual. That the reader is pulled into a reluctant admiration for and attachment to a fairly obnoxious character is testament to the power of Young's writing.

A remarkable achievement for a first novel, Blood Red Road is not groundbreaking but it is definitely an interesting read.