Hi Everyone! We’re super excited to be a part of the blog tour for the upcoming second book in the Rebel of The Sands series by Alwyn Hamilton! Our task this week was to recap the first 8 chapters for everyone and we’re going to do that in just a bit, but first I want to tell you about book 1 in case you haven’t read it yet!
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
(Website, Twitter, Goodreads)Also by this author: Traitor to the Throne, Hero at the Fall
Published by Penguin on March 8th 2016
Genres: Action & Adventure, General, Middle East, Paranormal, People & Places, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 320
Format: ARC 
She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.
Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him... or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.
Now that you know what it’s about, how about I recap those first 8 chapters! Spoilers may be in here, so if you haven’t read it yet (what are you waiting for??) look away!!
Point of View
This book is written in first person from Amani’s point of view.
Main Characters You Need To Know!
Amani – Our main character and sharpshooter who wants to get out of her small desert town
Jin – a foreign stranger who unexpectedly shows up and has a lot of secrets
Naguib – The son of the Sultan who is trying to find the leaders of the rebellion
What happened in Rebel of the Sands?
Chapter 1
“They said the only folks who belonged in Deadshot after dark were the ones who were up to no good. I wasn’t up to no good. Then again, I wasn’t exactly up to no bad neither.”
Amani hates her life in Dustwalk. Her mother and father are both dead and she lives with her aunt, uncle and cousins… unhappily. Her uncle is determined to take her as one of his many wives and her aunt just wants her gone. Amani is determined to make her aunt happy and has the urge to travel to Izmud, a city that her mother used to tell her stories about, and where she hopes to find her long-lost Aunt Safiyah.
Chapter 2
“A new dawn. A new desert.”
The only way Amani can get out is if she has money though… so she takes her savings and enters a gun-slinging contest. In order to go undetected she disguises herself as a boy and easily beats the competition to make it to the final round against the house champion, Dahmad, and the Eastern Snake. Amani finds out though, that the competition is rigged and she won’t win… the house will and she’ll be out all of her money and any chance to get out of town if she doesn’t do something.
Amani and the foreigner join forces to beat Dahmad who has had a bit too much to drink… they volunteer to shoot the bottles off of each others head instead of an innocent kid… they make a deal with the proprietor, saying they will miss and let Dahmad win as long as they get a small cut of the winnings. Amani crashes into Dahmad as he takes aim at the foreigner and a lantern gets knocked over … the stands catch fire and Amani and the Foreigner get away!
Chapter 3
“Oh, I don’t lie, Commander. Lying is a sin after all, isn’t it?”
The next morning Amani has no choice but to open the family store for business and dream of another way to get out of Dustwalk. What she doesn’t expect to see is the foreign boy dashing into the store to hide from the soldiers who are obviously on the hunt for him. Amani hides him though and when the soldiers finally depart, reveals that the mysterious boy, wanted for treason, has been shot.
Chapter 4
“Haven’t you ever wanted something so bad that it becomes more than a want? I need to get out of this town. I need it like I need to breathe.”
As Amani tends to the foreign boy’s wounds she notices his many tattoos and wonder their meaning to him… she also finds out that the commander who just left her shop is actually the Sultan’s son, Naguib and her mysterious foreign boy goes by the name Jin. Amani shares a story of the Rebel Prince and tries to convince Jin into taking her with him when he leaves town.
Chapter 5
“It’s a hunt.”
A rare Buraqi has appeared… a First Being that that can be made flesh and blood … and worth more gold than anyone can imagine, and so Amani goes on the hunt and catches the Buraqui turning it to a real steed. To celebrate, Dustwalk throws a party and the boy who has been pursuing her cousin asks Amani to marry him. He saw her at Deadshot and says he’ll stay quiet if she agrees and gives him the money that the Buraqi will bring. Then Shira arrives and Amani bolts. She grabs a bag and tries to find Jin at the store, but fears she’s too late. She encounters her friend Tamid who figures out that she is leaving and admits that he wants to ask for her hand… when she declines he is sad and angry, but before she can leave she’s grabbed by the soldiers and Fazim tells everyone she was with the foreigner in Deadshot. In order to get the information the Commander wants Fazim tells them to torture Tamid and in order to get her cooperation they shoot him in his knee… just as the weapons factory explodes, Jin rides through the crowd on top of the Buraqi to rescue her.
Chapter 7
“I needed a fast horse.”
After a full days ride, Amani and Jin find themselves in a bar in Sazi. Jin now knows she was the Blue-Eyed Bandit from the competition. Jin admits he’s not going to Izman and Amani is determined to go there to find her aunt, so she does the only thing she can… she drugs Jin to knock him out and takes the Buraqi to Juniper City to catch the train towards Izman.
Chapter 8
I was on my way to Izman
Amani ends up selling the Buraqi for half the price it was worth and then accidentally buying a first class ticket on the train. Disguised as a boy again, she heads to her first class compartment and watches as the train leaves Juniper City for Izman. After a full meal she retires to her cabin to figure out what comes next.
There you have it… a recap of the first 8 amazing chapters to get you all prepared to dive into Traitor To The Throne arriving soon! Make sure you check out the rest of the tour stops for the rest of the recaps and other special posts!
About Alwyn Hamilton
Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her childhood bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She grew up in a small town there, which might have compelled her to burst randomly into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast were it not for her total tone-deafness. She instead attempted to read and write her way to new places and developed a weakness for fantasy and cross-dressing heroines. She left France for Cambridge University to study History of Art at King’s College, and then to London where she became indentured to an auction house. She has a bad habit of acquiring more hardcovers than is smart for someone who moves house quite so often.
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