Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Mar 11, 2016 Karen rated it really liked it

3.5 stars really. Rebel of the Sands is the first book in a new YA series, which had some interesting elements. The story is a cross between A Thousand and One Nights and the Wild West.

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Feb 08, 2021 Nina ( picturetalk321 ) rated it liked it

Shelves: author-woman, author-white, a-reviewed, genre-ya, world-canada, gorgeous-cover, landscape-desert, z-read-gelesen-2021, genre-fantasy, novel-research-desert

Sort of fun but flawed. It is a YA novel, set in an invented desert world that seems to be loosely modelled on the Arabian peninsula (possibly? there is no map) and features magic and non-human magical beings (djinn, desert horses called buraqi, demdji who are born of djinn/human coupling, skinwalkers). The MC is a 16/17-year old young woman named Amani; and there is a het love interest, the mysterious Jin. Then there is adventure and action, chases across desert, sand battles and secrets uncove Sort of fun but flawed. It is a YA novel, set in an invented desert world that seems to be loosely modelled on the Arabian peninsula (possibly? there is no map) and features magic and non-human magical beings (djinn, desert horses called buraqi, demdji who are born of djinn/human coupling, skinwalkers). The MC is a 16/17-year old young woman named Amani; and there is a het love interest, the mysterious Jin. Then there is adventure and action, chases across desert, sand battles and secrets uncovered.

Sounds like fun? Here are the flaws:

This book needs content warnings. I am constantly amazed at how violent novels for young people can be. I found this also with The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea. Rebel of the Sands has torture, graphic violence, and murder, and I found much of it gratuitous.

This book features many 'pretty girls' and 'girls' who have been forced into being 'whores'. The boys and men are not furnished with adjectives like 'pretty' or even 'handsome'. The 'whores' have no agency. This got on my nerves mightily.

There are plot holes, and the book confuses exciting ending / climax with explosions, violence, killing and breathless battle. Now, me, I'm not so interested in breathless battle. And I am not interested in cavalier killing and in the division of the world into goodies and baddies. The baddies are expedient and killing them is celebrated as a Good Thing. Why it's Good is not quite clear as the moral universe is dodgy. We have the Good Rebel Prince who wishes to usurp the current Bad Sultan, but particularly to oust the Very Bad European Colonisers (thinly disguised as yellow-haired 'Gallans'). There is much talk of Heritage and Bloodlines which serves to justify the Good Rebel Prince's cause. (I am not a fan of Bloodlines which comes perilously close to eugenic argument and anti-foreigner politics as if some people are worthier than others by virtue of some sort of mythical 'blood'.) There is no talk of democracy, elections, parliaments and abdicating the Rebel Heritage Throne in favour of a more equitable governance. So I was not convinced by the Goodieness of the Goodies. At one point, the Good Prince's rule is even justified as being the will of 'the people'. Since the 2016 referendum that propelled the UK out of the European Union and was bandied about as proclaiming the 'will of the people', I am very, very allergic to any appeal to 'the people's will' without any accompanying proof of democratic due process.

Perhaps the bureaucracy of democracy does not appeal nor fit into the genre of desert fantasy. A fair point. However, I would then expect some other ethical principle to take its place and some form of authorial self-reflection. Rebel of the Sands is rather Mary Sueish in that regard, though, and even features kick-ass swords heroines and shape-shifting superpower teens with amber eyes and purple hair. Plus everybody is young and cool unless they are middle-aged and awful.

Summary: it has its moments; a quick and easy read; I like a desert setting; but ultimately, it doesn't hang together, neither plot-wise nor in terms of a moral universe.

Format: gorgeous cover that scintillates gold and turquoise with a ripply texture and the obligatory pseudo-Arabic title font. Clichéd silhouette of domed orientalising building against starlit desert sky -- but I am a sucker for this cliché so I forgive it. Stupid British-publisher (Faber) stiff spine that I needed to force open and crack. The font is large and the lines nicely spaced. No credit given for cover artist. Typeset in Plantin.

Read for novel research. ...more

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Aug 24, 2019 Rongrong rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, fantasty-sf, 2019-finished

Fun. Fast. Always enjoy this setting - adolescence & struggles of growing up & being independent yet wanting support/community. Also the particular path of young women growing in strength & saving the world. Some interesting questions about family and loyalty and power.

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