Introduction: Rebel Heart by Moira Young, Book Review
Rebel Heart by Moira Young is the second installment in the Dust Lands trilogy and is the sequel to Blood Red Road
(Dustlands, Book 1) (Review). Although book trilogies are hot, I’m personally finding that overall the second book in the series are not always as strong as they could be, and that is the case for Moira Young’s Rebel Heart. That’s not to say that the book is not worth reading, it’s just that my expectations were dashed.
What is Rebel Heart by Moira Young About?
The Dust Lands trilogy is another dystopian series for young adults, where the lead character is Saba, an 18 year old female. The main problem I have with Rebel Heart is that Saba is supposed to rise to become a great leader, yet I did not see many of her leadership abilities that were present in Blood Red Road. What I see mostly is an impetuous person risking the lives of others.
Have you read?
7 Big Lessons from Blood Red Road by Moira Young
I also see a young adult struggling because she was forced to kill several people and is haunted by her actions. Every day, she sees the faces of the people she has killed. That’s a lot for one person to bear, and does anyone ever come to terms with events like that in their lives? I appreciated it that Saba is finally coming into her own, and breaking away from her protective twin brother, Lugh, who believes that he is in charge of his siblings.
In the story, Jack travels to the storm belt to inform Molly Pratt that Ike has died. When he arrives at Molly’s establishment, The Lost Cause, he stalls before delivering the sad news. Molly is very distraught and doesn’t take the news very well. She wants to be by herself to grieve, but Jack doesn’t want to leave her because of the bond they share – they had a child together that died, when she was only a few months old.
While Molly is crying and grieving, two Tontons appear, and one of them asks for Lilith, a lady of the night who used to work upstairs The Lost Cause along with others in the same profession. However, Molly sends them away because it was no longer safe for them. It’s the terror reign of the Tontons and their leader, DeMalo, the Pathfinder.
We learn later in Rebel Heart that the Tonton brand Molly in her face hoping to mar her beauty. Jack also infiltrates the Tonton community because he is intent on preventing them from terrorizing others. The Hawks (See Blood Red Road) are attacked by the Tonton and Maev escapes with Jack’s help, but she is convinced that he is in collusion with them. Jack gives her a coded message to give Saba along with the heartstone. Maev, Lugh and Tommo believe that Jack is now a Tonton, but Emmi and Saba do not believe it.
Saba finally understands the meaning of the message from Jack – to meet him by the Lost Cause at the next full moon. Along with Tracker, Mercy’s wolfdog, Nero the crow, Saba sets off to find Jack. She doesn’t tell the others what she is up to because they will try to stop her. When Lugh discovers that Saba is gone, he, Emmi, Tommo and Maev go after her. They catch up to her but end up losing their horses in the process. They cannot convince her to return so they have no choice but to go with her.
They hijack a cart, but the camel refuses to move so they have to take the driver, Slim, along with them. They do not want to disclose where exactly they are going so they tell him to take them to his destination, which is actually where they are going. Along the way, they see some of the havoc that the Tontons have unleashed on the citizens.
The group discovers a false bottom in the cart and realizes that Slim is trafficking arms. They encounter Tontons and have to kill them just to survive. When they get to the Lost Cause, they find Molly, and also discover that the arms are for a resistance movement, which Slim and her are a part of. Jack’s not there though, so Saba is disappointed. Slim and Molly take the group to Cassie and Bram who are also a part of the resistance movement. When they arrive there, there is a party in full swing and they have to disguise themselves wearing masks. During the party, Emmi is captured by Jack and taken away. Saba is distraught because she believed in Jack and now she intends to kill him. At the time she doesn’t know that he is working undercover.
They eventually rescue Emmi, but it appears that Maev gets killed, we don’t know for sure. Saba learns the truth about Jack that he didn’t betray them. But now too many people know what he is up to. When he sent the coded message to Saba she believed that she would have traveled by herself to find him, she did, but the others decided to pursue her.
Saba is confused and gets sexually involved with DeMalo, the Pathfinder. The despot temporarily brainwashes her with visions of Utopia. She quickly comes to her senses and when they rescue Emmi she drugs him so that he won’t get in their way. Jack breaks it off with Saba because he believes it is his life work to free the people from the destructive Tontons.
Final Thoughts: Rebel Heart by Moira Young
The story ends with Jack visiting Saba to spend some time together before they separate. Someone is spying on them, and it could either Tommo be, who is in love with Saba or DeMalo, the leader of the Tonton. The end is a bit anticlimactic, and Rebel Heart (Dust lands)
– by Moira Young is not a quarter as exciting as Blood Red Road (Dustlands, Book 1)
, but you still will look forward to reading the last installment in the Dust Lands trilogy. As a reminder once again, the dialect takes some getting used to.
Rebel Heart: Dust Lands: 2
Blood Red Road (Dustlands, Book 1)Raging Star (Dust Lands)The Dust Lands Trilogy: Blood Red Road; Rebel Heart; Raging Star
