Alwyn HamiltonReseñas

Where the Cowboys meet Arabian Nights.

Amani is a girl stuck in a small town in the middle east. Because of her gender, she is forced into a very small window of options for her future. This does not sit well with her. To escape the path carved out before her, she lays out detailed plans about running away. Unfortunately this does not go according to plan. Along the way she meets Jin and they become companions while traveling.

Overall it was a fun book. I would get into the Arabian feel of the characters or the surroundings, then something would jolt me back to a more modern world. Gun fire. A bomb going off. Trains. It was an interesting mixture that has me looking forward to the next book.

Hero At the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton is the conclusion to the epic fantasy trilogy entitled “Rebel of the Sands”. With a setting that is part wild west, part Arabian fantasy, these three books are full of adventure, magic and romance. I was pleased with the ending, feeling that the author wrapped up all major plot lines in a satisfactory way.

This last volume is strongly focused on the main character, Amani, and we can see how much she has grown over the course of the trilogy. After their long separation, it was great to see Amani and Jin back together again. While all characters don’t make to the end, I thought the author handled everything as realistically as she could considering she was writing about rebellion, battles and magical Djinn. In this book, the desert was very important and the reader can almost feel the heat and sandy dryness.

Although this last book started off slow, with the alliance being trapped in a city and many of the most important characters captured but once they got out the pace picked up and we were awarded with lots of action. Overall I loved following these characters and I enjoyed this YA series.

This end to the trilogy took a bit longer to get into than the previous books. Rebellion kicked into full swing. Things were wrapped up as best they could be.

A great sequel to the first in the trilogy - think I liked it more than the first, in fact. A smart and interesting continuation of the series. Recommended to those interested in an enticing fantasy world.

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.½

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 stars½

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.½

Traitor to the Throne is the second volume in a YA Fantasy trilogy that is about revenge, love, sacrifice and loyalty. Set in a world that is part Arabian Nights and part American Western, in this volume we read about palace intrigue and military strategy as the rebellion against the Sultan of Miraji falters. The main character, Amani is not doing well as her friends are on the run, she has been separated from Jin, the love of her life, and she has been captured and sold to the Sultan, who covets her Djinni powers. She must deal with jealousy in the harem, and the loss of her powers as iron pellets have been inserted in her body.

There is a lot going on in this volume as new characters are introduced and old ones come and go. And, of course, just as the story builds to an exciting climax, the book ends leaving the reader eager to jump into the third volume. With it’s diverse cast of characters, the brutal aspects of war and rebellion highlighted, and a few very interesting twists, this was an excellent addition to the story.

So far the first two book in this fantasy trilogy have been entertaining and enjoyable. I am looking forward to the third book and the many reveals and twists that it will most certainly supply.

Rebel of the Sands is the first of a series that has the potential to be very, very extraordinary.

Rebel of the Sands follows a blue eyed bandit who tags along with some guy she meets at a shoot off in a desert town trying to win cash as an escape from an unappealing arranged marriage. They know very little about one another but their paths cross as both are hunted down by soldiers and keep saving one another in the process.

Together they set off on an epic adventure and secrets eventually come between them.

I thought the book was a little slow, but the characters were entertaining enough to balance it out, The magic in this book doesn't show itself until the end but it keeps a promising potential for the second instalment.
I wasn't much a fan of the army and what seemed like the opening for a political/religeous battle plot, I think the story could have went a more interesting route, but all the same overall this was a pleasant read that I will be going out to buy. :D

Rebel of the Sands is the first of a series that has the potential to be very, very extraordinary.

Rebel of the Sands follows a blue eyed bandit who tags along with some guy she meets at a shoot off in a desert town trying to win cash as an escape from an unappealing arranged marriage. They know very little about one another but their paths cross as both are hunted down by soldiers and keep saving one another in the process.

Together they set off on an epic adventure and secrets eventually come between them.

I thought the book was a little slow, but the characters were entertaining enough to balance it out, The magic in this book doesn't show itself until the end but it keeps a promising potential for the second instalment.
I wasn't much a fan of the army and what seemed like the opening for a political/religeous battle plot, I think the story could have went a more interesting route, but all the same overall this was a pleasant read that I will be going out to buy. :D

A young desert woman in danger of being forced to marry her uncle tries to use her ability with a pistol to win free only to become involved with more trouble than she knew was out there and plunges into adventure and away from the goals she had set herself. Enough different from the sea of girl with something extra to provide entertainment, similar enough to satisfy that appetite.½

I understood going in that this was a Western-ish story set in the Middle East. So I shouldn't have been surprised by just how Western (like, cowboy Western, not just the Americas western), but I found myself a little disappointed by it. It kind of felt like the Middle Eastern setting was so that the women could be extra oppressed.

I did like the way the mythology was woven into the story, but there was so much potential unexplored.

