Djilan
Written on Apr 27, 2019
I loved every page!
'Sheer escapism.' Guardian
'Winning.' New York Times
'Thrilling.' Booklist
'Hamilton barely lets the reader pause for breath.' Metro
The first in the New York Times bestselling trilogy packed with shooting contests, train robberies, festivals under the stars, powerful Djinni magic and an electrifying love story. WINNER of the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Debut Author.
** Pre-order Alwyn Hamilton's glittering new fantasy thriller The Notorious Virtues now **
'Tell me that and we'll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that's how you want your story to go and we'll write it straight across the sand.'
Dustwalk is Amani's home. The desert sand is in her bones. But she wants to escape. More than a want. A need.
Then a foreigner with no name turns up to save her life, and with him the chance to run. But to where? The desert plains are full of danger. Sand and blood are swirling, and the Sultan's enemies are on the rise.
- ISBN10 0571325254
- ISBN13 9780571325252
- Publish Date 4 February 2016 (first published 2 February 2016)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Edition Main - Re-issue
- Format Paperback
- Pages 368
- Language English
Reviews
I loved every page!
Joséphine
Written on Feb 11, 2018
"The more I read Rebel of the Sands, the more agitated I feel. The aspects that make the MC the heroine hinge on tropes typical in Westerns. The setting that oppresses her is built on negative stereotypes of the Middle East." (https://twitter.com/wordrevel/status/962398302082809856)
"Then again, I’m 200 pages in, so there’s hope (?) things get better…" (https://twitter.com/wordrevel/status/962398547537674240)
The plot and storytelling did improve a little but that's about it. The cultural insensitivity due to lack of research continued to show. Also Rebel of the Sands lacked logic and character development, leading to romance without chemistry and perfunctory physical intimacy devoid of trust and emotional investment.
Pity, I had high hopes. I mean, with that kind of hype? I thought I'd read the first two books in the trilogy, then be ready for the third when it comes out in March. Not happening. I don't intend to read the sequels after all, and call this series a DNF.
readingwithwrin
Written on Nov 14, 2016
"You're country is the crossroads between the east, where guns were born, and the west, where they're waging a war of empires."
See reviews first on my Blog
Amani is a gifted and fiesty young woman who is not going to let her fate be decided for her. From a young age she has taught herself to shoot a gun better than any man, and taken more risks then most of the girls her age have taken. Now with no parents and living with her aunt and uncle she feels more trapped than ever. So she decides to take a risk that could earn her enough money to get far away if she can when.
"The girl who taught herself to shoot a gun. Until she could knock down a row of tin cans like they were nothing and the gun was everything. Because I'm the girl with the gun."
Sadly though things don't go to plan. But she does meet someone who will take her on a whole new adventure. One that will not only show her who she truly is, but one where she also for the first time finds more than one person that she can truly trust. Jin gives her something to believe in and new hope that she didn't know was even possible.
"You can't judge me for wanting to be more than just another worthless grain in this desert. Not when you were born so much more than this. Not when you were born powerful and important."
This new adventure she goes on with Jin was thrilling and I didn't want to put my book down when we go to it. I had to know what was going to happen next and if they were all going to be okay.
Overall I really loved this story and it has just become my new favorite fantasy novel so far this year. It has action, and adventure and heroine that doesn't take any crap from anyone. She makes tough choices and doesn't really regret them because she knows that they had to be done and she doesn't dwell on the past. While it was surprising to find out certain things about her it made the fantasy in this book also so much more enjoyable. The folklores she were told I also really enjoyed, and made it seem even more real if that makes sense. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book in the series.
P.S. I would like to also thank the person who was in charge of the detail inside of the book and made it look like sand was on each page. It was a little thing, but it made the experience very enjoyable.
"A new dawn. A new desert."
Jo
Written on Sep 26, 2016
Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.
After recently enjoying the The Wrath & the Dawn duology by Renée Ahdieh, I wanted more fantasy with a similar feel, so I eagerly picked up Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. I've had this on my TBR for a while now, and it's so good, I wish I had picked it up sooner!
Amani lives with her aunt, uncle, his many wives and his many children in Dustwalk, a harsh town where money is hard to come by. The only reason the town hasn't fallen under is the factory that makes guns for the Sultan, who gives them to his foreign allies, the Gallans. Life is hard for Amani; her mother is dead, her aunt and uncle treat her badly, and being female, she has very few prospects. The only thing she has going for her is her secret talent with a gun. She wants to get out, but with very little money, it's difficult. Her need to leave becomes desperate when she overhears her aunt and uncle discussing that it's time for Amani to marry, her uncle expressing his desire that she marries him. She needs to flee, and she needs to do so fast, so when a stranger, Jin, saves her life and gives her the chance to escape, she grabs it with both hands. But obstacles fall in her path towards Izman, the city her mother always spoke about running to. The desert is full of creatures who would feast on her and Jin if they're discovered, and soldiers who are seeking those in alliance with the Rebel Prince, who plans to overthrow his father, the Sultan. Soon Amani finds herself caught up in an uprising that promises change and reveals truths she never would have imagined.
