Author: Moira Young
Series: Dust Lands Trilogy #1
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: YA Dystopian
Format: Hardcover, 459 pages
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Source: Personal Library, Gifted to me from Kate @ Ex Libris!
Rating: 4 Stars
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Synopsis
from Goodreads:
Saba lives in
Silverlake, a wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms where her family
scavenge from landfills left by the long-gone Wrecker civilization. After four
cloaked horsemen kidnap her beloved twin brother Lugh, she teams up with
daredevil Jack and the Free Hawks, a girl gang of Revolutionaries.
Saba learns that she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Saba and her new friends stage a showdown that change the course of her civilization.
My
Review:
I got this book from my
Secret Santa for Christmas and I finally got around to reading it! Only took me
like five months… Fail. Well, thanks Kate for the book! I really enjoyed it!
(Book Rock Betty will be happy to hear that, she LOVES this book!) I read this
one with Pam from YA Escapes Reality. She reads much faster than me. I fell
very far behind. Fail. But it was fun to read together and throw texts back and
forth about what we thought and what was going on.
On to the book! What an
interesting, fresh-feeling dystopian. I’m going to start off with my one
complaint and then I’ll get onto everything that I loved! The world-building
wasn’t very good. There wasn’t much explanation on what happened to the world,
where we were in the world, how the government was set up (aside from the
King). I just wish that we had gotten a little more background on the world. But
I understand why we didn’t. The main character, Saba, was pretty in the dark
about things, her father kept her and her siblings pretty sheltered so really
it was just my own curiosity.
A lot of people may
complain about the rough dialect in the book, but it didn’t bother me at all.
There are also no quotation marks for dialogue, which threw me at first, but I
got used to it. My favorite thing about this book was Saba, the main character.
At first I didn’t like her. She was pretty cruel to her younger sister and it
made it difficult for me to connect with her. But Saba grows SO much throughout
the book and I LOVED watching her journey. She’s super badass, extremely protective
of her brother, smart, just all in all awesome.
The supporting
characters were also amazing. Emmi, Saba’s younger sister was one of my
favorites. She was a bit infuriating at times because she NEVER listens, but
there was something so adorable about her ferocity and her desire to help get
her brother back.
The love interest,
Jack, was great as well. He was snarky, cocky, and just full of swagger. He was
that bad boy type that I go for in books and I loved him. I really loved that
Saba didn’t just immediately fall into his arms too. It was a slow-moving
romance that I loved reading about.
The plot moves along quickly.
The book is pretty long, coming in at 459 pages, but it didn’t feel that way. I
was always engaged, always wondering what was going to happen next. I’m so
excited to read the rest of the series and am pretty mad at myself for waiting
so long to pick this one up. If you’re looking for a fresh dystopian with a
badass main character, this series is for you. Happy reading all!
Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you love Saba and Emmi? How did you feel about the dialect and lack of quotation marks?
I don't read faster, I just was reading when you were doing something else! :)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your review, we basically had the same reaction to this book. Saba was a fierce MC and I loved that about her, but she treated her sister quite horribly in the beginning. But that was what made this book so good, watching her grow and her feelings and actions changing toward her little sister. And I loved Emmi too, although I was pretty mad at her for the one time she didn't listen.
The rough dialect did bother me a bit in the beginning, but then I got used to it.
And yes, loved Jack too and how that relationship progressed.
It was fun texting back and forth…we should do it again soon! ~Pam
Lol true. Yes, I was so mad at Emmi!! Stupid stupid girl! We totally should. Maybe we can read the next two books together!
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