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Rebel of the Sands
(Rebel of the Sands #1)
by
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 b ...more
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 b ...more
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ebook, 314 pages
Published
March 8th 2016
by Viking Books for Young Readers
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Alwyn Hamilton
Rebel is Book 1 of a Trilogy! :)
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30
Start your review of Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands, #1)
4.5/5 stars! Review coming soon to my channel...
Jin had the sort of smile that would turn over whole empires to the enemy - that made me feel like suddenly I understood him exactly, even though I knew nothing about him.
I was so certain I would love this book. A Middle-Eastern fantasy with djinn, magic and mythical horses? It's like a unique and delicious recipe for exactly the kind of book I would love. And yet, for the first two thirds, I was so painfully bored I very nearly DNFed it.
Rebel of the Sands does pick up toward the end when th ...more
3.75
Review on my channel to come!
Review on my channel to come!
Let me start by saying I don’t give out 5 stars easily. It has to be a book I find nothing wrong with, absolutely love, and plan on reading again and again. Rebel of the Sands does all of that. About halfway through I was freaking out because I wanted a sequel so badly. I knew I would need way more of this world and the characters. I seriously cannot recommend this book enough.
The story starts with a shooting competition. Amani is disguised as a boy and needs to win in order to finally have eno ...more
The story starts with a shooting competition. Amani is disguised as a boy and needs to win in order to finally have eno ...more
Feb 17, 2015
Wendy Darling
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
march,
penguin,
uk,
2016-publication,
action-packed,
to-review,
pn-jinn,
historical-fantasy,
food-porn,
read-2016
4.5 stars Guys, meet your new favorite historical fantasy series.
This book has spectacular world-building, nimble dialogue, finely drawn characters, and epic battles with magic--not to mention so much chemistry between the main characters that the air is practically charged with the irresistible pull between them.
This is that sweeping story (and romance) you might've wanted from THE WRATH AND THE DAWN but didn't quite get. I loved the writing, I loved the characters, and I loved that everyone ...more
This book has spectacular world-building, nimble dialogue, finely drawn characters, and epic battles with magic--not to mention so much chemistry between the main characters that the air is practically charged with the irresistible pull between them.
This is that sweeping story (and romance) you might've wanted from THE WRATH AND THE DAWN but didn't quite get. I loved the writing, I loved the characters, and I loved that everyone ...more
Oh, good lord this book was boring. This is a spaghetti Western meets Middle Eastern fantasy and it is just as bad as it sounds. Ok, I guess it wasn't terrible terrible, but it is so excruciatingly dull.
Awhile back, Walk On Earth A Stranger came out. It was also a Western, and it was also super fucking boring. But apparently a lot of people loved it. I wasn't one of them.
Aside from the Middle-Eastern-magic thingy, there are a few similarities between this book and Walk On Earth A Stranger.
1. Gi ...more
I fell right in love with this freaking book! I don't usually like sand books < -- that's what I call them, lol, but I loved this one so much! It was such a different take on anything I have read. We have Amani who is dead on with a gun and she's wanting to get out of her town and away from her evil uncle and his wives and kids. It's not a very good living situation and she wants to get out before she is married off or married to her uncle. Hell to the no!
Amani enters a gun contest one night wh ...more
Amani enters a gun contest one night wh ...more
oh, look. its me. starting a new series when i have so many others that i havent finished yet. but im glad this was so fun so i dont feel as guilty about it.
this story is quintessentially YA, in both tone and writing. it came out in 2016, but the genre has progressed so much since then, that this story might feel a bit dated to some readers. the narrative is pretty simple, the characters are very ‘what you see is what you get,’ and there are a lot of classic tropes used (amani is an outsider, s ...more
this story is quintessentially YA, in both tone and writing. it came out in 2016, but the genre has progressed so much since then, that this story might feel a bit dated to some readers. the narrative is pretty simple, the characters are very ‘what you see is what you get,’ and there are a lot of classic tropes used (amani is an outsider, s ...more
This book was...really something. And by "something" I mean "bad." So bad I ended up leaving it behind in France even though the copy I had didn't belong to me. It's fine, though, because I'm pretty sure the person who the book belongs to would rather it were across the channel too.
