[Book Review]: 'Rebel of the Sands' and 'Traitor to the Throne' by Alwyn Hamilton
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Disclaimer: This will contain
spoilers!
'Rebel of the Sands' is the first book in Alwyn Hamilton's RotS trilogy. It's about a girl, stuck in a fictional middle-eastern town who has been dying to get the hell out of that place. Judging from the names of the places (Deadshots and Dustwalk) etc, the setting seems to be a weird combo of middle-eastern characters living in a quasi-cowboyish wild west with train tracks and guns and shady bars and all. But, as the story progressed and you get used to the names, you realized that it is set in some middle eastern desert through and through.
The main character, Amani is selfish as hell, but damned relatable anyway. (I feel so bad for Tamid smh, like how could a person even do that?!). Alwyn Hamilton managed to create a mature main character, which, based on some YA that I read, is not an easy feat. Amani is so level-headed (and did I mention selfish? :D) that instead of scolding her for being foolish and gullible, I cursed at her for being heartless (though I somehow knew that abandoning Noorsham will bite them back in the arse later on.)
I did not quite enjoy the first half of the story. It was draggy as hell. The Buraqi was the only highlight to the story. Things picked up near the end, where more fantasy parts were incorporated. More characters were introduced and you fell in love with some of them (Shazad, Ahmed, Delilah, Bahi etc). I think I am shipping Shazad and Ahmed together! And then, that Demdji plot twist! I did not see that coming :O
A good story that turns very good near the end, though I'm afraid some people might not read that far in to find out!
All in all, 3.9/5 hearts!
'Rebel of the Sands' is the first book in Alwyn Hamilton's RotS trilogy. It's about a girl, stuck in a fictional middle-eastern town who has been dying to get the hell out of that place. Judging from the names of the places (Deadshots and Dustwalk) etc, the setting seems to be a weird combo of middle-eastern characters living in a quasi-cowboyish wild west with train tracks and guns and shady bars and all. But, as the story progressed and you get used to the names, you realized that it is set in some middle eastern desert through and through.
The main character, Amani is selfish as hell, but damned relatable anyway. (I feel so bad for Tamid smh, like how could a person even do that?!). Alwyn Hamilton managed to create a mature main character, which, based on some YA that I read, is not an easy feat. Amani is so level-headed (and did I mention selfish? :D) that instead of scolding her for being foolish and gullible, I cursed at her for being heartless (though I somehow knew that abandoning Noorsham will bite them back in the arse later on.)
I did not quite enjoy the first half of the story. It was draggy as hell. The Buraqi was the only highlight to the story. Things picked up near the end, where more fantasy parts were incorporated. More characters were introduced and you fell in love with some of them (Shazad, Ahmed, Delilah, Bahi etc). I think I am shipping Shazad and Ahmed together! And then, that Demdji plot twist! I did not see that coming :O
A good story that turns very good near the end, though I'm afraid some people might not read that far in to find out!
All in all, 3.9/5 hearts!
This is the second book in Alwyn Hamilton's 'Rebel of the
Sands' trilogy. It starts with a little time lapse, a couple of
months after the end of the first book.
Amani is injured and Jin is not there and Shazad is busy
being fabulous as always. After a lot of blood and mess, Amani finds
herself kidnapped (by her own freaking aunt to boot!) and shipped to the Sultan
of Miraji's palace (the very man whom they have been rebelling against
btw). There, Amani struggles with her new job as some sort of a
Demdji medium and a secret spy while trying to hide her real identity as the
Blue-Eyed Bandit from the scary Sultan.
More characters are introduced, namely Rahim and the
lovely lovely Sam. And then, after some weird phase of attraction
(sort of? It was weird, and very ambiguous) between the Sultan and Amani (it
was kind of odd, hearing the story from the Sultan's pov and hearing him
justifying his actions and actually making his arguments sound plausible), we
are shown of just how deranged the Sultan can be. Like, the Villain
of all villains. He's been making everyone jump through hoops :O
I am still shipping Shazad and Ahmed (ShaMed?
Ahzad??) , and Amani is giving me hope man! I am having a hard time
shipping Amani and Jin because we didn't know who he was in the first book and
he is barely there in the second one.
Anyway, this book is just soooooooo good, this will
probably be the best book in the trilogy (I mean, technically, I haven't read
the third book yet, but it will be hard to outdo this one!) All
those fantasy elements, all those folklores (that deserves their own book btw),
all those new characters, that supervillain that is the Sultan!
Pick this up, people! You will not regret
it!
5/5 hearts! A certified Hall of Famer!
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