Sophie Reads YA: Alwyn Hamilton

Alwyn Hamilton

Waiting On Wednesday: The Notorious Virtues (The Notorious Virtues #1) by Alwyn Hamilton

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Alwyn Hamilton

Waiting on Wednesday: Hero at the Fall (Rebel of the Sands #3) by Alwyn Hamilton

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#RockMyTBR 2016 Challenge

ARC Review: Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) by Alwyn Hamilton

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Traitor to the Throne
Series: Rebel of the Sands #2
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Published February 2nd 2017 by Faber & Faber

Goodreads Synopsis
This is not about blood or love. This is about treason.

Nearly a year has passed since Amani and the rebels won their epic battle at Fahali. Amani has come into both her powers and her reputation as the Blue-Eyed Bandit, and the Rebel Prince's message has spread across the desert - and some might say out of control. But when a surprise encounter turns into a brutal kidnapping, Amani finds herself betrayed in the cruellest manner possible.

Stripped of her powers and her identity, and torn from the man she loves, Amani must return to her desert-girl's instinct for survival. For the Sultan's palace is a dangerous one, and the harem is a viper's nest of suspicion, fear and intrigue. Just the right place for a spy to thrive... But spying is a dangerous game, and when ghosts from Amani's past emerge to haunt her, she begins to wonder if she can trust her own treacherous heart.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Rebel of the Sands was one of my favourite debuts last year, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on the sequel. Traitor to the Throne takes place a few months after the events of Rebel, and we have a completely different type of story this time around. In this case, Amani finds herself kidnapped, and taken to the Sultan's harem to stop her from helping the Rebellion. As a prisoner, she can't do too much, but finds ways to help undermine the Sultan, and aide the Rebellion, from the inside. When rumours of the Blue-Eyed Bandit still working reaches her ears, she finds the person who has been impersonating her, and inducts him to the cause. However, she also has underestimated the Sultan, who uses her powers ad a Demdji for his own benefit in diplomacy, and his heir, Kadir, who wants her, and is enraged when his father says she isn't to be touched - which she never was, thank god!

I enjoyed this book, but do think I preferred Rebel more. Traitor didn't have as much action as book 1, but the political intrigue did make up for this. For the most part, Amani was separated from the other rebels, which wasn't fun, but this book felt like it was more of a filler, setting the scene for the finale. It has definitely added to the plot of the series, and without this book, we wouldn't know as much about the world or the characters.

Amani is still as fiesty and amazing as ever, and the new characters we are introduced to really brought something to the story line. For the majority of the book, Amani was in the Sultan's harem, so we spent time with the other women there, as well as learning about the politics of the world. Though Amani was ultimately a prisoner, the Sultan appreciated her abilities to tell when someone is lying, so she was used as a human lie detector in a lot of political and diplomatic meetings. However, I still missed Amani's life as a bandit, and hope in future instalments we see more from this lifestyle.

Again, there wasn't much by the way of romance, because Amani was separated from Jin. What there was, was enjoyable, but I missed their relationship.

Though I feel like this book was a filler, it did answer some questions from book 1, like what happened to Amani's cousin and best friend, and definitely set the stage for an explosive finale, if that ending is anything to go by. I look forward to having book 3 ASAP!

Dates Read:

February 4-7, 2017

Rating
5 Stars

Alwyn Hamilton

Waiting on Wednesday: Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) by Alwyn Hamilton

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2016 Debut Author Challenge

ARC Review: Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton

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Rebel of the Sands
Series: Rebel of the Sands #1
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Published February 4th 2016 by Faber & Faber

Goodreads Synopsis
"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."

Dustwalk is Amani's home. The desert sand is in her bones. But she wants to escape. More than a want. A need.

Then a foreigner with no name turns up to save her life, and with him the chance to run. But to where? The desert plains are full of danger. Sand and blood are swirling, and the Sultan's enemies are on the rise.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Wow, just wow! This book was everything I wanted it to be, and more. I've been dying for this book since I first heard about it on twitter last summer, I think, and I preordered my copy because I just knew I'd need it on release day. When I got the email off NetGalley saying that the publisher had granted my wish to read it, I was overjoyed! I technically shouldn't have read it yet, as (while I'm writing this) I'm supposed to be revising for my three exams in the next few weeks. But I reckon I deserve some downtime, right? And anyway, I read the book in less than 24 hours, so it hasn't interrupted my studying too much.

In Rebel of the Sands, Amani is a girl desperate to leave her desolate home town. Following the death of her mother less than a year ago, she has been living with her cruel aunt and uncle, and her many cousins, and is treated like dirt. She has been scrimping and saving everything she can to escape, and time is running out. As she enters a shooting contest - disguised as a boy, of course - she encounters a foreigner, who opens up the opportunity, and the distraction, to escape. Obviously, she takes it. As she's running for her life from her old village, she grows closer to the stranger, and ends up in even more danger than she could have imagined.

Amani was wonderful! There's no other way to describe her. She's dealt with a lot of hardship throughout her life, being the only child of her parents, and a daughter no less, and she's had to come to terms with being unwanted. She taught herself to shoot, and was a bloody good teacher - she's basically the best shot in the whole of Dustwalk. Once her mother is killed, and she is sent to her aunt's, her life gets even worse, and she's basically a slave. Her uncle ends up deciding that she is due to get married off, maybe even to him (eww, sick!), and she has no other choice than to leave as soon as she can. I honestly do no know what I would have done if I was in her shoes - she's built of strong stuff! She was never helpless, and I admired her for her compassion and want to help others. I think I'm a bit in love with her, and can't wait to see how she grows in book 2.

The whole world and mythology that Hamilton created was outstanding. I really felt like I was a part of the book, and it wasn't chock full of info dump after info dump. Rather, the information came through in a gradual manner, but I never felt like I was lost about what was happening. The stories about the Djinni felt like proper folk tales, as if they had history behind them.

The other characters, but especially Jin, were a nice bunch of different personalities. None of them will ever live up to Amani, but I'm biased that way. For a lot of the book, the only people I really cared about were Amani and Jin, as the people back home in Dustwalk were all awful, except for maybe Tamid, Amani's best friend. Once they met up with the gang of rebels, as the name suggests, I was blown away by how much I was invested in them all. They seem to be a proper family unit.

Jin was swoony. His and Amani's interactions, right from the very beginning, were full of emotion and tension, and I was dying for them to spend even more time together, if that was even possible. Not everything between them went smoothly, but I liked the angst. With how the book ended, I'm looking forward to a lot more swooniness between them.

The twist towards the end was something unexpected. I'm not going to give much away, but I couldn't believe it, even when it was there in front of me. I can see it have so many consequences for the future, and this book has merely set the stage for a much bigger problem. The baddies in the book all deserve their comeuppances, and I look forward to them suffering in later books ;)

If I hadn't known this was Hamilton's debut novel, I would've thought she was a seasoned author. I am just in awe with how awesome she is! I seriously can not wait to read more from her, and I would urge you all to buy this now, so you can see for yourself how fabulous her writing is. She has definitely gone on my 'must buy' list, and I would say she'll be on yours too, once you read this.

Dates Read:
January 9-10, 2016

Rating
5 Stars