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.
I hate to start off a review with a negative, but it was a big one for me and I see for many others as well. The writing style. It was horrible. Moira Young wrote the book in the voice of Saba, not just the dialogue, but the whole thing. Saba had a dialect that seemed a cross between the deep south and Texas, the uneducated parts, so there was a lot of drawl and misspelled words. It was incredibly painful to read over 450 pages of that.
Aside from that, the story was very entertaining. It's great to read a novel with a powerful young woman as the main character. Saba does a lot of growing up throughout the novel as she learns just how strong and creative she can be. Even when she's down about as far as she can get, she doesn't give up, she keeps fighting.
Young keeps the action and adventure moving swiftly so I never got bored, even with such a long book. She handled a myriad of leading characters with great finesse, giving them depth and separate personalities - and I never got any of them confused, which is easy for me to do in some novels!
This is marketed as a young adult book, but adults will enjoy it, too. Give it a read! It comes out tomorrow (June 7, 2011)!
I give this book 4 bookworms.
Pages: 464
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (June 7, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1442429984
ISBN-13: 978-144249987
Hmm... I'm about 160 pages in right now, and I thought the accent was getting better... but maybe I'm just getting used to it. I was hoping it was going to phase itself out somehow as she grew and progressed. Sigh. Thanks for the heads up, and I'm so glad you thought the plot moved quickly! Maybe that means I'll finish it tonight :)
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