New trilogy will appeal to action fans

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This article was published 11/06/2011 (5589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Blood Red Road

By Moira Young

Doubleday Canada, 459 pages, $20

WITH her debut novel, B.C.-born, U.K.-based writer Moira Young attempts to write the next Hunger Games.

Blood Red Road is very similar to American Suzanne Collins’ popular young-adult trilogy, with its post-apocalyptic setting and the very strong lead character, Saba, who is a teenage girl with a little sister, like the Hunger Games‘ Katniss. It is also the first book in a trilogy.

People who like the Hunger Games will enjoy Blood Red Road, because there is a lot of action, blood and gore. There is also a love-hate relationship with a suave guy.

However, the characters aren’t quite as likable and the story drags in places.

Saba, 18, and her family — her father, her twin brother Lugh and her little sister Emmi — live together in a small house on Silverlake. Her mother died giving birth to Emmi and she despises her sister for it.

Young never gives the story a specific time period or a geographical location, but you can tell that it is set in the future after everything has been destroyed.

The land is ruled by the Tonton. They control people with chaal, an addictive drug. When her father is killed and her brother is taken by the Tonton, Saba embarks on an epic quest to rescue him. Her devotion to her brother is brilliant.

In the desert, she is captured by sand pirates, who work for the Cagemaster (similar to the Gamemakers in the Hunger Games). They ride on a ship called the Desert Swan, which sails on the sand.

They take her to fight in the Cage, an arena where the Cagemaster forces two people to fight without weapons.

If you lose three times then you have to run the gauntlet. The gauntlet is the centre aisle of the arena; when you run down it, the spectators rip you apart.

The characters speak in a dialect that sounds like something out of the Wild West. For example, when Saba talks about her pet crow, Nero, she says, “I figger if only we could unnerstand crow talk, we’d find he was tellin us a thing or two about the best way to fix a roof.”

There is little punctuation and no quotation marks. It is a bit annoying and difficult to read.

The characters are unique and it is interesting that the protagonist is so mean, unlike Katniss, who sacrificed herself for her sister. The violence is very graphic, and one wonders how it will be portrayed in the movie (director Ridley Scott has already optioned the rights).

For young readers who are squeamish, Blood Red Road may be too upsetting. But if you like disgustingness, then it is a good choice for you.

Fans of action books will look forward to the next two novels in the series.

Jake Hannah Tuesday is a Grade 7 student at George Waters Middle School. She thinks that movies always ruin good books.