Happy Wednesday! January is just creeping by! I can’t believe we’ve got about a week left! Today I’m going to be posting my review of Rebel of the Sands trilogy by Alwyn Hamilton.

Rebel of the Sands by: Alwyn Hamilton: It’s always been a dream to Amani to leave her Dustwalk town, but being poor, orphaned and female, leaves her options very limited. Even being gifted with a gun gets her nowhere. When she meets Jin in a shooting contest, she realizes that he’s her escape out of town. This was a nice ride of a novel. The world building was good; it could have dug a little deeper, but hopefully the second novel takes the reader through the world more. That being said, this story was told well and let the reader truly escape to another land. The plot was fast-paced and full of action from start to finish and you never knew what Hamilton was going to throw at her readers. The characters were bold and they were thought out well; hopefully we’ll see more character growth in novel number two. Overall, this was a good introduction into what sounds like a fun and engaging trilogy.

Traitor to the Throne by: Alwyn Hamilton: Amani has successfully fled her hometown where she was only seeking her own freedom. Things have changed, now she’s fighting to free the entire nation of Miraji from a bloodthirsty sultan who she has a personal vendetta against. Like the first novel in this series, this novel took readers to another world and let them escape. The world building grew, but not too much. There was definitely a lot of action and deceiving and plot twists that really kept the reader engaged. This novel did start off slow though, and it took some time for the plot to really kick in. Once the reader got through the beginning the pace really started to pick up. The writing was good, but it felt like Hamilton spent a lot of times repeating things. Maybe she really wanted to engrain in her reader’s heads what was going on, but it really bogged down the story and the overall plot. That being said, this novel probably didn’t need to be as long as it was. Then there was that ending; the novel just ends right when the plot was getting really good, now forcing the reader to read the next book. As for her characters, they were good, they developed slowly throughout. Sadly, this novel fell into the second book syndrome.

Hero at the Fall by: Alwyn Hamilton: Amani and her friends have banded together to join a revolution, which she ends up leading, to take down the Sultan of Miraji to save the Rebel Prince Ahmed. With only her gun and her Demdji powers she’s unsure if she’s the right leader; only time, and skill will tell in this winding tale of battles won and lost. This was an engaging and fun ending to a good trilogy. This novel concluded all stories and loose ends really well and left the reader on a high note. This novel was fast-paced and full of action. To add to the adventure and action there was this beautiful romance that blossomed and didn’t feel out of place. The characters in this novel were written well and the reader could see the growth they have gone through and how far they’ve come. That was definitely a highlight to this novel. Seeing, characters, mostly our main one return to a place she never thought she’d return to, stronger and more resilient than before was empowering to read. Where this trilogy started compared to where it ended was definitely a journey to be a part of.