Before I begin this review, no I don’t intend to review YA titles every time, but I am a YA librarian in my day job so they represent a pretty big chunk of what I read. Plus there’s some darn good fantasy in YA, so expect it to be included.
Anywho, “Rebel of the Sands” by Alwyn Hamilton opens with a great sequence wherein our heroine, Amani, is attempting to buy her way to freedom by dressing as a man and competing in a sharpshooting contest at a local bar. Amani isn’t a slave. She’s just a woman. In her society, living in a rural village, that means she either gets married to a man chosen by her uncle, or dies. Unless she can find a way to make it to the big city her mother always told her about.
However, the scenes that come after this awesome sequence highlight my main issue with this book. The otherwise superb flavor and mood of the book is occasionally shattered by scenes that have the look and feel of a “teenagers in high school” novel. One moment we’re on an exciting quest in an Arabian Nights-esque fantasy, and then for about half a chapter or so we’re a bunch of kids gossiping on our way to our next class. Even the speech patterns and mannerisms of the characters noticeably change to be more modern in these moments. Thankfully these moments are few and far between, but they’re jarring and frustrating when they happen. While I really enjoyed this book overall and definitely recommend it, these unfortunate scenes almost caused me to put it down and not finish a few times. I get the feeling this was an editorial decision to try and broaden the book’s appeal within the YA demographic, but if so it was a poor choice on the part of the editor.
Still, the rest of the book involving the exciting quest and Amani’s growth as a character as she begins to learn about the complicated nature of the wider world is quite good. There’s political intrigue involving religious and economic motivations, personal drama that ties in well with the plot, and a fast moving story of rebellion and loyalty that ties it all together. With an Arabian Nights flare and some fantastic world-building I think its a fantasy well worth the time of any fan looking for something outside the typical medieval fare.
Plus there are some pretty fantastic creatures to encounter in this novel. I’m a particular fan of the Buraqi, spirit horses who only take flesh and blood form when their bodies are forced to with the addition of iron horseshoes. Iron damages spirits and Djinni and binds them to the mortal plane in this world. Don’t ever take the horseshoes off though. Seriously. Just don’t.
And yes, as with so, so many YA novels these days, there’s a love story involving a boy who at first drives our heroine nuts. I’m beginning to think acquisitions editors at YA publishing houses must be putting this in their submissions requirements: “Heroines must have a love interest who at first drives them absolutely bonkers yet whose hotness they are constantly obsessing over.” But I digress. The one in “Rebel of the Sands” isn’t bad, and the transition from “good lord you are the most irritating person ever although hot damn you are attractive” to being in love is much more gradual and believable than in most that I read.
In spite of its issues, I rank “Rebel of the Sands” at four stars for “I really liked it”. I definitely recommend it to fantasy fans, but probably steer clear if you have an aversion to anything teenage-ry in a book.
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