Excerpt: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Rebel of the Sands
Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Series:
Publication: Viking Books for Young Readers (March 8, 2016)

Description: 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.

I received an excerpt from First to Read. It included the first three chapters of the book. Here is what I thought: I liked the desert setting with hints of magical creatures. I liked that Amani was determined to find a way out of her dead end town and dead end life. I was curious about the foreigner that she met when she disguised herself as a boy and sneaked out to enter a shooting contest in order to win the pot of money that would let her head to the city. I liked that she was an excellent marksman.

I learned a little about the political situation with a sultan who brought in a foreign army to help him secure his throne and a son who was rebelling against him and who was a source of all kinds of rumors.

There wasn't much else in the first three chapters. But it was enough for me to head to Amazon and order my copy which will be here on release day - March 8.

I got this excerpt from Penguin's First to Read program. You can buy your copy here.