Rebel of the Sands: The must-read New York Times-bestselling fantasy series (Rebel of the Sands, #1)

by Alwyn Hamilton

'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

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

This is more like.... 7 reasons you should read Rebel of the Sands immediately!

1. 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!


2. 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!


3. 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?


4. 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!


5. 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.


6.  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."

   
   


7. 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!

[liz089]

Read more about this review and others on my blog Freyja Eats Books

STANDALONE or SERIES.
This is the first book in the Rebel of the Sands series, from a debut author !

WHY this BOOK.
The plot sounded very intriguing, with desert magic, Djinni’s and guns. So when I came across it on NetGalley I had to have it. Only, just my luck, I could not request it any longer… But fortunately I could wish for it.. and my wish came true ! As thanks, I wanted to read and review this book as soon as possible !

FIRST THOUGHTS.
Wow ! Just wow. This is everything a young-adult fantasy should be. It was PERFECT ! It had the right amount of everything that is needed for a good book, just perfectly in balance. And one of the greatest parts ? It had no cliff-hanger at the ending, but I still wanted to beg for more.

WORLD-BUILDING.
I loved how this one took place in de desert, I’ve not read a lot of books about that, so original ! We start of in the main characters small home town, but while the plot progressed we started to learn more and more about this world. How it all came to be with the First Beings, the Destroyer of Worlds, all information not thrown at you randomly, but packed up by storytellers hurdled around the fire in the dark and creepy desert full of evil surrounding them. We got to know more and more about the world they live in and the creatures that be. I cannot emphasize enough how great the author has done this. Even though this is a completely new world, I never felt overwhelmed with too much information or not understanding because had too little information. It was just enough, and new things kept coming up that surprised me or expanded the world just a little bit more for me.

SETTING.
The story takes place in the desert, and she really made it real to me. Like when they were with the caravan, going from town to town, hoping that they have enough rations to survive. And wow, how thrilling that they had to fight of Nightmares in the dark !
Not only that though, but also the whole system of hierarchy was very convincing. How woman are seen as less, just because they are woman. How a man can have as many wives and children as they want. How you should be ashamed to have been born a woman, as a burden for man. How woman, who are raped by intruders, are being hanged or stoned for sleeping with the enemy. I hate how unfair it all is. And, even though here in the Netherlands we women are not treated that way, it hurts to think that in some countries we are.

PLOT.
The story starts with Amani’s life how it currently it, awful. She lives with her aunt and uncle, after her mother killed her father and was hanged for it. When her uncle starts taking an interest in marrying her (yes I know.. how sick is that) she knows she only has one choice: run away. But in order to do that she needs money, so she enters disguised as a boy a local shooting contest to get more money.. but things don’t really go the right way and she ends up without any money. On the plus side, she does meets Jin, who, on the downside, turns out to be a traitor searched for by the army of the Sultan. When a wild magical horse turns up, she captures it, but being a woman it instantly goes to the man in her family, her uncle. Some bad stuff happens, Jin grabs the pony and she goes with him while being shot at. On the run from the army they travel a long way that ends up at the Prince Rebel doorsteps and reveals some important stuff that cannot be ignored. From there the adventure continues into stopping the Sultan and saving mankind…

I was really surprised with some of the plot twists in this book.. I seriously did not see them coming ! Not at all ! That does not happen a lot..
The plot had a very active pace, with a lot of action and stuff happening, but still having the time to build the world and develop the characters. Respect !

MAIN CHARACTERS.
I really liked our main character Amani. She is a very strong and independent woman ! Ha, how I loved that she just drugged Jin and left him behind. She had learned from childhood how to survive on your own and not rely on others. Of course she made some mistakes at the beginning, but she learned from those and did not make them again. She grew and became even stronger. Loved that.

Jin stayed very mysterious at the beginning.. I did not really know who he was, except that he was suspicious.. It kept me intrigued in him.

Mainly, I just loved how they not depended on each other the entire time like some other books do, but they made their own mistakes and came out stronger. Of course they helped each other and saved each other when necessary , but not in a needy kind of way and they stayed themselves. And, most of all, no unnecessary self-sacrificing.

ROMANCE.
It was not the most romantic read ever, but it did have some hot and sizzling scenes in there ! I liked how we not had to wait until the ending for they finally gave in, but kept in exciting anyway… But, most of all, they stayed true to their mission and not let any affections ruin things. And I appreciate that.

FAVORITE QUOTES.
“You son of a bitch!’ The heckler had a piece of glass sticking out from his thumb. ‘You shot me!’
‘No I shot your glass. Don’t worry, the liquor ‘ll wash the blood off.’ I holstered my pistol, hoping I wasn’t about to get shot back. ‘Like I was about to say before I got interrupted, it’s a modern age. I don’t need a lot of muscle to pull a trigger.”
.
“And then came that grin. I might have traitor eyes, but Jin had the sort of smile that would turn over whole empires to the enemy – that made me feel like suddenly I understood him exactly, even though knew nothing about him. The kind that made me feel like if I was on the right side of it, we could do anything together. I had the next six weeks to find out if that was true.”
.

FINAL THOUGHTS.
Just read it, it is full of action and romance and I loved it.. It kept me excited and intrigued the entire way and I could not put it down. The entire story was just perfectly in harmony, and I can’t wait for the next instalment. So there is nothing else for me to do but to sincerely recommend reading this book and give it 5 Freyja’s. And I’ve got to mention, for a debut writer, hell for any writer, this is just amazing and beyond expectations. She really is someone to ;look out for in the future. Just wow ! Greatly done.

[paperbackjedi]

3.5 stars.

It was Rae Carson's blurb that piqued my interest in this book, and having now read it, I can see why she raved. REBEL OF THE SANDS feels a lot like a Rae Carson book (specifically WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER), and that is high praise.

The world in this book is slightly familiar and yet wholly other (my favorite kind of worldbuilding). It's like a mashup of the Wild West meets Aladdin. There is magic and myth woven together with political intrigue and a strong romance.

Amani and Jin are fantastic. She's strong and clever and doesn't let regret overwhelm her. I loved how resourceful and determined she was without ever sacrificing her compassion for others. And Jin was her perfect match. He was just as strong but never overbearing or egotistical, and refreshingly unapologetic about his feelings and decisions. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this romance plays out.

My only real complaint is that at about the 1/3 mark, a slew of new characters are dumped into the book and it was frustrating to try and keep track of them all. I imagine they will distinguish themselves in future books, but in this book, it pulled me out of the story and slowed the pace.

All in all, REBEL OF THE SANDS was a magical and exotic tale, full of surprises and a seriously enjoyable romance. Count me in for the sequel.

[jnikkir]

Probably 4.5 stars, but easily rounded up. Preorder this one, guys, you're gonna need it.