I couldn't make head nor tail of it: it's a weird blend of the Wild West and bastardised Arabic folklore, set against a sort of steampunky backdrop with a low fantasy element and also a rebellion and this book just ne ...more
I couldn't make head nor tail of it: it's a weird blend of the Wild West and bastardised Arabic folklore, set against a sort of steampunky backdrop with a low fantasy element and also a rebellion and this book just ne ...more
I really enjoyed this! It was a very cool world and culture to be immersed in. Now that being said I didn't absolutely love it, but it was entertaining!
...more
"Tell me that and we’ll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that’s how you want your story to go and we’ll write it straight across the sand.”
Rebel of the Sands is one of the most delightful and thrilling books i've read in a long time. this tiny, beautiful gem of a book is now one of my absolute favorites. and i was left completely speechless after i’d finished it.
first off, i rarely mention this in reviews — but this book checks off all the boxes for aest ...more
First read of the year! I quite enjoyed this and while it did take me a little while to get drawn into the story, I was definitely entertained.
1.5 Stars
I'm honestly amazed at how popular this book is considering how heavily it relies on stereotypes of middle eastern culture and lore to develop its plot, world, and characters.
Not a fan at all. ...more
I'm honestly amazed at how popular this book is considering how heavily it relies on stereotypes of middle eastern culture and lore to develop its plot, world, and characters.
Not a fan at all. ...more
![Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?]](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1646942374p2/66224803.jpg)
"But if knowledge was power, then the unknown was the greatest weakness of immortal things.”
Story ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dustwalk always seemed like a prison to Amani - boring with horrible people in it.
The only things she loved were her mother and shooting with a gun.
When her mother gets hanged for killing her husband and Amani is being send to her aunt, Amani’s urge to run away becomes strong.
She tries to win the money to get away - but chaos and a foreigner come into her way.
Soon she meets the foreign ...more
Dec 28, 2016
♛ may
rated it
did not like it
Shelves:
fantasy,
clichéd-to-death,
yam-brs,
meh,
trilogy,
in-the-trash-you-go,
buddy-read,
300-pgs,
incomplete,
n-o-p-e
Buddy read 4/5 (we're aLMOST there !!!) with, Praggs ♡♡♡
DNF @ 50%
I started this book with such high expectations! I mean, fierce desert girl escaping a terrible situation with her sharpshooting skills! W o w, sounds great !!!
But after reading twelve chapters. . .
Personally, I’m just concerned where the plot went. . .Literally nonexistent.
The clichés in this book are intense. We got:
- “The Special Snowflake” – this girl has striking blue eyes (that has to be mentioned three times per chapt ...more
The summary of this book calls it a mash up of The Wild West and Arabian Nights (though it is not a retelling). I think that's pretty accurate in terms of the setting and feel. I do want to acknowledge that there are many negative stereotypes about Middle Eastern culture and the historical US West that are used here, but I don't think the author has ever lived in either region as far as I can tell. Although I ended up loving this story, I don't disagree with people who have questioned if it was
...more
THE ENDING WAS PERFECT. Perfect, as in an excellent balance of "happy" and "omg tell me more". No cliffhanger, no agony, but things are just starting to heat up in the desert (hehehe). I can't wait to read more! :D
***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Book One of the Rebel of the Sands series
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Rating: 5 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher
Summary (from Goodreads):
She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the f ...more
***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Book One of the Rebel of the Sands series
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Rating: 5 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher
Summary (from Goodreads):
She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the f ...more
This Review ✍️ Blog 📖 Twitter 🐦 Instagram 📷
Actual Rating: 3.75 stars
“You know, I never believed in fate until I met you… then I started thinking coincidence didn’t have near so cruel a sense of humor”
🌟 This year has been weird for me reading wise! I ended up disappointed by most of the books I expected to love and vice versa! Expectations are apparently a dangerous thing.
🌟 This book is a GR choice winner for the year of 2016, and I expected it to be a copy of all the other books in this gen ...more
Actual Rating: 3.75 stars
“You know, I never believed in fate until I met you… then I started thinking coincidence didn’t have near so cruel a sense of humor”
🌟 This year has been weird for me reading wise! I ended up disappointed by most of the books I expected to love and vice versa! Expectations are apparently a dangerous thing.
