Dust Lands: Rebel Heart by Moira Young - ESSENTIAL

 

Young, Moira Dust Lands: Rebel Heart, 424 pgs.   Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2012.  $17.99  Content: Language: PG-13 (105 swears); Violence: PG-13; Mature Content: PG-13. 

This is the second book in the Dust Lands series.  Saba is with her brother and sister and their rag tag group headed for the Big Water, where she is supposed to meet her love, Jack.  On their journey, Saba can’t forget the horrors of what she has done and she feels the ghosts of her past following her.  She also has a price on her head issued by the government leader, DeMalo.  She comes across a compound, where people who have been displaced by DeMalo have gathered and Saba is told that she will be a great leader among the people.  While there, she learns that Jack needs her help and she ignores her siblings, and turns back to find him.  But will the Jack she remember be who she finds?   

Saba is a well-developed character with depth and passion and you can’t help but want to know what happens to her and her friends.  The setting of this book is also interesting and easy to picture.  Sometimes the second book in a series doesn’t have enough story to keep me interested, but this book had as much action as the first and was impossible to put down.  The characters continue to grow and change and learn more about who they are at pace that is believable and maintains interest.  This is a great series. 

MS, HS-ESSENTIAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.