Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:

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.

When I described this book to someone the other day, they said that the world that the author created wasn't one she would want to live in because it sounded sexist. She was right! Amani's world does everything that it can to bring her down beginning with the death of her mother and others in her hometown that treat her like she is a piece of property. It is no wonder that she enters a shooting contest disguised as a boy to attempt to make enough money to escape her fate. 

Amani was a great character! She was strong and stubborn. She had no intention of having a man push her around and define what her role was in life. I loved that she worked for what she wanted and took risks despite the danger the risks posed. I felt that the other characters were somewhat lacking but they still had a presence. It was clear that the author wanted the focus to be on Amani. 

I had thought that the story would end up being similar to Blood Red Road because the main characters are similar and live in a society that thinks that women are worth less than a man. I turned out to be wrong because Rebel of the Sands has fantastical elements to it. There are mythical horses and magical beings that add another layer to the story. It took me a minute to become acclimated to this aspect of the story because the book begins as more of a dystopian read and less of a fantasy but I did enjoy those elements because they added something even more exciting to the story.