BOOK REVIEW: REBEL OF THE SANDS BY ALYWIN HAMILTON

Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1)

by Alywin Hamilton

320 Pages

Expected Publication: March 8th, 2016 by Penguin

MY GOODREADS RATING 4/5 STARS

(Thanks to Penguin Random House, [firsttoread.com] I received a copy of this book for free to review.)

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

MY THOUGHTS:

My favorite fantasy books are quick reads. Ones that are fast paced and action packed with realistic world-building. This book was all of the above. The writing style was extremely descriptive, yet easy to follow. The character descriptions were also great. There weren’t too many character lines to follow, which is unusual in fantasy lately, but it worked for the storyline so well. I didn’t find myself getting confused as to which storyline I was following, there was only one. I loved that the main character was a female pretending to be a male for most of the story, I've never read a book with that premise.

I love that the book included small folk tales sprinkled between action packed scenes, it really added to the character of the book. This also helped make you feel like you were part of the story which I loved.

Overall I would say that this book is definitely a must read for lovers of fantasy or even if you just want to start jumping into the fantasy world.