Oh my goodness. This book. Please if you have not read it, do not read this review/journal entry because there will be SPOILERS!
Rebel of the Sands is the first book in this series and is nominated for a Kentucky Bluegrass Award for 9th-12th grades. The book focuses on Amani who lives in a desert town in the middle of nowhere. It’s an impoverished place set in a parallel universe to ours, but it’s very much like the Middle East. Character descriptions are very Arabic as are many of the names and some of the customs (women are second class citizens with no rights to property or over their own lives). This is a magical realm, but one in which magic is all but dead and gone. First Beings like Djinni and Buraki and never sen anymore, though you can find peddlers selling “Djinni blood” with claims that it will cure all your ills.
Amani is living with her mother’s sister and her husband and his harem and many children. They are not wealthy, but own a general store, so they do alright. Amani’s mother was hanged for killing her father and so she must live with her aunt and uncle until she weds. One day, she overhears a horrid conversation between her aunt and uncle – they are arguing over how much longer Amani must stay there. It is clear that her aunt dislikes her and especially dislikes the way the uncle looks at Amani. The uncle says she must be married and if that doesn’t happen soon, he will marry her.
Amani is horrified and devises a plan to runaway. She sneaks out to the pistol pit in the next town over to compete for a large sum of money. This will buy her a train ticket to a large city where she believes her mother’s other sister to still live. Things don’t go according to plan though, and Amani barely escapes a riot that breaks out. She returns home in the early hours of the morning and sneaks back in before anyone awakes.
Later that day, a foreigner whom she met at the pistol pit shows up at her uncle’s store where she is working. He has been shot and needs a place to hide. Amani comes to his aid, removes the bullet and stitches the wound. He reveals his name is Jin and she asks to go with him when he flees. He refuses and amidst a distraction (the appearance of a buraki), he takes off without her.
Jin returns later in the day, presumably because he feels guilty for leaving her behind and they ride off on the now stolen buraki together.
The story doesn’t end here and I’m not going to give it ALL away. Jin and Amani travel through the desert on horseback, on train, and by foot before coming across the Rebel Prince. They join together with the Prince and his companions where Amani learns that she is not as ordinary as she believed herself to be. She also learned that magic is not as dead and gone as she thought it to be.
I will leave it there so I don’t spoil EVERYTHING for you, so please get this book and read it! Look for the second and third addition to this series, too!
This book is fantastic for YA readers and lovers of fantasy. The story will draw you in with intrigue and suspicion right from the start and it has great themes of social justice and political power. I love the way Hamilton writes a story about oppression and rebellion without it becoming trite or stale. And although the main character is female and the author focuses on the plight of women and girls in this world, male readers will connect with Jin, the Rebel Prince, and others throughout the story. It’s an action packed read with a dash of romance that will appeal to most readers. Teachers could also use elements of this book to discuss character creation and development (as I will be doing in my book club next month).
I will be spending three weeks discussing this book with my high school book club that I lead, so I will post my resources here when I have them.
Momma's Musings 