🌟 This book is a GR choice winner for the year of 2016, and I expected it to be a copy of all the other books in this gen ...more
Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHRZy...
Update 2/19/16 - After sitting on this one, I'm rating it a 2.5 instead.
All I can really say about this is that the book left a lot to be desired.
Rebel of the Sands tells the story of a young woman gunslinger named Amani. She lives in this small town that she says has too many of two things: guns and sand. Orphaned and living with her uncle and aunts, she finds the opportunity to leave the town behind with the help of a mysterious foreigner. ...more
Update 2/19/16 - After sitting on this one, I'm rating it a 2.5 instead.
All I can really say about this is that the book left a lot to be desired.
Rebel of the Sands tells the story of a young woman gunslinger named Amani. She lives in this small town that she says has too many of two things: guns and sand. Orphaned and living with her uncle and aunts, she finds the opportunity to leave the town behind with the help of a mysterious foreigner. ...more
Amani Al’Hiza has been trying to escape her hometown Dustwalk for years; but even though she’s a gifted gunslinger with a perfect aim, she just can’t manage to shoot herself out of the town on her own. But 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 a mythical horse – or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the de
...more
This review can also be found on my blog, Dana and the Books.
Rebel of the Sands has one of the best opening chapters I've read in a long time!
We start by finding Amani Al'Hiza disguised as a boy and about to take part in a gun shooting competition. To escape her dead-end town of Dustwalk and her repulsive uncle (who wants to marry her), she needs to win the competition to have enough money to finally flee to Izman. At the competition she meets Jin, the mysterious foreigner, and Amani soon finds ...more
Rebel of the Sands has one of the best opening chapters I've read in a long time!
We start by finding Amani Al'Hiza disguised as a boy and about to take part in a gun shooting competition. To escape her dead-end town of Dustwalk and her repulsive uncle (who wants to marry her), she needs to win the competition to have enough money to finally flee to Izman. At the competition she meets Jin, the mysterious foreigner, and Amani soon finds ...more
Four Stars!
Special thanks to Tânia for the recommendation!
“But if knowledge was power, then the unknown was the greatest weakness of immortal things.”
I think I have a new type of book that I seem to be enjoying a lot lately… and that is desert type books. I don’t know how else to put it. We have one of my new all time favourites An Ember in the Ashes and now we have this! I was pleasantly surprised by it. I had no idea what to expect going into this, I keep away from reviews and reading too muc ...more
Special thanks to Tânia for the recommendation!
“But if knowledge was power, then the unknown was the greatest weakness of immortal things.”
I think I have a new type of book that I seem to be enjoying a lot lately… and that is desert type books. I don’t know how else to put it. We have one of my new all time favourites An Ember in the Ashes and now we have this! I was pleasantly surprised by it. I had no idea what to expect going into this, I keep away from reviews and reading too muc ...more
I loved everything about this book and to be honest I didn’t expect to. The fact that the setting was very different to what I usually read was why I loved it. I loved how Alwyn Hamilton decided to change the typical setting that is in every other book and made it so diverse. Everything about it was perfect! There was just enough romance, and all the fantasy and magical creatures were just great!! I was so intrigued from the beginning. The sad part now is that I need to wait to have the second b
...more
It's been almost a year since I've read this, but it stuck to me in a way that I can still remember a lot about what I loved about it. In this glorious piece of heaven you will find:
1. A realistic heroine -- Amani's fierce AF. She has a huge mouth that she can't shut, is incredibly sassy and fierce. At first she was too into herself and a bit stuck up, but her development was amazing and she turned into such a compassionate, loving heroine by the end. (Not that her original murderous self wasn't ...more
1. A realistic heroine -- Amani's fierce AF. She has a huge mouth that she can't shut, is incredibly sassy and fierce. At first she was too into herself and a bit stuck up, but her development was amazing and she turned into such a compassionate, loving heroine by the end. (Not that her original murderous self wasn't ...more
May 27, 2015
Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁
marked it as books-i-own-but-haven-t-read-yet
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
unread-ya-fantasy
WESTERNS, I love 'em. FYI.
