Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton Published by: Faber & Faber-Publication date: February 4th 2016-Price: $16.99AUD-Image sourced from Goodreads
“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 an unforgiving, dead-end town. It’s not the place to be poor or orphaned or female. And yet Amani Al’Hiza must call it ‘home’.
Amani wants to escape and see the world she’s heard about in campfire stories.
Then a foreigner with no name turns up, and with him she has the chance to run.
But the desert plains are full of dangerous magic. The Sultan’s army is on the rise and Amani is soon caught at the heart of a fearless rebellion…
I won an advanced readers copy from the publisher through a Facebook giveaway but I was so excited about the release that I considered purchasing a finished copy (am still considering…).
Setting. I haven’t read many books set in the desert so I absolutely LOVE the setting and how it is described in this book. I loved it so much that I’m looking for more similar books, so if you have any suggestions, please comment below! I can’t believe we have to wait until who knows when for the sequel to escape into this awesome fantasy world again.
Characters. I liked the characters, but I didn’t like how little we saw them/how little we know about them. It seemed like there was this wave of new characters at the end of the novel and it just felt like a strange place to introduce them. Hopefully we’ll get more character development in the sequel. The villain in this novel was too absent for me to ‘fear’ (as much as a reader can fear a fictional villain) and it wasn’t really clear who the protagonist is fighting against, whether it is one person, a government/ruling party, or if it is supposed to be both of these.
Plot. The idea of a female sharpshooter was what really got me interested in this book (and who doesn’t love their strong female protagonists?) and I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, but I was a bit lost the further I got through the book. Obviously the reader is supposed to only know and understand what the narrator/protagonist does, but I still felt left in the dark too often.
Writing. I was hooked from the first page! This is what I would call an addictive book. I spent the first few chapters appreciating the writing and how beautifully they are presented on the page but after that I was too engrossed in the story to reflect much on the writing.
Overall, this is definitely not the best book ever written, but my ratings are more based on overall enjoyment of the book rather than the structure of it.
4/5 stars
Recommended to: anyone looking for a fun, light read with a super interesting concept.
Please Note: all opinions are mine and are not endorsed with any company or organization.
Elle Biblio 