[Book Review]: REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton (Viking Books for Young Readers)
Ok, I know. It's been too long since my last review. There were holidays, a rough start to the new year, and just not a lot of time to review what books I did read. But I just read one I absolutely need to talk about.
She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.
Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.
Here's my review:
I received this as an ARC from the YPG mailing list and I cannot even begin to explain how glad I am that I did. I read it all in one day. Started on my train ride in to work, read at my desk until 9 AM, read during my lunch hour, read on the way home, and finished it before I went to bed, immediately handing it over to my roommate to read next.
It was this wonderful blend of East and West, where the setting was distinctly Middle-Eastern (names, environment) with heavy influence from the American Old West. It made for a very unique (and frankly AWESOME) setting that I loved. The characters were all fantastic, the relationship between the MCs strong and believable. This is my favorite genre, so some of the things were a bit predictable to me, because they followed the right tropes, but it still surprised me in many places with twists.
Suffice to say I'm really sad I have to wait so long for book two!
Five huge glasses of wine!
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