So REBEL OF THE SANDS was already on my radar before I read the preview chapters, but now I NEEDS IT.
B/c this:
So REBEL OF THE SANDS was already on my radar before I read the preview chapters, but now I NEEDS IT.
B/c this:
A group of factory workers still in their uniforms huddled around a nomad in a busted-up wagon who was shouting about selling Djinni blood that’d grant good folks their hearts’ desires. His wide grin looked desperate in the oily lamplight, and no wonder. It’d been years since anyone round these parts had seen a real live First Being, let alone a Djinni....more
Bes
Mini review:
Wow this was so much fun! I loved Amani and Jin. The magic and the stories were really cool! Will definitely be continuing this series.
Wow this was so much fun! I loved Amani and Jin. The magic and the stories were really cool! Will definitely be continuing this series.
3.75 STARS
Rebel of the Sands reminded me so much of the Grisha trilogy mixed with some X-Men elements set in the desert.
This book was a pretty fun read. For sure I liked it but I didn't really love it. At times, the beginning felt a little slow and info dumpy but the story picks up fairly quickly. The characters were actually my favorite part and I loved all the different abilities each Demdji had. Although, I found that Amani's ability to manipulate sand was a little unusual. It was different f ...more
Rebel of the Sands reminded me so much of the Grisha trilogy mixed with some X-Men elements set in the desert.
This book was a pretty fun read. For sure I liked it but I didn't really love it. At times, the beginning felt a little slow and info dumpy but the story picks up fairly quickly. The characters were actually my favorite part and I loved all the different abilities each Demdji had. Although, I found that Amani's ability to manipulate sand was a little unusual. It was different f ...more
3.8 STARS
REVIEW TO COME TODAY.
If I wanted to.
If I wanted to be part of this story. This riddle.
Truth be told, it was more than a want
this book tells us about a girl named Amani Al - Hiza lives in a town called Dustwalk and she lives with her evil aunt and an uncle who wants to marry her and she is trying to get out of from this town and go to Izman and one day, she goes to a shooting contest but she doesn't know this contest leads her to her adventure with a foreigner guy named Jin.
My O ...more
If I wanted to.
If I wanted to be part of this story. This riddle.
Truth be told, it was more than a want
this book tells us about a girl named Amani Al - Hiza lives in a town called Dustwalk and she lives with her evil aunt and an uncle who wants to marry her and she is trying to get out of from this town and go to Izman and one day, she goes to a shooting contest but she doesn't know this contest leads her to her adventure with a foreigner guy named Jin.
My O ...more
Someone please save me from the nightmare that is this moment. I am so disappointed.
I have been waiting for this book for months now. Even preordered it. And the cover, how beautiful. THE COVER TRICKED ME.
I so hardcore wanted this to be amazing. But it wasn't.
Okay first of all- the plot. It's a story about a girl who dresses like a boy to achieve her goals while slinging a gun like a champ. This is a fine idea, and I personally like it, but I've seen so many like it lately. And this particular v ...more
“She moved like a storm someone had given steel to.”
― Alwyn Hamilton, Rebel of the Sands
This book was so disappointing !! I expected and wanted so much to love this. But unfortunately, nothing worked for me. It took me more than a month to finish the book. I didn't care for the characters and found the whole experience to be boring.
Sorry, but I don't think i'll be continuing on with this series !! :( ...more
― Alwyn Hamilton, Rebel of the Sands
This book was so disappointing !! I expected and wanted so much to love this. But unfortunately, nothing worked for me. It took me more than a month to finish the book. I didn't care for the characters and found the whole experience to be boring.
Sorry, but I don't think i'll be continuing on with this series !! :( ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A World Within: Rebel of the Sands | 2 | 2 | Nov 02, 2021 04:10AM | |
| YA Buddy Readers'...: Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton - Restarting September 11th 2021 | 57 | 244 | Sep 27, 2021 02:48PM | |
| Writing Warrior's...: Rebel of the Sands Chat | 5 | 16 | Mar 02, 2020 09:49AM |
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“Tell me that and we’ll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that’s how you want your story to go and we’ll write it straight across the sand.”
—
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“You know, I never believed in fate until I met you... then I started thinking coincidence didn't have near so cruel a sense of humor”
—
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