Book Review: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Title: Rebel of the Sands Series: Rebel of the Sands #1 Written by: Alwyn Hamilton Published: March 8, 2016 by Viking Books for Young Readers (Penguin Group) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: 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.  Rebel of the Sands reveals what happens when a dream deferred explodes—in the fires of rebellion, of romantic passion, and the all-consuming inferno of a girl finally, at long last, embracing her power.

In addition to having a written review for this book, it is also the review for this month on Please Feed My Bookworm Thoughts, a podcast with me and Britt from Please Feed the Bookworm. SO if you would rather listen to the review scroll down for the embedded audio or head over to Soundcloud or iTunes to listen to our joint review.

This was one of my most anticipated debuts of 2016. It's a total me book. I mean it's a YA fantasy with a Western-style world in a Middle Eastern setting with a magical system based on mythology and a tough female protagonist. And I was so glad this book lived up to my expectations.

For one thing, I absolutely love the world of this book. There are times where authors put a lot of different things together and it makes for a messy setting but her it worked so well. The high fantasy Western in a Middle Eastern dessert setting all worked together to make something so compelling. I heard on a podcast where the author disgusted how the two parts of the world were in conflict with one another and that really added so much drama to the world. I also really liked the way that the magic slowly creeped its way in as the book developed. And the magic was so interesting too. It was my favorite kind of magical system where each character has their own specific magic that was kind of like a super power. All of this combined to make a fantastic world that I loved.

The characters too were complex and interesting. The main character of Amani is the kind of protagonist I love. She's tough, smart, and subverts gender norms. I loved seeing her develop throughout the book. Then there was the male lead, Jin, a mysterious foreigner who was full of secrets. He was interesting enough but I think for he kind of blended in with some of the other characters. While their romance didn't totally blow me away, I loved seeing them work together as a team and learning more about Jin and his past. But there was also all kinds of great secondary character that added a lot of interesting drama and relationships to the book. And while I liked getting to know the characters throughout the book there were a lot of them and it often got hard to keep them straight. Other than Amani and the villains who were incredibly diabolical, I didn't really connect with a lot of the other characters who just kind of blend to together in my head.

But I think what struck me most about this book was the plot development. This is definitely an action-packed book. There is so much adventure and narrow escapes. Hamilton's writing was so engrossing and compelling and was honestly really well-plotted. It's a book that slowly builds to a thrilling conclusion that was so satisfying because little things from the beginning of the book had a big impact on the ending. I am usually good at solving twists and every times something was revealed in this one it caught me totally off guard. And it's not that there weren't clues, I just didn't pick up on them. But this book was just so full of amazing mystery. I can't wait to see where it all leads in the rest of the series.

My only criticism is with the pacing. It was very up and down. There would be some huge bit of action and then forty pages of travel monologues before very little would happen. And then sometimes a chapter would end with a bang and then pick up days later with out any discussion of the timeline. It was jarring at times. And it honestly made me drag my feet when it came to finishing the book. I reached a point where I had to put it down and read something else but I'm so glad that I went back to it because the last pages were so fantastic.

On the whole this is an incredible debut and a thrilling read that I absolutely loved. I love it when books exceed expectations and that's what this book did. It had a fantastic setting, a great main character, and a thrilling plot full of action and mystery.

I give Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton 9.5 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy. This is a great debut and a fantastic start to a YA fantasy series that I am really excited to continue. I would absolutely recommend this book, especially to fans of fantasy or anyone looking for an action-packed read.

And for more of my thoughts on this book, thoughts from Britt, and some spoilery details check out our most recent podcast.




And speaking of podcasts, I have some great news! You can now listen to Please Feed My Bookworm Thoughts on iTunes so check us out there and subscribe for all the podcasts as soon as they come out.

Have you read Rebel of the Sands? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Podcast Review: The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Title: The Girl From Everywhere Series: The Girl from Everywhere #1 Written by: Heidi Heilig Published: March 3, 2016 by Hot Key Books (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was 1774, though not for very much longer.  Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times - although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix's father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix's existence rather dangerously in question...  Nix has grown used to her father's obsession, but only because she's convinced it can't work. But then a map falls into her father's lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it's that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever.

