Spoiler-free!
Title: Rebel of the Sands
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
My Rating: 4.25 stars! ⭐️
Description:
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the wild and remote areas, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinn still perform their magic. For humans, it’s an unforgiving place, especially if you’re poor, orphaned, or female.
Amani Al’Hiza is all three. She’s a gifted gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can’t shoot her way out of Dustwalk, the back-country town where she’s destined to wind up wed or dead.
Then she meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the perfect escape route. But though she’s spent years dreaming of leaving Dustwalk, she never imagined she’d gallop away on mythical horse—or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she knew.
My Review:
This is actually a reread for me, in preparation for reading the final book in this trilogy, Hero at the Fall! I think I made a good call in rereading the first two books in this series before the finale, especially because I LOVE THESE BOOKS SO MUCH!
And I know a lot of you have read this first book, feeling a bit meh about it, BUT TRUST ME, TRAITOR TO THE THRONE (the sequel) is honestly phenomenal. It’s one of my all-time favorite books! I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend continuing on, just to read the amazing sequel.
In Rebel of the Sands, we follow a main character who has the full intention to leave her town Dustwalk and is striving for a better life elsewhere. Amani has such strength and toughness to her character, but also carries this realistic nature that you can’t help but identify in yourself as well.
Straight off the bat, she disguises herself as a boy to attend a sharpshooting contest (one in which she’s obviously going to win because she legit never misses a shot) and stumbles upon a foreign boy who is a whole lot more than he seems.
Onto the review itself, I definitely think that rereading this book again made me focus more on the world-building and the details I know will come into play in the second book. It was like my brain fine-tuned on the parts that I know are important, which obviously isn’t something that first time readers will be aware of.
I will say this, it is a little difficult to keep track of everything that is going on. I’m not saying that there’s a whole lot of info dumps, it’s just that for some reason, certain parts in this book can be easy to forget? I don’t know what it is, it’s just that I started to get so invested in one part of the story, that I totally forgot about another thing that occurred previously.
Even though (so far) my preference in this trilogy is the second book…Rebel of the Sands still has a whole lot to offer. It’s such an amazing setup novel and the arcs of each character carry on through the next book as well. It’s a constant development and it’s so good! Amani is an awesome main character to follow, especially since her decisions are rational and make sense.
Also, there are a lot of wtf moments in this book as well as in the sequel, and a little warning: the author is not afraid to kill off characters.
Overall, this is a trilogy I highly recommend to you guys, especially if you’re looking for something you can binge super easily! It has amazing characters and such a strong plot, that you’ll for sure miss these books once they are over!
Thanks for reading!
-Ashley
April 30, 2018 at 12:00 pm
I literally just finishing typing my Traitor to the Throne review an hour ago! I love these books so much too! Can’t wait for Hero at the Fall!! ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 30, 2018 at 12:02 pm
Ahhhh I’m just in the midst of rereading Traitor to the Throne! I don’t want this trilogy to end! 😭
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 30, 2018 at 12:33 pm
Hmmm…I have not heard of this book before. I’m definitely adding this to my TBR. Thanks for an awesome review.
LikeLike
April 30, 2018 at 1:49 pm
Great review, Ashley! I loved the first book but I haven’t gotten around to the second book yet. Now with the final book released, I’m planning to binge the whole series. I hope you enjoy the finale! Happy reading! 🙂
LikeLike
May 1, 2018 at 3:26 pm
Thanks Raven! I can’t wait for you to read the sequel…it’s really great!
LikeLike
April 30, 2018 at 3:11 pm
I love that series too! Now I hope to read Hero at the fall in the coming weeks 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 1, 2018 at 3:26 pm
Eeeeep I’m so nervous/excited to get to it!
LikeLike
April 30, 2018 at 4:32 pm
I love this series sooo much! I still haven’t gotten around finishing the last one either but I’ll do it soon! I’m so glad you like them too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 1, 2018 at 3:27 pm
Yay! I can’t wait to read the last one…but at the same time, I don’t want the trilogy to end!
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 1, 2018 at 4:32 am
Okay yup, I’m sold. I love an author who isn’t afraid of killing off characters, and I’m willing to brave a “meh” first book if the sequel is amazing. TERRIFIC review! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 1, 2018 at 3:28 pm
Thank you!! I feel like once you get a good chunk into the second book, it just keeps getting better and better! ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 1, 2018 at 9:35 pm
That’s great to know! I’m all about redemption. 😉
LikeLike
May 1, 2018 at 8:43 am
Rebel Of The Sands is one of my favorites too! After reading your review, I may want to do another re-read of Rebel! Great review! Can’t wait to read your thoughts on Hero At The Fall ^_^
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 1, 2018 at 3:28 pm
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to finally read Hero!
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 7, 2018 at 1:13 pm
Awesome review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 7, 2018 at 3:18 pm
Thank you! ❤️
LikeLike
May 16, 2018 at 5:03 pm
Sounds like a complicated book! Ha ha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 12, 2018 at 10:38 am
I loved this book so much!!! Honestly I cannot get over how much I love it 😀 I finished it a few days ago and really want to do a review for it! The only problem is that I spotted most of the plot twists way before the happened
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 12, 2018 at 5:12 pm
Omg have you read the sequels yet? Because I could not predict the plot twists at all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 13, 2018 at 7:40 am
I haven’t yet! I’ve ordered them though and can’t wait to read them!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
June 13, 2018 at 10:08 am
The waiting process is the worst! Especially when you want to dive right into the book! I really hope you enjoy them! ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person