Being that it is so close to the date that Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” finally premieres on film, it seems best to recommend a novel that can offer a reprieve from anxiety while you wait to see it. This book initially caught my eye because of the interesting cover; however it was not until I read a review under the title reading, “Better than the Hunger Games,” that I decided I had to read it to make my own judgment. Avid Hunger Games fans everywhere probably scoff at the nerve of this statement, yet I am sure many have picked the novel up for the same reason. To my surprise, Blood Red Road was indeed an exciting novel that kept you on your toes through the entire story. It can argue similarity to the Hunger Games by putting you in the shoes of yet another female character that emits flames of her own as well as by transporting the reader into a futuristic outlook of life after the destruction of the previous civilizations which Young referred to as Wrecker times. Though, this is where the similarities stop. In Young’s perspective of the future, unlike Collins, everything seems to revert back to an almost “medieval” style of living. Instead of creating advanced technology and sophisticated governmental systems, Young’s characters do not use or understand old Wrecker technologies or transportations and their ruling system took up a monarchy instead of any modern form of legislative bodies. This tale takes place through the protagonist, Saba’s, point of view which again displayed that the civilization had to start all over from scratch due to the manner in which the she thinks and speaks. Judging from this characters speech it can be inferred that there is a noticeable lack of education and proper use of language after the Wrecker times. The story begins when Saba’s twin, Lugh, is kidnapped and her father mercilessly killed by mysterious clocked men on their secluded desert farmland. Although she knows nothing of the outside world, she still sets off to find her brother no matter the consequences with her nine year old sister, Emmi, in tow. Along the way she goes through various trials and challenges that threaten her mission as well as her very existence. Saba seems to uncover the fighter inside herself during these events and teams up with a group of revolutionary girls, the

Free Hawks, and the handsome daredevil Jack to help her find her brother before it is too late. All in all, I commend this novel for its originality and conclude that once read, it erases all comparison to the Hunger Games, because it provides an extremely entrancing story that stands strong on its own.

Series Info: Dustlands: Blood Red Road