Review: Blood Red Road

Details:
Title: Blood Red Road
Author: Moira Young
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pub Date: June 2011
Genre: Dystopia

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
A friend of mine went on and on about how amazing Blood Red Road is several months ago. Usually we have similar tastes, so I figured I better add it to my to-read list. And I was itching to read a dystopia (I’ve been reading a lot of books outside my comfort zone lately instead of just reading every dystopia I can find).
Blood Red Road was amazing -- probably one of the top five of this year for me, maybe even top two. The characterization is wonderful, the writing was really good, and the whole world was crafted beautifully. I almost have nothing bad to say about the novel. My only critique is that sometimes Saba felt young to me, several years younger than her eighteen years. But these moments were very brief and also could be easily explained by her sheltered life before her brother Lugh is taken.

Back to the good stuff. Saba is one of my favorite female characters. I loved that she was sort of a mean girl. Yes, she is doing everything thing she can to get her twin brother back, but she can’t stand her little sister and is at times horrible to her. This strained relationship made her feel more real to me and less like an untouchable hero character. Beyond her strong and flawed personality, I loved her relationship with Jack. I don’t to say too much or give anything away, but I loved her reactions to the possibility of a boy liking her. I’m pretty sure I laughed out loud during several of their scenes together.

Saba’s world was so wonderfully crafted. I could totally picture the dustlands, the gladiator arena, everything. The setting, as well as all the crazy characters were so well written that I was quickly and totally pulled into the book. I read the whole book in a few sittings and took an extra long lunch at work so I could finish the book. I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

On a side note I got to meet the lovely Moria Young at Wordstock this year. She is one of the nicest, friendliest authors I met so far. So if she’s doing an reading in your area go see her. And congratulations to Moria for winning the Costa Children's award!

Review: Girl Wonder

Details:
Title: Girl Wonder
Author: Alexa Martin
Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Pub Date: May 2011
Genre: Realistic Fiction

As if transferring senior year weren't hard enough, Charlotte Locke has been bumped to lower level classes at her new school. With no friends, a terrible math SAT score, and looming college application deadlines, the future is starting to seem like an oncoming train for which she has no ticket.

Then Amanda enters her orbit like a hot-pink meteor, offering Charlotte a ticket to something else: popularity. Amanda is fearless, beautiful, brilliant, and rich. As her new side kick, Charlotte is brought into the elite clique of the debate team—and closer to Neal, Amanda's equally brilliant friend and the most perfect boy Charlotte has ever seen.

But just when senior year is looking up, Charlotte’s life starts to crumble. The more things heat up between Charlotte and Neal, the more Neal wants to hide their relationship. Is he ashamed? Meanwhile, Amanda is starting to act strangely competitive, and she's keeping a secret Charlotte doesn't want to know.

Talented newcomer Alexa Martin delivers a poignant story of first love, jealousy and friendship, where the ups and downs of senior year have never been so complicated. What else can Charlotte do but throw her hands up and ride?
-- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
I've been trying to read more realistic contemporary fiction. I think I need a break from paranormal and dystopian novels. Girl Wonder was an excellent change from apocalyptic things I've been reading lately. 

I really liked Charlotte; she seemed totally real to me. Her struggle to fit in with her supper smart family is what really made her likable and really realistic. Charlotte's father's responses and reactions to Charlotte's academic choices and issues totally reminded me of some of friend's parents. Charlotte's need to fit in with Amanda and Neal and the downward spiral her life goes into because of this need may seem a bit over the top to some readers, but I thought it was pretty realistic. A lot of teens really struggle to fit in and go to extremes to do so. I had several friends in high school who went through very similar situations. Charlotte's not obsessed with popularity; she just wants to fit in somewhere and the super smart kids' clique is the sort of place her highly academic parents would (in her mind) like her to fit in. I also loved her little brother and his friend Milton. They're both super smart, but not in the same show-off-y way that Amanda and Neal are.

My only issue with the novel is the romance aspect. Charlotte's relationship with Neal wasn't all that interesting and (I thought) pretty predictable. He wants to hide her and doesn't really act all that interested in her, and she's just dying to fit in and have someone actually like her. It's so clear right from the beginning that this isn't going to work out. But even with my dislike of the romance between Charlotte and Neal, I still felt that Charlotte's struggle to fit in and her downward spiral were true-to-life and interesting.

Rating: