Rebel of the Sands

Written By: Alwyn Hamilton

Publication: March 8th, 2016, by Viking Books for Young Readers

Date Finished: April 25, 2018

Would Recommend To: fans of a fierce fantasy heroine (one that they haven't read of yet, of course 😉), amazing AMAZING romance, and an action-packed and politically-tense desert adventure


Rating: 5.5/5 (haha)

OMGOMGOMGOMG guuuyyyyss I am so frickin excited that this book exists. Like, just its mere existence gets me excited! AAAHHH ok one second



So there's this girl, her name is Amani, and she wants to get out of her crappy town and become like the first woman ever to actually be respected by a man and like she's freaking awesome with a gun.

Calm down, Ashton.
Ok, fine. I'm ready to be serious. Sorta.

Amani yearns to get out of Dustwalk and travel to the capital, Izman, so that she can be all she is meant to be. She copes with her life now by shooting until her fingers hurt... and then shooting some more. One day, after she stashes almost enough money to get out of Dustwalk, she pays all of it to compete in a shooting contest that, if she wins, will get her enough money for her to hightail it out of there. Problem is, a formidable foreigner as an opponent and unfair rules make winning the competition all the more difficult, so when she and the foreigner have to help each other escape from the building after a fire, Amani has nothing. She goes back to normal life, but there may be another opportunity for escape on the horizon.

I know what you're thinking: "Ashton, we know you love your tropes - Amani and the foreigner fall in love, don't they?"
Well. I won't lie to you. This is one trope that I can't get enough of. But the way Hamilton executes the romance is absolutely perfect! There is no insta-love, no forbidden romance aspect, no overly-heavy slow burn, no eye-roll-worthy teen angst, no bad-boy-falls-in-lust-with-good-girl. I mean, honestly, it was real and absolutely perfect. Nothing more to say.

As for the plot, it felt like an action movie! I was constantly exhilarated by the fast-pace awesomeness going on and how absolutely amazing the characters are, especially when kicking some tyrant booty! The characters also have a lot of depth and character development throughout the arc of the story, and the fluctuations in disposition versus decisions versus betrayals ugh it's actually pretty complex and intense, but it's great!

I was also impressed with how well Hamilton introduces the mythology of the world and how she explains everything. There were very few times when I was confused, and at no point did I have to flip back a few pages and reread an explanation. There wasn't too much world-building at the beginning, nor did Hamilton take too long to reveal everything about the mythology. It was perfect.

Ok, so I do need to address some of the tropes, but don't read too much into these because if you do, you can easily get spoiled. There is a character who is awesome already but who actually happens to have cool powers, and there's a character who has always been a prince. There's a rebellion, so there's that. There are a few others, but honestly, these are all tropes that I absolutely LOVE. I can't get enough of them, and they give the book a classic YA feel. I'm truly sorry if you feel differently, but I ask that you give this book a try because it's AMAZING!

Thanks for the support on bookstagram, by the way! Au revoir!