Aah, Rebel of the Sands is so good! So much happens in this story, you barely get a chance to relax. It's fast-paced and action packed, and so damn exciting! I love the world Hamilton has created in this series. It's a world that is inspired by the Middle East / South Asia, so there's not a single white person is this whole story. It's so wonderful to read fantasy outside of the usual Medieval British inspired world, and have world building based on a different culture. I loved the folklore Hamilton wove into the story, with the world having it's own stories, it's own myths and legends, of the Djinn, First Beings and immortals. I loved reading all the stories about specific Djinn, and the various creation stories people believed. These people have their own religion and religious holidays - Shihabian, a day to celebration and prayer, when at midnight for a few moments, all light goes out; no stars, no moon, no fire, no lanterns, just complete and total darkness, to remember when the Destroyer of Worlds brought the endless night. It's all just so fascinating, and there's so much detail. It has a slight Arabian Nights feel to it, but these are stories, myths and legends that Hamilton created herself, stories within a story, and it gives this world a real history and culture. Hamilton really put the work into creating this world.
Rebel of the Sands is also a feminist story. In Amani's world, women and girls are treated so badly. Men want sons not daughters, because girls are weak and weak minded. Men have numerous wives, and the women have no say in who they marry. This is a world where women fear when the Gallan army come through their towns, because the soldiers are known to rape women. And if you've been raped, you get treated despicably by people, including your own husband, for being a "foreigner's whore". And any children you bear as a consequence of being raped, like Amani, are also ill-treated. Women are beaten and abused, and this is the norm. This is Amani's life.
So it's completely understandable that she would want to escape. As it is she is beaten for any by her aunt - her mother's sister - for any toe she puts out of line, and now her uncle has his sights set on her becoming his next wife. She's already suffered so much, at the hands of her mother's husband, who she called father, then with the death of her mother, and now with how she is treated by her aunt and uncle. She can't accept that this is her life, and she is determined to get out. Amani is so brave and so strong, and has a quick, smart mouth. She's funny, but more, she's inspiring. She's good with a gun because she would practise over and over shooting bottles in secret, and the book starts with her entering a shooting competition as a boy in an attempt to win money that will help her get her out of Dustwalk. It's there that she meets Jin, the strange foreigner who's about to change her life.
There's only one thing that's wrong with this novel; I wish it was longer. It's 358 pages, but with fairly large font, so you find yourself flying through Rebel of the Sands faster than expected. No matter how fast or slow you read, if you could set aside a day just for reading, I'm pretty sure you would get through this book in a day, easy. As well as being a quick read, it's also really fast-paced, as I said. At one point, a fair bit into Amani's journey with Jin, between one chapter and the next, six weeks have gone by. Over the next few chapters, six weeks is two months. Later in the book, when Amani meets more people, a chapter starts a week after the last finished. Amani forms relationships with Jin and these characters over all this time, but we don't get to see those relationships develop. As a result, I don't feel I know very many characters beside Amani that well, even Jin. It made it difficult to get behind the romance, because I don't really know why either like the other, because I didn't see enough of their friendship developing. It makes high stakes and emotional moments later in the story difficult to be as invested in, because I don't know the various characters well enough to care that much. It bugged me, because there's a moment that should have been a much bigger deal to me than it was, and although I was affected, I wasn't affected anywhere near as much as I should have been. So I would have preferred Rebel of the Sands to have been longer, so we get to see those relationships develop. At the moment, Amani is really the only character I care about.
Despite that, I still really enjoyed Rebel of the Sands! There was a twist I was absolutely not expecting at all that has me really intrigued, and the ending was fantastic, though it happened maybe a little too quickly. I am so excited for the second book in the series, Traitor to the Throne! I just hope this one is a little longer.
Thank you to Faber & Faber for the proof.
reveriesociety_
Written on Jul 6, 2016
Mackenzie
Written on Jun 15, 2016
Full review to come.
Jordon
Written on May 5, 2016
Rebel of the Sands was a fun read. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was happy with what I got.
Rebel of the Sands is about a young woman fighting for her freedom and respect, meaning women are looked down upon in her country, they are a means to an end in a mans life. Amani doesn't want to end up sold off to a man that will crush her will power. She has an idea to dress up as a boy and enter a shooting competition to win enough money to buy a ticket to the big city where her mothers sister lives.
Amani was a strong independent character, that was the first thing I noticed about her. She didn't adhere to the rules of society and continuously pushed the boundaries. Her parents both died the year before, her mother killed her father, we don't know exactly why but we get the gist that he was a bad, bad man. Amani loved her mother to pieces and missed her a lot, she continually daydreamed about the stories her mother had told her about Izman; the city far away where life was better, in her mind at least.
In Amani's world, the land of the Miraji, woman were nothing, they had no ground to stand on and were looked down upon. I really didn't like this factor of the story, but there are still cultures today that treat woman like this and that's why it sat really badly with me. I loved that Amani tried her hardest to break free of this damning trait of her people, I liked that we learnt other places in this world were not as sexist or harsh, I like that Jin treated her as an equal. Even though most people thought lowly of woman, I really enjoyed that the book didn't dwell on this a whole lot, it didn't over play this fact which was nice as that would have driven me crazy.
