Gone, Gone, Gone has just arrived from Amazon UK and is in my TBR pile. I'm looking forward to it.
I've just finished Moira Young's Blood Red Road, which won the Costa Prize. It superficially resembles Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, in its use of first-present vernacular narration - which Young takes further, as the dialogue has no quote marks. She does handle this well - I don't remember ever being confused as to what was dialogue and what was narrative.
Young and Ness part company from that point - where Ness's trilogy is set on an alien planet, Young's novel (which is the first of a trilogy) is set on a future post-apocalyptic Earth. Our protagonist is Saba, who goes in search of her twin brother Lugh when he is abducted, her younger sister Emmi in tow.
While the novel is fast moving and did hold my interest, I do have reservations with it. Some vital parts of it are told to us rather than convincingly shown - Saba's overwhelming love for Lugh which causes her to set out after him and to face much danger, we have to take on trust. Also, Saba's transformation into a champion cage fighter (after being captured) is not really conveyed to us. The chief villain is something of a caricature, and a love interest feels shoehorned in.
I also noticed a softpedalling which I've seen in other YAs, such as The Hunger Games. Saba is a dab hand with a bow and arrow, but like Katniss she doesn't actually kill anyone in cold blood. Most deaths are indirectly caused, and the only time both actively kill someone it's to put them out of their misery. It's as if Young (and Suzanne Collins) is trying to avoid making her novel too dark. The violence isn't especially graphic and with the lack of swearing and sex this makes the age range for this novel around 12 upwards.
After that, I'm starting on the Carnegie Medal shortlist. Of the eight books, I've already read one, Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls, which has to be a strong contender. The other seven are either here from the library or on reservation from there. I'm starting with Lissa Evans's Small Change for Stuart, which is MG.