Rebel of the Sands
The Rebel of the Sands series, Book 1
Alwyn Hamilton
Speak
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Amani's been an outsider in the small desert town of Dustwalk since she was born, her blue eyes betraying outsider parentage. When her mother was hanged for killing an abusive husband, she became even more taboo. Now her cruel uncle is talking about making her another wife, or maybe selling her to some other brute, so now is the time for Amani to escape.
Mother always talked about the capital city where her sister lives as a grand, adventurous place, so she sets her sights on distant Imzan, home of the Sultan. But her plans go awry when she runs into Jin, a stranger with a hidden agenda. Before she knows it, she's accused of treason and on the run, dodging foreign soldiers and the Sultan's forces as she finds herself in the company of rebels, not to mention halfblood children of legendary Djinni and powers that could destroy her desert home, and maybe the world itself.
REVIEW: Rebel of the Sands draws on Middle Eastern traditions with a bit of Wild West thrown into the mix, creating a unique world of sand and fire and elder powers at war with new technology, where tradition and innovation struggle for the future and innocent lives are too often crushed in the middle. Amani's a strong heroine, a sharpshooter with a sharp tongue, fighting cultural and personal oppression in a country where women are less valued than animals; her mixed ancestry places her even lower on the totem pole, as does her refusal to accept the lot in life she's been given. Even her best friend in Dustwalk, also looked down on for his limp, can't understand why she doesn't just become a man's property and find solace in prayer. Jin, whom she meets while disguised as a boy at an illegal shooting contest, is the spark that sends her life and plans up in flames in a relationship that's contentious from the start, both using each other even as they become dependent on one another for survival in a desert crawling with enemies. Fireside stories of First Beings and their descendants - the fading lines of immortal Djinni and Buraqi horses, the monstrous Skinwalkers and Nightmares that prowl the darkness and fear only the touch of iron that makes them mortal - have always been at the fringes of her life (though it's been years since even a stray ghoul wandered into her town, now a factory for the Sultan's firearms), but become central to the story as she ranges further from Dustwalk. Stakes are fairly high for Amani from the start, and only grow higher as she becomes part of a world larger than her small home town; more than once, she's responsible for suffering and even death as events move beyond her control. At times, especially past the halfway mark, the cast feels a little overloaded and events move a little too fast to keep up with, but it wraps up fairly well, even if it obviously leaves enough threads dangling for the second installment of the series. It's an enjoyable, quick read, starting a series I could see myself following (once I've pruned the reading backlog a little more, at least; seriously, the pile is threatening to crush me in my sleep.)
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