Amani was a strong character, she was a sharp shooter and the best that anyone knew of. This was because she started practising from a young age because she knew even then that she had to get out of Dustwalk. What I didn't like however, was that Amani tended to leave everybody if it was going to drag her down. She left her best friend after he was shot in the leg just so she could get away - that was how much she knew she needed to leave, and later in the story she promises someone she will help him, but when the time comes she decides not to and runs away instead. This trait of Amani's bothered me a lot, she wasn't loyal to anyone except for herself.
This story has a history of magic and magical beings, it was really interesting and I enjoyed reading about it. We learnt about the history of the Miraji through out the book, so we weren't told everything right at the beginning. The end half of this story is a lot different to the first half, which I loved because the first half wasn't as exciting - it set everything up. The half way point of this book was the turning point, it took the story into a new and exciting stage.
I am very excited to see what happens next because I really enjoyed this story.
Always,
Jordon
This review was originally posted on Simply Adrift
lizarodz
Written on Apr 8, 2016
I think that the book itself is fantasy perfection. It has all the elements needed to make it a must read for fantasy lovers out there, but for my review - one of many glowing ones, I hope - I will concentrate on two aspects. I fear that if I don't do that I will be gushing over it forever!
Characterization
Amani is perfect in her imperfection. She's a young girl that's hungry for more than what her tiny town has to offer. Her only prospect is an undesirable marriage and so she grasps the opportunity to leave when it presents itself. Amani is 16, an orphan living with her aunt that already has too many mouths to feed in a dying town that makes weapons. There was little else to do, but learn to shoot and she's really good at it. Amani is not perfect, she's clueless about many things, she doesn't trust easily, she's has great survival instincts, she's sincere, but not really honest.
"I'm a girl who could've done just about anything if I'd been born a boy."
Jin is a thief, a scoundrel, with a good heart and many secrets. He's handsome, smart, fast on his feet, he looks out for himself and tries his best to do what's right, even if he has to bend a few rules. I really like him as a character and I think he will grow to be more important as the story progresses.
I hope that a great romance develops between Amani and Jin, but Rebel of the Sands is more about learning about a new world and the characters getting to know each other. We know, as readers that they are in love, but not much romance goes one during this first book. Other characters make an appearance on the second part of the book and are likable and well fleshed out.
Writing
The plot, the writing style, the way secrets are revealed, the world building... it all combines to form a perfect harmony. There are quite a few plot twists that I didn't see coming at all even though I suspected others. The writing style itself if is enthralling, engrossing, so beautiful. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series and where Ms. Hamilton will take the story next. There's a lot I cannot write in my review because it will be very spoilery indeed! I hope you read Rebel of the Sands and discover its perfection for yourself :)
“You are this country, Amani.” He spoke more quietly now. “More alive than anything ought to be in this place. All fire and gunpowder, with one finger always on the trigger.”
I sent my ARC to Bee and I can't wait to read her review!
This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea
tweetybugshouse
Written on Mar 8, 2016
"A new dawn, a new desert" This quote is repeated throughout this amazing story full of stories that some thought were just that stories, that come to life and haunt your nightmares. Amani is a full of spit fire and does not know how to keep her mouth shut. She has so many great lines as she travels from dustwalk. The story has a great twist at the end and that ending is perfect as it not rip your heart out terrible, not cliff hanger dangerous nibble at your nails, but a sweet drifting off into the sunset as all good westerns do. You can check out my tweets to the author search #RebelofTheSands
shannonmiz
Written on Feb 25, 2016
This is more like.... 7 reasons you should read Rebel of the Sands immediately!
- That. Setting. Come on, is there a more on point setting that the desert crossed with the wild west and also magic horses that appear as if from nowhere?! If you weren't hooked before, you should be now!
- Road trip! What's better than a road trip, you ask? A desert road trip, with all kinds of baddies and perils along the way!
- Amani is badass, but not perfect. She's such a strong woman in a society where strong women (hell, all women) are treated like garbage. But she is willing to put it all out there for a chance at freedom. That said, she doesn't make perfect choices. In fact, she makes quite a few downright stupid ones. But she grows and learns, and isn't that what life is all about?
- Secondary characters are amazing- especially in the second half of the book! Without giving anything away, you will want these characters in your life! They are fabulous, and brought so much to the story- and enhanced Amani and Jin as characters too!
- Slow swoons for the win! I shipped it, obviously! Who wouldn't? They were competitors, and enemies, and reluctant friends, and eventually... there were feelings.
- When an opening paragraph in a book is this good, you know the book is going to be awesome:
"They said the only folks who belonged in Deadshot after dark were the ones who were up to no good. I wasn't up to no good. Then again, I wasn't exactly up to no bad neither."
- Because Evie made the most gorgeous stuff in her shop for it, and you want it and you need it but first you need to read the book to understand it!
So there you go, you buy the pretty and fabulous book, you read it, and then you can buy pretty and fabulous things to remind you of it until the sequel comes out- which, by the way, is entirely too far away for my taste!