Book 2 in the Dustlands series
AUTHOR: Moira Young
PUBLISHED: October 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Dystopian, adventure
PREMISE: Saba's life is not nearly as simple as she had hoped after she rescued her brother. Now she travels west to reunite with Jack but word travels that Jack has betrayed them...
MY REVIEW: So I will still say this, despite enjoying this series: I still HATE the writing style. As I said in my review last year, no quotation marks is a stupid idea. It is NOT clever. All it does is a) confuse your poor reader who has to read clearly to make sure what is spoken dialogue and what is not when they should be focusing on the story, and b) makes it look like you don't know basic writing rules. I can get past different dialect of your characters because that actually does serve a purpose in giving your characters and world a voice. But no quotation marks hinders your book, it doesn't help it. Unless someone can give me a honest legit reason for this writing style I'm going to continue to loathe it with the fire of a thousand burning suns.
But, when one ignores the stupid no quotation marks, Young's writing content is great. She knows how to pace, she's got a interesting world, and I am frankly dying to see this series made into a film (I know it's been optioned already but as fans of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle can tell you: this means nothing until they actually start to cast it). I will say I was annoyed at how in this one my wonderful kick ass Saba suddenly became all "Jack, Jack, Jack" twenty four seven. No, she wasn't as bad as some YA heroines get but still, it was pretty big departure from book one Saba who was cool and confident on her own.
So I don't think this one was quite as good as book one because I was rather displeased with how suddenly Saba is all insecure and of course we just HAD to introduce a love triangle. Because you know, YA doesn't have enough of those going on. But still, as far as sequels go, it isn't bad. I just hope in book two there's less romantic angst and Saba is back to her more sensible self.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of Dustlands, Hunger Games fans,
MY RATING: Four out of Five dustbowls
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