I have been fortunate enough to receive an ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) of Blood Red Road by Moira Young. At first I was confused as to why I had gotten it in the mail, but quickly came around when I had realized I had entered in to win it on simonandschuster.com. I quickly began to devour the book, page by page, until there was nothing left to read.
Summary of book as found on the back cover:
NO HEART BEATS ALONE.
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. That’s fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother, Lugh, is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives bearing four cloaked horsemen, Saba’s world is shattered. Lugh is captured and Saba embarks on a quest to get him back.
Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside, 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. 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 to course of her own civilization.
This book was amazing. I am extremely glad that it is only the first book in the Dustlands series, which means that more are sure to come.
There was one drawback to the book, but me being from West Virginia, I got over it quickly. The book is written in Hick dialect, such as “Lugh’s been sayin it fer a while now. Pa’s gittin worse. Mind you, he ain’t bin right fer a long time.” Of course, I related this to something similar as in the Harry Potter books where Hagrid talks like this all the time, and cruised right through it.
All of the Hick dialect aside, this book is worth the two days it took me to read. I hope that everyone who gets their hands on it on June 7, 2011 will feel the same way.
Ta-ta for now.
Tayler E. Wright
PS. Simon and Schuster have this thing on their website called “Free Stuff” where they give away ARCs all the time. All you have to do is enter in your information and sit back and hope that you win one. I was not informed that I had won Blood Red Road. I just received it in the mail on a random day.
Summary (located on the inside jacket sleeve and as provided by the publisher)
My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.
It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans – except Katniss.
The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay – no matter what the personal cost.
I recently finished this masterpiece of words, written by Suzanne Collins, and I have to say, I was completely blown away by the ending.
This book can simply be summed up by one word – Amazing.
I could not put it down, and I got reprimanded a lot last week because I was reading the book during by classes at school instead of doing my work. But getting yelled at was a small price to pay for finally knowing what happens in the final installment of the Hunger Games trilogy.
I loved every chapter, every page, every paragraph, every sentence, every word, every period.
But all of that aside, time for my review!
Mockingjay will instill fear, hope, wonder, and amazement in the hearts of all of those who read it. I myself couldn’t get enough, and everyone I’ve spoken to can’t seem to get enough either. However, there were some minor setbacks in the book itself. The ending seemed a little rushed, as if Suzanne was afraid to exceed 400 pages. There were certain things that could have been extended out and kept the readers within the world of Mockingjay for at least a little while longer (I know I definitely would have enjoyed that!), and I know that some of you out there may feel the same way, too. But this final installment in the Hunger Games trilogy will leave you speechless, and not because the Capitol turned you into an Avox, but because you will be wanting more.
Thanks for reading! Questions and Comments are always welcome!
So, I’m in the process of writing a book called Lipstick Galaxy. I’m hoping to get it published here sometime within the next year, and I’m going to post the prologue on here as a litter teaser of what’s to come. If I can’t get it published, it will most likely end up on here, or over at fictionpress.net, or twcslibrary.com. So, enjoy!
Prologue
I had been through my fair share of men in my life. One-night-stands and quickies in bar restrooms were not uncommon for me, either. To say that I was a slut would be the wrong thing to say. I was not a slut. I just could never find someone that I thought would be worth settling down with, someone that I could see myself growing old with while sitting on rocking chairs on a front porch of an old farmhouse in BFE.
But when Thad decided to help me all those months ago, I had no idea of how his influence in my life would affect me, and of all that we would go through together. Meeting Thad was the last thing I had on my mind, but staying with him was something that came completely from left-field. Or was it right field? Oh, who cares? It was unexpected anyway. Thad changed me for the better and for the worse, but I’m glad that some change came into my life considering the track that I was stuck on.
Quite frankly, I was glad that Thad gave me a ride home that night, even if he was a complete stranger at the time. But what happened after that is still a little blurry. I’m trying to figure out what I did with him, exactly, because all I remember is having a few drinks in a bar with a guy that I just met, a guy that agreed to take me home. A guy named Thad . . .
Please note that this is just the drafted prologue, not the finished product. I only have the first six chapters completed, and I’m not even halfway through with the whole thing, because I’m only at about eight thousand words, and it needs to be at least seventy thousand. I have a long way to go, but I’m working on getting the whole thing completed as soon as I can by writing at least five hundred to a thousand words per day, so look for it someday on a book shelf. 🙂
That’s all for now,
Tayler E. Wright
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