Monday, November 5, 2012

Rule of Three Blog Tour (Review, Giveaway + Playlist): Rebel Heart by Moira Young

Have you read BLOOD RED ROAD yet?  (My review) If not, what are you waiting for?  I'll admit, I had some trouble getting into the rhythm of Saba's (uneducated) voice in the first book, but once I got used to the writing, I found it wholly immersive.



In fact, when I started REBEL HEART, Young's writing pulled me in so immediately, it was like I never left the Dustlands.  In this installment, Saba has a bit of PTSD after what happened at the end of BLOOD RED ROAD.  She's on her way to meet with Jack, but new malevolent forces (the revived Tonton with De Malo as a leader) conspire to keep them apart.  There were a lot of scenes that threw me for a loop, and I was riveted by events and emotions.  That's why REBEL HEART gets the Zombie Chicken Merit Badge for Writing.

REBEL HEART PLAYLIST

For the Rule of Three blog tour, I got to create a playlist!  Because I chose songs to fit specific scenes, this playlist is slightly spoilery (no major spoilers, I promise).

Song: Desert – Other Lives 

Scene: Beginning of book. Saba, her siblings and Tommo in the desert.
Sample lyrics:

Desert reclaims the land,
and we return full in colour.
Oh I see, I see the fires ahead,
but in my mind it's turning cold.


Notes: This song has great atmosphere, and of course the lyrics are very fitting for the Dustlands setting.

Song: Terrified – Among Savages
Scene: Saba worried that her quest to find Jack is putting everyone she loves in danger.

Sample lyrics:

Cause I'm terrified and I'm ruined by this mess
Cause I needed you more than I needed what was best


Notes: In BLOOD RED ROAD, Saba had the "red hot" so we didn't see a lot of her fear.  Things are a bit different in book two.

Song: Dead Hearts – Stars 

Scene: Ghosts of the dead haunting Saba.
Sample lyrics:

Did you touch them?
Did you hold them?
Did they follow you to town?
They make me feel I'm falling down

Was there one you saw too clearly?
Did they seem too real to you?

They were kids that I once knew
Now they're all dead hearts to you.


Notes: Saba is feeling guilty about what happened to Epona, and she finds it hard to let go.

Song: Horse and I – Bat for Lashes 

Scene: Saba meets Auriel
Sample lyrics:
"Take her there, through the desert shores."
They sang to me, "This is yours to wear. You're the chosen one, there's no turning back now."


Notes: I love the mystical atmosphere of this song. Fits the scene so well.

Song: Rabbit Heart – Florence + The Machine

Scene: Saba realizing the new threat and preparing herself to take it on.

Sample lyrics:
I must become a lion hearted girl
Ready for a fight

Notes: This struck me because Saba is attempting to gain her courage from a deeper place now, whereas before, she relied purely on instinct and basic will to survive.


Song: Generator (First Floor) - Freelance Whales

Scene: In the mysterious hideout with the 3D movie house.

Sample lyrics:
We keep on churning and the lights inside the house turned on
And in our native language we are chanting ancient songs

Notes: I love this song and I was so thrilled that this scene existed so I could use it. This is where Saba first gets an inkling of how beautiful the world used to be in the "olden days".


Song: Apres Moi – Regina Spektor

Scene: De Malo explaining the rationale behind the Tonton's new world order.

Sample lyrics:
Be afraid of the lame, they'll inherit your legs
Be afraid of the old, they'll inherit your souls
Be afraid of the cold, they'll inherit your blood
Après moi le deluge, after me comes the flood

Notes: Somehow perfect.

Song: Bliss – Tori Amos

Scene: (Highlight to see spoiler) Saba and De Malo in the tent

Sample lyrics:
Steady as it comes
Right down
To you
I've said it all
So maybe we're a bliss
Of another kind

Notes: OMG - right? I was seriously like WTF?!

Song: Ocean of Noise – Arcade Fire

Scene: At the Tonton stronghold. Saba's face-off with De Malo.

Sample lyrics:
No way of knowing
What any man will do
An ocean of violence
Between me and you

You've got your reasons
And me, I've got mine
But all the reasons I gave
Were just lies
To buy myself some time

Notes: I love the complexity of De Malo as an adversary for Saba.


Song: Something of an End – My Brightest Diamond

Scene: Final battle

Sample lyrics:
Because the earth starts shakin'
And yeah it's crazy
Heaven and hell come crashing down
And then the earth starts shakin'
And yeah it's so crazy
Heaven and hell come crashing
They come crashing

It's so beautiful and terrible
So beautiful and terrible

It was something of an end
Of a lovely and a wild thing
So beautiful in the morning
You're beautiful
So beautiful
You're beautiful in the morning

Notes: Again, this song speaks to the complexity of the conflict.

Song: Belispeak – Purity Ring

Scene: Saba thinking about everything that's happened.

Sample lyrics:
Grandma, my hands have wandered
my little legs are getting weak
bid lend me your wispy frame
guard my precious powers in its cage

Grandma, I've been unruly
in my dreams and with my speech
Drill little holes into my eyelids
that I might see you when I sleep

Notes: Sort of sums up what Saba must be feeling.


Song: Skelton Jar - Youth Group

Scene: Last scene of the book.

Sample lyrics:
I feel like hell, you feel like dancing,
You know this bar curtains a world,
Those empty bottles, like sentinels,
stand guard in the morning sun.

Notes: If you've read the book, you know how perfectly this song fits here.

Song: Highwayman – Willie Nelson + the Highwaymen

Scene: Nothing specific, just my tribute to certain characters who are no longer with us by the end of the book. Oh, also a nod to the scene earlier in the book with the old man, the camel and the cart.

Sample lyrics:
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again.


Listen to the whole 13 song playlist: (Note that some of these are live versions, and so if you can, you should really seek out the studio versions)



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GIVEAWAY!

Could you survive the Dust Lands?

One winner receives:

· A Dust Lands prize pack including a custom t-shirt, custom water bottle and copies of Blood Red Road and Rebel Heart!



To enter, fill out this form by November 18 2012 at 11:59 pm CST.  Giveaway open to US residents only.


The Rule of Three Blog Tour: Each Monday for three weeks, three sites will go live with unique content including guest posts from Moira, reviews/giveaways, and blogger-created fan features. Make sure to check out Moira’s other stops at The Book Smugglers and Books Complete Me.

Visit the Dust Lands website


FTC disclosure: Review copy provided by Big Honcho Media

7 comments:

Zibilee said...

I have had Blood Red Road on my Kindle for the longest time. I think since you first reviewed the book! I need to open it up and read it, and then get to this one. You have a knack for picking the best reads, and I need to indulge in a few that I picked based on your recommendations!

candice (thecrjreviews) said...

Playlist posts are always interesting. Great insight to authors and their musical influences or where they are pulling from. Love Belispeak – Purity Ring!

Christina said...

I love the Regina and Arcade Fire songs, but I don't know any of the others. I have some catching up to do! Love it. :)

Travesti | Travesti said...

Thanks for sharing more post,Really i am impressed from it.
Great post can you share with me more post about it because i have many idea about this blog.
travesti

Travesti | Travesti said...

Thanks for sharing more post,Really i am impressed from it.
Great post can you share with me more post about it because i have many idea about this blog.
travesti

Jessy said...

I love hearing book playlists.

Kailana said...

I really liked book 1 and need to find time to read book 2...