Caitlin's Reviews > Blood Red Road

Alright. I wrote a review for this (probably in the middle of the night--or early in the morning) when I first finished the ARC. Now. Going through that review, I cringe a bit. It's riddled with mistakes and some of it doesn't make any sense. So, I decided to write a briefer, clearer review.

But if you're interested, I'll leave the old one under a spoiler tag.

(view spoiler)[2.5 stars. (This is a long review by the way :] ) First off, I was really excited about this book. I love dystopians not based around a controlling society, but a anarchy. Plus, I love the desert, wasteland feel. Growing up in the desert, I know a thing or two about it. But this also may be the reason why I'm so hard on the book.

Blood Red Road has so much potential, it's practically overflowing with greatness. But sadly it falls short of just that.

I liked the book, but there's a ton of stuff I didn't like about it too. And as always, dislike over rules like. First things first. Dislikes.

PROSE: Blood Red Road is written in dialect--so it's 1st POV, but the narration follows the exact voice of the main character (Saba). There's a few books out there that have the same type of prose. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Every heard of it? Well, unlike Huck Finn, the dialect prose doesn't quite work for Blood Red Road. Using dialect is difficult. It lacks detail on the surroundings and goes more in depth with characters. Plus, sometimes it's difficult to read dialect in your head. Young does a great job at writing her voice (mostly. there's a few spots where I read out loud and found that it still sounded funny) but she chose the wrong prose. I mean, I wanna know about the world. About the battles Saba and friends face. I want to feel the gritty earth beneath her feet and feel the urge to win in cage fighting. But we only get the minimum. This may be a dystopian, but I still treated it as if it's a fantasy. It's a whole new world--a wasteland full of thieves and murderers. Yet, even after experiencing it, it still failed to show me. I wanted more of everything.

Another thing about the prose that drove me insane was the way Young wrote everything. Short. Sentences. Usually writers use short sentences to create tension, to really get the adrenaline going during actions scenes. Young uses short sentences all the time. Enough to kill the tension. After awhile I didn't care whether Saba was fighting for her life or just riding a horse. I'm not kidding you. By the end of the book (which is nearly 500 pages) I was pulling out my hair. I couldn't finish it one sitting because I couldn't stand the structure. Sounds like I'm being picky, but as the book progressed the more annoyed I became.

SABA: FOr the first few breaks (there's no chapters just little breaks that probably waste half the book due to white paper) I actually liked her. She was a stubborn naive girl. She loved her brother and her father, living on her dry farm, blah blah blah. Then as soon as her bother is taken away, suddenly she's a changed individual. I mean, she's like, "I'm a bad ass who hasn't left my little isolated farm and can't read! that's right! I'm not afraid to kill!" That right there made me angry. It's possible she could develop from naive girl, depending on her father and brother, to warrior chick, but we don't see any of that development. It wasn't till over half way through the book she started to fall back into my favor again. But that was due to different characters and the development between her sister and Jack. Shows that she's vulnerable (but not too vulnerable!)

HOLES: This book is like swiss cheese. Usually I don't mind swiss cheese. It's an okay cheese, but books aren't suppose to be swiss cheese. As long as the holes can be patched up in a book or two, then I'm alright. I don't even care. But the holes in this book are purely fact based. There's on moment where Saba is traveling. She's thirsty so she drinks water then splashes her face with water. My thoughts at that time: "What are you doing? You're in the desert? Don't you need water? Why are you wasting it?" But I let it pass, thinking there must be some reasonable explanation. But then a little bit later she's like "We're low on water!" Palm to the forehead. Seriously? Didn't you think of that before? Stuff like this happens through out the book. She could have killed the bad guy, half way through the book, but instead just says, "Oh he looks dead. So he's dead." Or, my favorite, that Saba exposure and knowledge of the world--less than that--society is very limited, yet she's able to handle things like some God damn genius. I don't know. Some may disagree--and I'll admit. She had moments where she seemed "naive" but not enough moments. I mean, I don't care if your 18, you can still be a child. And the prose may be partially to blame. The lack of detail and short sentences don't help expand ideas or the surroundings.

CLICHE/AIRS: Like holes, I'm okay with cliches, as long as they tread their own path away from the typical structure. Blood Red Road actually didn't have many cliches, but the ones that existed in the text, were the ones that mattered. If you've ever watched a western--or are a western fan, then reading this book may feel familiar. Jack (which is a total western, rough and tough name) and Saba's relationship is cliche (I hate you, then love you) but even the characteristics between them are cliche (Jack's the tough loner traveler. Bad ass, only cares for himself blah blah blah. No plans just ideas. Wild card). But of course he can't resist Saba's stubbornness. I won't go any further. I'm not saying I didn't like it, but man, I'd like to see some originality. Then, besides the romance cliche, you have some other western cliches. You know, scary lookin' guy, but he's a all soft (Ike, sound familiar?) with a kid, (Tommo) and then deaths that seem almost pointless. Or the end--yea, that was a cliche too.