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton is a YA Fantasy story set in the mythical desert country of Miraji. Combining the magic of an Arabian desert tale and the action and grit of the Wild West, this is an exciting story that features Amani, a young woman who dreams of a better life then one that is totally controlled and pushes her into an arranged marriage so when she meets Jin, a mysterious young man who is on the wrong side of the law, she leaves town with him.

Together they face the hardships of the desert and find refuge in the Rebel camp. These rebels are following one of the Sultan’s sons, but this one wants to bring Miraji equality and freedom for everyone, not just the privileged few. Amani finds herself fitting in with these rebels and she also finds out secrets from her own past and why she has always felt different.

I found Rebel of the Sands to be a blend of romance, thrills and magic. This is the first book in a trilogy and manages to introduce many memorable characters. The heroine is witty, impulsive, but vulnerable and her love interest, Jin is intelligent, caring and secretive. Together they make an interesting pair as they grow closer while fighting a wide variety of enemies and support a rebel prince in his dream of making their homeland a better place.

Read the full review here: http://www.thefandom.net/books/book-review-hero-at-the-fall-by-alwyn-hamilton/

Alwyn Hamilton immerses readers in the world of Amani once again as the Rebels overcome new challenges and face even harder decisions than before. Fighting in a war where neither side rests means that unfortunately, not everyone will make it. It’s up to Amani and the Rebel leaders to make sure that they prevail and bring “a new dawn, a new desert.”

Honestly, it’s hard to give a detailed synopsis for Hero at the Fall because it’s such an action-packed book. I would love to talk about a few specific events that really took me by surprise, but they would all be spoilers. However, I will say there are plenty of battles, magic, romance, secrets, and unexpected appearances from new and old characters. To give a slightly simplified version, Hero at the Fall picks up exactly where Traitor to the Throne left off. Amani struggles to lead the Rebellion and find a way to defeat the Sultan after the loss of crucial members of the Rebellion.

In terms of the plot and characters, this is one of the books that seems to fall under an “it’s me, not you” type of situation. While I know a lot of people enjoyed Hero at the Fall, I found it a bit mediocre, which I chalk up to my lack of interest in reading lately, but also the writing style. Because the plot revolves heavily on action, there are so many events happening one right after another, which usually makes the book gripping, but I felt ironically underwhelmed by the overwhelming number of events. Since things were happening every second, there was no time to build suspense and really create a sense of urgency. As a result, I felt that events were being tossed at me one after another, and it just started becoming this repetitive pattern. Following this, it seems like description and detail were sacrificed in favor for more action scenes, which is completely fine, but I think this made it a bit difficult for me to get into Amani’s character. Her narrative was a bit bland and provided a lot more telling than showing.

So if I wasn’t really a fan of the plot or characters then why still give it 3.5 stars? Well, I actually really enjoyed the first third of the novel. I think this part appealed to me more because I liked the pacing in this section. Since it’s the beginning of the novel, the reader isn’t thrown into the midst of things. We’re eased in more slowly, and there’s not as much happening so we get more details and time to familiarize ourselves with the characters again. Once the middle hit, I became a bit bored with the plot. However, the third part of the novel made me bump up my rating. This was my favorite section of the novel because of surprise character appearances and also because Amani’s character development was finally in play. I didn’t really feel like her character developed much in the first half of the novel, but her character arc in the last part was done really nicely, and that’s when I started liking her character.

Surprising adventure -- has some steampunky elements, but is more desert dystopian with unexpected magical aspects. I'd say more, but I don't want to give anything away. I appreciate the heroine's defiance and skill, and the hero's slippery stories.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.

• Full stories of things we know or new stories with characters we know
•Not crucial to the trilogy but really enjoyable
•That ending though. Almost a perfect and chilling set up to Rebel
•I’ll read anything she writes
•4⭐️s

This book was just simply wonderful. The backdrop of an Arabian-style desert provided some absolutely beautiful scenery and an exciting setting. Hamilton has used a combination of myths and familiar magics to create a magic system that is intriguing and exciting, but that is also perfectly suited to the world she has built. Some aspects of the plot were predictable, but they involved things that I was wanting to happen and left me more excited for how the story was progressing. Then there were some aspects that I never saw coming, taking me by surprise, but that also added to the story and helped develop some of the characters. Which brings to me to the characters - an amazing array of POC characters that you can't help but fall in love with. The main character, Amani, has instantly became one of my favourite female leads. It would have been nice to have more interaction with and development of the characters we meet in the middle of the book. Likewise, its a shame that a group of characters that will likely be heavily involved in the rest of this series were not introduced until the latter third of the book. These characters will have to be fully developed in the next book.

Overall I absolutely loved this book, giving it a 4.5/5 stars. I did receive this book for free in exchange for a review and I am very thankful that it gave me a chance to read this amazing book. I cannot wait to see how this story progresses in the next book.

