Rebel Heart by Moira Young

 

 

Published: October 30th, 2012
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Pages: 432
Copy Provided By: Purchased
Summary: GoodReads

It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba’s world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh’s freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.
What is the truth about Jack? And how far will Saba go to get what she wants? In this much-anticipated follow-up to the riveting Blood Red Road, a fierce heroine finds herself at the crossroads of danger and destiny, betrayal and passion.

 

This second book in the Dust Lands series has been sitting on my shelf since its release date when I ran out to Chapters and went a little spending crazy (a lot of awesome books came out last fall!). My New Year’s resolution to actually read the books I’ve purchased is still fresh in my mind, and Rebel Heart was high priority for me. I loved Blood Red Road – yes, even though Saba’s ‘voice’ can be a bit of a reading challenge. So I was dying to get back into the series.

And I was slow to get back into it. It wasn’t Saba’s voice – that took me only a dozen pages or so to get used to again (and I actually caught myself sending text messages with “yerself” and “fer” in them...so horrible!). This doesn’t have a bad case of second book syndrome, there is quite a bit going on. The problem is Saba and the plot holes. We left Saba she was a warrior, sad but still tough. Now, she’s this whining, self-centred ruin of a human. Towards the end of the book, I was actually sick of her. I loved the plot twists with DeMalo, but Saba fell way outside her character range once that kicked in – I no longer believed her actions and decisions were plausible. And that crushes me when it happens with a character, especially when the writer seems to be as talented as Ms. Young.

Then there’s the gaping plot hole – I won’t spill the beans, since it would be a bit of a spoiler. But something that seems like it will be a huge deal just disappears. Nothing comes of it. I mean, come on!
Luckily, the story was saved in the last paragraph. That’s right. One paragraph saved it for me, and got me excited again for the third book. Tommo has stuck with Saba and crew through the book, and our last paragraph is actually a glimpse of the final setting as he sees it. And wow. Talk about powerful! It’s not even a long paragraph, but it has set up book number three for a whole bunch of excitement.

Last but not least, I can’t review this book without once again ragging on publishers for cover changes mid-series. Especially to something weird and metallic. Now I own two books of a series, which don’t even come close to matching – and I liked the first book’s look! I do like the male silhouette here though – with all of Saba’s whining and self-centeredness, all of which surrounds the three main men (Lugh, Jack and Tommo), that silhouette could really be any of them. After the last paragraph, by bet is on Tommo...now if only it wasn’t so shiny!
Thanks once again to Special K for this great review.  I never did get around to reading this series.