Friday's Music: Heaven - Ailee

This song was actually a suggestion by Freehawk @eurecalaurice! It’s a genre, you could call it, that hasn’t featured here before, called Kpop. It’s quite a sweet song, and by looking at the translated lyrics in English, I straight away saw how it relates completely to Saba and Lugh’s relationship, minus the romance.

Where you are, I will be there too
Where you go, I will go there too

Their relationship was a rickety road for me. I got mixed feelings for Lugh in Rebel Heart, I almost found him –excuse my language- bitchy. But as I went on in the book, I felt I could look past that and focus more on Saba’s task at hand.

I smile for you every day, I pray for you
With thoughts of you, I fall asleep - I open my eyes as I call for you

~Bushra

Friday's Music....?

Hello Free Hawks! Today I decided to try out something new, so instead of a song, you're getting a small comic strip. Meet the chibi version of Saba and Lugh! (click picture to enlarge)

If you have other ideas to be drawn, comment below. Or even better, send in your own commissions! p.s apologies for the hurried colouring, next time will be better, promise.

~Bushra

Read Along: Freedom Fields

'Get on up here an lead the way.'

As Midsummer rolls around, and the group arrive at Freedom Fields, it's time for Saba and her friends to rescue Lugh, and possibly take down the Tonton and free they slaves whilst they do!

Read Along: The Black Mountains

'It's the anger that keeps me goin.'

Saba, Jack and Emmi are headed into the Black Mountains, on their way to Freedom Fields. Ahead lies old friends and new, and...quite a few revelations!

Read Along: Sandsea

‘I caint count on nobody but me.’

Saba has set off into the unknown desert landscape of Sandsea in the hopes of following her brother and his captors to Hopetown. But on her journey, an unexpected companion meets her and together they walk into a truly unimaginable and horrific trap. But it will take them right into Hopetown.

Poll Results Are In: Saba & Nero Crowned Best Double Act!

Seemingly a dog is not a man's best friend, but a crow is. Saba and Nero have won this week's poll as the best double act in the Dust Lands!

With many wonderful, funny, villainous and loved-up teams as possible winners, the fan-favourite is one girl and her faithful flighty companion who's always that one step ahead of everyone else! Like owner, like pet! 

Read Along: Crosscreek

‘Stars is just stars.’

 Saba and Emmi have finally made it to Mercy’s home at Crosscreek. What they find there is unexpected paradise compared to Silverlake, the only place they’ve known for their whole lives.

Who Is The Dust Lands Best Double Act?

TV presenters, best friends, comedians, our favourite characters. They all have something in common. They wouldn't be anywhere without their partner. 

Blood Red Road and Rebel Heart's vast array of characters all have someone at their side who makes their job that much easier...or in some cases harder! The question is - who is the best team?

Read Along: The Trackway

‘I ain’t afeared of nuthin. I ain’t afeared of nobody.’

Saba and Emmi have set out to follow after Lugh, who has been taken away from their home, Silverlake, by four mysterious black-robed men. However, Saba is set on going alone, and leaving Emmi with a family friend called Mercy in Crosscreek. Emmi is not happy with this decision.

Read Along: Silverlake

‘There can be beauty anywhere. Even here. And if it ain’t, you can make it yerself.’

Silverlake: home of Saba and her family. At least it is until mysterious horsemen appear out the red dust and take Lugh away from the only place he has ever known. Saba is left, with only Emmi at her side, to find a way to get him back when she, too, must leave the familiar for the unknown.

Poll Results Are In: JACK voted as YOUR favourite character!

It will come as no surprise to many in the fandom that Jack has won the poll for who you’d rather walk the dust lands with...by a mile!

The results are as follows:

Read Along: Prologue

‘It was all set in the stars the moment the world began.’

Moira Young’s Blood Red Road doesn’t lull one in gently. Instead, the prologue introduces Saba...by introducing her brother. In her own individual dialect she welcomes the reader to her world by the story of how she came into her world.

‘Lugh got born first...then me...that’s how it’s meant to be’. The relationship between this brother and sister is clearly going to be a focus point of the book’s plot. Saba’s narrative, although her name is not yet revealed, begins with her brother’s name, ‘Lugh’, denoting his importance to her. But there is also seemingly an inferiority Saba feels to her brother; she looks upon him like her role model. The list she gives of their differing physical qualities paints him in a more attractive, positive light whilst she is self-deprecating. This is obviously a character quality that will come into play later in the novel; for Saba to find who she is, away from her brother, and become her own person – someone worthy of the praise she awards Lugh.

There is also a strong theme of fate running through the prologue, even if it is only a few pages long. ‘Because everythin’s set...it was all set in the stars’. Such language can only suggest that something big is coming for Saba and her brother and the notion that it was always meant to happen highlights the significance of the events to come. This is emphasised by Saba’s words about her father, ‘I see the way Pa looks at [us] sometimes...and I wish he’d tell us what he knows’. However, this sense of fate is not the romantic ideal of destiny, instead it appears gritty and negative; it sets up tension and suspense, and most of all – anticipation.

Ultimately, the prologue enters Saba’s world in an unorthodox way; we know little about her, a lot about her brother, nothing about her world, and that something is coming, but not what. It introduces interesting concepts and the feeling that Blood Red Road might be the journey its name promises it to be!

~Ella