Airs as in, half this book gives off this "this is impossible, air." There were moments in the book were a "mission" was deemed "Life threatening, like, luck's the only thing that's gonna get us out alive." But then, all the sudden everyone's alive. Hardly anyone's bleeding. Now wasn't that easy? I felt like every other event was like this. Talks it up, all big and scary and ends up finishing in a page or two. I don't know. I just found myself sighing, wishing for more. (AGain this may be due to the prose). That realistic, "this makes sense" feeling was missing..

LIKES.

Okay, so I know I'm raggin' on and on, but I did enjoy the book. I mean, yea I hated the prose, ready to put it down, but I kept reading because the plot was intriguing. So much more can be explored, but Young did a good job at leaving the book as a stand alone (BUt it's gonna be a series. It says so, damnit). They're many unanswered questions--who's the Tonton? What about that Chaal? What about Jack? What about the stars?

I don't need to tell you there's action. You're guaranteed you'll be blown away instantly (like literally because of the dust storm) and if you loved that never ending stream of activity, well this is the book for you. Blood, fights, instincts. All here. My favorite part was Saba and Emmi's relationship development. In the beginning it was obvious Saba despised her little sister, but by the end it was love all around. It was a nice easy pace (unlike Saba's own transition) and I was pleased.

Overall, this book may seem great, but once you sit and think about it, things fall apart. But in reality, this book isn't a "thinking" book. It's an action book. All that is required is "go go go go" and you definitely go go go. All the time. (hide spoiler)]

First off, let me say that this book is fast, fun and overall okay. I've read worse, but I've definitely have read better. I give a solid 2.5 stars. (Part of my harsh review may be because I was hyped up for this book and after reading it, I discovered it to be a big let down).

Anyways, onwards.

The biggest problem with this book is how fragile it stands. With little pressure, everything collapses. The setting, the characters, the development, the logic--everything. As much as I had fun, I found everything I slightly touched crumble in my metaphorical hand.

Some obvious offenses are simple logical things. Saba at one point, while traversing through the hot, dry desert pours water on her face. As she's doing this, my thoughts are this: "lolwhatareyoudoingwithyourprecioussupply?" Next thing we know, she's out of water. Facepalm. Small (even big ones, like the wtf-sandworms scene and how Saba was stupid enough to let the bad guy live) things like this are spread across the text. Tiny things that add up and eventually it's a free for all. I just gave up caring. I just held on for the ride, frowning all the way.

While some people find the prose to be engaging--and it is, somewhat--but I've read far more engaging minimal prose. Dialect or not. Cormac McCarthy? The man writes pages of dialogue--sparse of any punctuation. Huckleberry Finn? Yes, his dialect was fun and held tons of literary satire. Young's use of minimal dialect, felt more like a gimmick rather than the real thing. Maybe for readers who haven't read dialect before, or minimal may find Young's prose something worth to write home about, but it's not. In fact, I think this book, being pretty much a fantasy with a very under developed setting, would have benefited with third person, present. This story is far more plot driven than character, which is what Third person (first person is character driven) emphasizes on. But I digress.

So, with that out of the way. Let's talk about Saba. Saba is my least favorite thing about this book. Her character, her development. Near the end she started to feel more...solid, but she still remains on my Shit List. Saba is a perfect example of what today YA heroines suffer from: lack of fear. I don't understand how people read The Hunger Games and then sit back and call Katniss a badass heroine, when in reality, she was far from "bad" and she certainly wasn't an "ass." She was cautious, smart and most of all she respected what she feared the most (she complained a ton and was dense about certain things, but this part of Katniss I'm not talking about). Katniss at one point says, "Stupid people are dangerous." She calls a group of people, who are suppose to be incapable, dumber than you, dangerous. A force to be reckoned with. She see's the fear--she respects that bad things can happen from stupid people. Hell, at one point she even says, "Flight is essential." Fear is something needed to survive. It keeps you smart, it keeps you alive.

The reason why I'm going on about Katniss in non THG review is because there are many mock Katnisses today. Many heroines are out there try mimmic Katniss' "toughness." That instinct. But they all fail in my eyes--especially Saba. Saba while cage fighting depends on this "red thing" which I'm assuming it's her instinct to survive. Instinct isn't going to keep you alive. I mean, everyone is born with this innate animal instinct. What sets them out from their opponent? Well, it should be skill. But in Saba's case, as long as she's more "animal" like, then she wins. No fear of death, no fear of her opponent. Just red rage to fuel her through fight after fight.

IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. How can a girl, a sheltered one at that, be able to be the champion of cage fighting? Never losing? How can she suddenly be tough as nails? How? How? Young fails to write a convincing transition for Saba. I fail to understand how she suddenly has the balls to just make a stand. First of all, she shouldn't understand anything around her. She can't read or write. She's uneducated in other ways. She should be a bit helpless. She should be scared (See there's that word. Scared. Fear. What's wrong with having a hero/heroine who is more human like than fiction?). Her character is very unrealistic. Her character is an entire HOLE in the book. She is the biggest problem and makes me cringe thinking of the second book.

Alright. That wasn't brief, but it definitely was more clear and had far less grammar/spelling errors.