Rebel Heart (Dust Lands, #2)

by Moira Young

Danger. Betrayal. Destiny. Passion. The superb sequel to BLOOD RED
ROAD, winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2011.

Saba has rescued her kidnapped brother and defeated the fanatical
Tonton. But the price to be paid for her violent victory is terrible.
Jack has disappeared - and can no longer be trusted. A new
and formidable enemy is on the rise in the dustlands. No one is
safe. And Saba must confront the terrible secret hidden in the
darkest depths of her soul.

• ISBN13: 9781407134901
• Publish Date: 2 August 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Imprint: Marion Lloyd Books
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber]

Rebel Heart was a massive disappointment of a book. I remember loving Blood Red Road when I read it, and I have been eagerly anticipating reading the sequel, even though it took me forever to get to it. But I almost wish I’d never tried to read it.


For one thing, I completely forgot that Young doesn’t use speech marks in this book. I remembered the dialect, but not the lack of punctuation. I don’t remember this making Blood Red Road all that difficult to read, but it was hard to read here. Maybe because I started skim reading quite early on, and the lack of speech marks made it difficult to do so.

The plot was dull. The book starts off quite well for a chapter or so, and then it all goes downhill. First of all, nothing much happens for most of the book. Saba is suffering from PTSD after the events in the first book, which could have perhaps been a good story arc for her, but then the PTSD is magically cured by a shaman. Hmm.

As for her relationship with Jack… Well, I didn’t care for it. Saba also had two other guys going after her, which had me rolling my eyes. I don’t have time for love triangles, let alone love squares. I didn’t ship anything in this book, and since the main plot of the book was the romantic relationships between Saba and various others, I was bored to tears.

Needless to say, I won’t be finishing this trilogy. I’ll have a look at some spoilery reviews instead, because I just can’t bring myself to read any more about these characters.

[elvinagb]

I remember liking Book 1 in this series (Blood Red Road) when it came out and was excited to read this second installment.
But I was disappointed in this book. I didn't like the plot line and the characters voices were annoying.
Hopefully the conclusion of this trilogy will be a better read.

[lizarodz]

I enjoyed Blood Red Road and I was eager to know what happened after Saba finds Lugh and here we have our answers.

Let me start by saying that I liked Rebel Heart better than its predecessor. Overall, I liked the story and the world building. The story starts where BRR ended. Okay, here we go…

Saba is a puzzle to me. On the one had side she is ferocious, like and warrior; on the other hand, she is a big mess of impulsiveness, whining, superstition and lack of common sense. What on earth happened to her in the beginning? It reminds me of Katniss at the end of Mockingjay, she kind of lost it! Luckily it only took a session with a ‘seer’, Auriel, to get magically cured (*sarcasm indented*). She has a blind faith in Jack, but then something happens (see spoiler below if you want to) that sucks out all common sense and she turns into a B*%#! Sorry Saba, but I just don’t understand what happened to you.

One of the things that I loved the most from BRR was Saba and Jack’s relationship, and that is missing for almost the entire book :( However, Jack is as infuriating as always with his own brand of layback mocking intensity. I love the first part of the book from his POV. There must be a shortage of woman, because not only is there a love triangle, but a square, and let me tell you that Saba IS NOT a lovable person, like AT ALL!

DeMalo, is the bad guy and leader of the Tonton, BUT he is a very different type of ‘bad guy’. He is so kind and sweet to Saba, even if he is a bit condescending and presumptuous. Of course, like many antagonists, he deeply believes that he is doing the right thing (and in part he is), but going about it in the most appalling way possible.

I know that Saba went through a lot of trouble to save her twin, Lugh, but honestly, I can’t stand him! He is critical, annoying, an impossible know-it-all an unreasonable need to hurt others. We don’t know yet what happened to Lugh while he was in captivity, but it seems like it affected him deeply. In spite of that, instead of being grateful to Saba for saving him, he didn’t care that she had to kill for him and treated her very badly. Emmi is as sweet as ever, she is gentle and good natured and tries to balance the darkness of Saba and now Lugh. We see a host of characters, new and old. My favorites of the new are Molly and Slim and the old are Mauve, Creed and Ash. I did enjoy the big part that all the animals play in the story as well.

The writing, in the dialect of the time, didn’t bother me as I was listening to the book and by now I’m familiar with it. The plot was slow at the beginning, but picked up quickly, even if it was all over the place!

Spoiler:
I typically don't do this, but I can't help it!
What the heck happened to Saba? Emmi is kidnapped so she decides to act like a toddler with a tantrum, take her life, and ends in bed with DeMalo willingly! The only think I can think of is that she was still ‘too open’ like the Auriel kept saying over and over and couldn’t resist DeMalo’s power of suggestion and charisma. And then the very next day she does the same with Jack. She has lied to EVERYONE! Poor Tommo! This cannot end well!
End spoiler. (and end of venting!)

Overall, Rebel Heart is a good addition to the series, and I will definitely read Raging Star, the last book of the series, due to be published in April of next year.

Some quotes for you:

“What happens to you changes you. Fer good or ill, yer changed ferever. There ain't no goin back. No matter how many tears you cry.” – Saba

“He’ll banish the shadows. He’ll silence the whispers. An the wounds of my soul will heal.” - Saba

“All the time I’ve knowed you, Jack, you kept the door to that heart of yers locked up tight an the key hid away. Looks like she found it.
He says nothing. Molly waits. Then:
Keys ain’t her style, he says. She kicked the door down.” – Jack and Molly


About the cover – I liked original cover for BRB better, but this one is nice too. I guess this is Lugh, surrounded by light, just as Saba sees him.

[Kelly]

http://divainpyjamas.blogspot.com.au/
I love the Dustlands trilogy. If you can look past the broken English and use of slang, it's one of the most well written and unique post apocalyptic young adults novels to date. It's set in a dystopian future, where today's generation have long since killed the planet. The land is barren, clean water is scarce and it is a sad lonely society. Saba is an awesome female heroine, she is tough, fearless and will move heaven and earth to protect what's hers.

In Rebel heart, we see a softer side of Saba. She's vulnerable and self conscious and indecisive. She struggles between the love for her twin brother Lugh, who is emotionally volatile, Jack, and the intense DeMalo. The revelations towards the end, leave more questions than answers, and no doubt setting the scene for an epic finale to the series.