First fantasy book I'd read in a while. A good point for re-entry into the genre. Storyline unlike others. Eastern-esque elements very effective at enticing the reader into the exoticism and colourfulness of the world. Took some time to get into, but overall an enjoyable read. ( )

I go into this review with a heavy heart. I read an excerpt of REBEL some while ago and that excerpt made me excited. I liked Hamilton's writing, Amani seemed intriguing to read about and the quickest way to my reading heart is to have the female lead disguise herself as a boy to get things done. And come on, this had enough over-, under-, slap you in the face tones of Arabian Nights to keep me happy.

Things I'm not a fan of include westerns. I wouldn't go as far as to say I loathe westerns--there's a couple I can tolerate--however its one of my least favorite genres of film or book. The mash-up here, especially with the fact guns are a big thing, left me feeling indifferent much of the time. No not indifferent...impatient to get more of the fantasy elements of the world.

When Hamilton describes her world she does a Good. Job. She paints the picture of Amani's world so well...then plot gets in the way and its like a square peg trying to force its way into a circular hole. You can make it happen if you shove hard enough (I should know, I used to do it as a kid), but you end up scraping the sides and frustrated at the end. ( )

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 back-country town where she’s destined to wind up wed or dead.

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 mythical horse—or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she knew.

Rebel of the Sands reveals what happens when a dream deferred explodes—in the fires of rebellion, of romantic passion, and the all-consuming inferno of a girl finally, at long last, embracing her power.

{first of Rebel of the Sands trilogy; fantasy, adventure, magic, desert, djinnis, young adult, re-read}(2016)

This was good. I'm thinking of bumping up my rating from 4-4.5 stars to 5 stars and buying the trilogy for myself.

Sixteen year old Amani, later dubbed 'the blue-eyed bandit', is desperate to leave the desert town of Dustwalk - a dead-end place, famous only for its guns - before she's forced to become one of several wives of one of the men who work in the munitions factory. As a girl in the patriarchal country of Miraji she has no personal rights. And her traitor eyes show that the man her mother married can't be her father, which pushed her mother and herself even lower on the town's ladder, so her mother had always planned on the two of them leaving Dustwalk. But her mother died and she has only herself to rely on so Amani disguises herself as a boy to use her skills as a sharpshooter in the gun pit in the next town to earn enough money to leave - until a foreign-looking boy spoils her plans. Then she runs into him again in Dustwalk and in helping him evade capture by the Sultan's soldiers Amani finally manages to escape her past. As they cross the desert together she discovers that Jin has stories of his own, some of them involving the rebel son of the Sultan who promises 'a new dawn, a new desert' and a better future for Miraji. As much as she wants to follow her mother's plans to go to Izman, the capital city, sticking with Jin might lead to a better future for Amani

The same night the monster child and Ahmed disappeared.
Fourteen years later, the time for the trials came. It was the way the Sultim, the successor to the throne, had been chosen since Miraji began. As per tradition, the twelve eldest princes were to compete for the crown.
...
On the day of the contest, the twelve sons lined up and the whole city gathered to watch. Then a thirteenth man joined the princes. When he pulled back his hood, he was the picture of Sultan Oman as a younger man and no one could deny his claim that he was Prince Ahmed, returned. No matter what suspicions surrounded the sudden return of the prince, the law of tradition was upheld. Prince Ahmed would compete, and the youngest of the twelve princes was expelled from the contest.
...
Ahmed beat the other eleven princes in the test of intelligence, a huge maze full of traps built in the palace grounds, and the test of wisdom, a riddle posed by the wisest of the Sultan's advisors. When he came to the test of strength, trial by single combat, Ahmed won every fight until only he and Prince Kadir, the firstborn of the Sultan's sons, were left standing. They fought all day, until Kadir surrendered. Instead of executing his eldest brother Ahmed spared his life.

The story was told in the first person from Amani's point of view which emphasised her frustration at her limited future in Dustwalk and her desperation to leave. I liked the world-building; we discover things as Amani does as she travels beyond her hitherto limited world.

One thing that she does know is that in the desert, ghouls exist; Skinwalkers, Nightmares, Djinnis. And Buraqis - First Beings, desert horses created of wind and sand and sun. I initially discounted the legends as just myths - until a Buraqi was chased into Dustwalk and the whole town turned out for the hunt (and we discover that metal is inimical to First Beings). The book is full of myths, legends and stories with a touch of magic to them, such as the one about the Rebel Prince, but we come face to face with the magic and realise that, in this world, those stories are true - although human activity and cold iron are reducing the magic in the world.

They'd built a cannery there. Legend says they were open about a month before the First Beings who lived in the earth had enough and tore apart the ground under the town and flooded the ruins. The same thing happened everywhere. So after a while folks stopped building factories. Except in Miraji. Your First Beings are the only ones who seem to put up with it."

I like the way Hamilton interweaves the myths and legends of her world with the narrative; it added another layer of magic to the story.

So I listened close as he told of a golden age when only First Beings roamed the earth. How, after time beyond counting had passed, the Destroyer of Worlds came from deep within the earth. She brought with her a huge black snake who swallowed the sun and turned the sky to endless night, and a thousand new creatures the monsters she called children, but that First Beings named ghouls. And when the Destroyer of Worlds killed the first First Being, he exploded into the first star in the newly black sky. God had made the First Beings with endless life, so when they learned of death they were afraid. That was the dawn of the first war, and as First Beings fell, the night sky filled. The Djinn, the brightest of God's First Beings, feared death so much, they came together and gathered earth and water and used the wind to mold a being and set it alive with a spark of fire. They made the First Mortal. To do what they feared most, but what needed to be done in any war: die.
So the First Mortal took up steel, and with it he beheaded the huge snake who had swallowed God in his sun form. The sun was released from the monster's throat and the endless night ended.

And, as well, there was Amani's voyage of discovery, the mystery and attraction of Jin and a noble cause to fight for, to free Miraji from the occupying Gallan forces allied with the Sultan. Easy to read, hard to put down with lots of action sequences and characters you want to root for.

(January 2023/ re-read: October 2023)
4.5-5 stars ( )

This book really frustrated me, its such an original concept but it just didn't work. The best way to describe this is a young adult Arabian western with added magic and mythical beings which sounds like a recipe for a really original story, sadly by the end I just had no interest anymore. I don't even know why I lost interest; when I started it I was really enjoying it but as I got further it just lost something. It's such a shame as there is so much potential and it wasn't even badly written, I just didn't get into it. ( )