I enjoyed the unique fantasy setting. I don't think I've ever read a fantasy that mainly took place in the desert. Very intriguing. There was a moment when I wondered if there would be some fantastical plot twist that would turn the book around--I wasn't bored, just not wowed. I was pleasantly surprised with the direction the story took and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Rtc

- eventi raccontati senza fluidita
- lack of characterisation -> quite flat characters and not remarkable setting
- world building confusion
- non mi hanno minimamente coinvolto né la storia, né i personaggi :(

This is a review of the series as a whole, since I read them all pretty much successively. So there will be spoilers for the series (though if you're on this page, hopefully you've read the other two already). But in short: incredibly inventive setting let down by hopelessly cliche characters and average writing.

First, I adore the setting and the world. Wild West meets fantasy Middle East is a wonderful, fun, unique, and incredibly well-done merging of two popular genres that provide an incredible amount of ideas for Hamilton to play with. The myths of Djinn and the independence indicative of Wild West stories merge together incredibly well. The little bits we learned about the neighboring countries and their customs made me want to learn more.

However. That's about all I liked. The prose was a little purple and much too repetitive, even for the younger audience that Hamilton was aiming for. How many times did I need to read a variation of "the sand got everywhere" or "the sand was a part of you if you lived in the desert" or "Demdjinn don't lie" or "I can't lie, I'm a Demdjinn" (or mentions of Shazad's beauty, or Amani's blue eyes, or
SO MANY other things)?? I honestly feel like it was a least once a chapter. I understand motifs, but there's a difference between motifs and just flat-out repetition for no repetition's sake. Whenever Jin called Amani "Bandit" or "Blue Eyed-Bandit," it felt incredibly inauthentic. I understand teasing someone about a nickname they've earned, especially one as famous as that, but the way he did it and the situations he used it in was clunky (like, when he's asking her advice, or complimenting her, when it would have made much more natural sense to just use her name).

And I understand what Hamilton was trying to do when she interjected the myths in between chapters (though I wish she had done that in the first book as well, for consistency), but I didn't understand why their names weren't used. In some of the myths, the descriptors were used (The First One, The Sin Maker, etc.), but it seems like that is only the case because their names aren't known, since when they are known, the names are used (Princess Hawa, Ashra, etc.). So why didn't Hamilton use the characters names when she was recounting their myths? It's fine to call Hala "the Golden Girl" a few times (or Shazad "the Beautiful General," or Jin "the Foreign Prince"...), but not every single time. Using their names would make more sense with the idea that their stories will live on past their deaths in a meaningful way, especially in the case of Sam, who, as we learn, is eventually forgotten in his homeland but remembered (as the Nameless Boy, apparently??) in the desert.

And the characters were so incredibly cliche, and their plots so predictable. The only thing that didn't happen which I expected was that Jin didn't turn out to be a Demdjinn, which I was incredibly thankful for. Otherwise, of course he fell in love with Amani, and of course Ahmed was a kind, thoughtful, if unassertive ruler, and of course Shazad was beautiful but deadly, and of course Sam the wise-cracking thief would fall in love with her, and of course Amani and Jin were brought back to life once they "died." Nothing was unexpected when it came to the characters, their actions, or their development. Which, with a setting this inventive, is an incredible let down.

I would love to read this series written by a different author.

The voice is smart, sassy, and fresh. The world is new and has potential.
There were just two problems that nagged at me. 1, could we not pay an inordinate amount of attention to his bare chest?And, 2, the narrative was jumpy. Cleverly, the chapters did what good chapters do: they ended in the middle of action. However, when the next chapter began it was confusing because it would often jump forward in time, switch locations, reference previously unmentioned locations etc. It required a lot of reverse reading.

Everything about this book screams "you will love me!" to me and my tastes but for some reason I just could not connect with it. I adore the setting, the lore and mythology, but I just didn't empathise or connect with the characters and I can't pinpoint why. I think I need more family/friendship dynamics in my books, lately. That's something I've found myself really enjoying.

Adventure-wise, this book was non-stop. I don't feel as though a single page went by that something new and exciting wasn't happening. It's a pretty quick read, may be good if you're looking for something light and adventurous!

Unfortunately, I don't think I will continue with the series.

A satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Amani and her friends are prisoners in their own city, kept there by a ring of fire the Sultan has created to prevent anyone from coming or going without his permission. Amani is determined to rescue their imprisoned friends, including the rebel prince (Ahmed), who is thought to be dead and put him in his rightful place on the throne. There is lots of action and the main theme of the book seems to be sacrifices. While the book's ending was a bit predictable, I think author Hamilton could have done a better job with the final showdown, which felt strangely impersonal. I liked the Middle Eastern themes, the overarching distrust of foreigners and family politics among the Sultan's brood, and the Djinnis.