*** I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This fact has not changed my opinion. ****

I'm really excited for this review because in addition to having a written review for you, I also have a podcast review! If you haven't been following Please Feed My Bookworm Thoughts, it is the bookish podcast I have been doing with Britt from Please Feed the Bookworm. This is our first ever review so check out down below to listen to our thoughts or visit us on Soundcloud. But be warned, the second half of the podcast does have spoilers. The written review is spoiler free though.

The Girl From Everywhere was one of my most anticipated 2016 debuts. It sounded like an absolutely amazing exploration of time travel and family. And it was good. Just one more on a list of great time travel books coming out recently. However while I loved the character moments, the general plot development didn't always work for me.

My favorite thing about this book was probably the more character-driven moments. For one thing, I really liked Nix as a main character. She was a great combination of strength and vulnerability making her a complex character that I was rooting for. She’s smart, resourceful, and tough. I like how much people rely on her and treat her as an equal but that she makes mistakes and isn’t perfect. But my favorite characters were the secondary ones, especially those on the ship. Kashmir was great, Bee was fun, even Rotgut. And then there was her father, who I surprisingly loved. He had really great development throughout the book. But better than that, the relationships between Nix and the other characters were really fantastic. I particularly liked how she and her father related to each other and how that developed throughout the book. Even the romances were great and kind of refreshing. Some readers might get annoyed with the love triangle but for me it worked. But that was probably because there really weren't many romantic moments. It was just the start of something, maybe.

The setting and historical aspects too were really interesting. Most of the places that they traveled was really interesting, and there was a great combination of history and mythology that I really appreciated. But the bulk of the story took place in 19th Century Hawaii and the author did a great job of developing that setting. I read this book as part of my pirate month and you had not only really great sailing and high seas elements of this story but the tropical island really came alive. There was beautiful coastlines, waterfalls, jungles. It made me want to go to Hawaii more then I already do. There were also some subtle political intrigue and interesting historical moments which I honestly knew very little about. This had me looking up and researching Hawaiian history because I needed to know what actually happened and that to me is the mark of great historical fiction.

But as much as I liked the historical elements, the time travel stuff didn't totally work. I think I could have used a little bit more of those aspects. I like my time travel to have clear rules and yes, there were specific rules and the way they actually traveled was interesting, but it just was a much smaller part of the story than I was hoping for. I like my time travel to for lack of a better phrase, to go big or go home. Here the time travel was more of an undercurrent. I was thinking there would be more conversation of the butterfly affect and other aspect of time travel but here it was more subtle. They didn't even really talk about or explain the consequences of travelling through time until two-thirds of the way into the book.

However, when that time travel stuff did kick in, it was a fantastic read. It did have a bit of a slow start to me with quite a bit of exposition before getting into the heart of the story, but in the end the plot was incredibly intricate. Things came full circle and little things from earlier in the book came back in a big way during the climax. I saw a review from Alex at The Book Buzz where she called it a heist and that is so accurate. The heist elements were so brilliant and definitely my favorite part despite it not totally connecting with the historical elements. And that may have been because that was the big finish. I was definitely on the edge of my seat during the last 15% of the book. And while this is the first book in a series, I really appreciate that this one had a clear ending with exciting prospects of what will happen next.

All in all, a good read that had great characters who interacted in fantastic ways, and interesting historical settings that combined history and mythology perfectly. Despite the slow pacing and the fact that it took me awhile to get into it, finished really strong with a conclusion that brought things full circle.

I give The Girl From Everywhere 8 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy/Borrow. I would recommend to fans of historical fiction or anyone looking to try time travel for the first time. But I would also recommend this book to readers who like more character based stories that explore family relationships. That was the best part of this book to me.

Have you read The Girl From Everywhere? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. And don't forget to check out the podcast down below for more of my thoughts and learn what Britt thoughts of the book. Especially if you read the book because we have spoilery thoughts in the last 20 minutes. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!