REVIEW: REBEL OF THE SANDS

 

PUBLISHER: Viking Books

 

DATE PUBLISHED: 8th March 2016

 

PAGES: 314

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS:

 

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.

 

WRITING STYLE:

 

This book is told in the in the first person from the point of view of Amani. The writing is a swirling prose of descriptiveness that wraps the reader in the desert sands of Miraji.

 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

 

Amani begins the book with many goals and aspirations; the most important is to get the hell out of dodge. The story follows her as she discovers herself, love and a cause worth fighting for. By the end of the book she is ready to fight for all she loves and she has some rather rude awakenings.

 

THEMES:

 

Love: Within the beautiful setting and breathtaking imagery induced through the prose, the idea of love yourself, for another and for a cause are all embedded.

 

Rebellion: On her journey Amani learns more about Jin and his background and becomes a part of a revolution fighting against the system.

 

Finding Yourself: At the commencement of the book Amani has a plan to get where she wants to go. This get thrown out the window when she meets Jin and gets thrown into a whirlwind of high energy action and magic.

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

 

A sweeping story through the desert and into a rebellion where you would swear you feel the sand against your skin.

This is a vivid story with beautiful prose and a firm plot. I was upset at the ending because it left me wanting more. For anyone who loves a great fantasy adventure stuffed to the end-pages with magic and romance in a time of revolution.

If you liked The Wrath and The Dawn give this one a go.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Keep Calm and Read On,

Kati

REVIEW: FIRSTS

PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Griffin

DATE PUBLISHED: 5th January 2016

PAGES: 320

SUMMARY:

 

Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfils specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.

Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.

When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.

 

WRITING STYLE:

 

This book is written in the first person from the perspective of the main character, Mercedes. Some of the statements made by Mercedes really shocked me but I believe that was the intent of the author, to take a look at the sexuality in modern high school and a look at slut shaming in modern society.

 

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

 

Mercedes is an intensely unlikeable and misguided character, whose perception on right and wrong is extremely skewed. Mercedes character develops through the book where she can be content letting go of the control and just coasting along, which is a big step for her. While I do not believe she ever becomes a fully likeable character, Mercedes does begin to understand the error of her ways and through the book the readers are given a background to this character that works towards explaining how her life led her in this direction.

 

THEMES:

 

Love: Mercedes lacks love in a lot of her life and when unconditional love is presented to her she cannot accept it. This may be due to the lack of affection se experienced at home or her past experiences. The development for Mercedes to a point where she can begin to accept this amazing.

 

Control: Control is a big part of why Mercedes does the tings she does. She wants control as it was taken away from her in the past. Another aspect of the character development was the eventual ability of Mercedes to begin to let go.

 

Friendship: I think the only thing that really held Mercedes together was her friendships with Angela, Zach, and eventually, Faye.

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

 

While I do not agree with a lot of the choices Mercedes makes, I believe the plot moved well and the overall conflict of the story was explored along with aspects such slut shaming and sexuality in high schools.

 

This novel left me thinking about the contents long after I had finished the last page and if you can take in the main concept of the book from a third party perspective, not being for or against Mercedes actions you may end up liking this book. Many will take offence to the main conflict of the book and the perspective Mercedes holds and that is OK, this is meant to be a controversial book and that was achieved.

 

🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

 

Keep Calm and Read On,

Kati

REVIEWS

This page will collate my reviews that I have posted and I will endeavour to update this page regularly.

If you click on the title for each of the books you will be taken to my review for that book. Each of the books will be listed in alphabetical order. Please note that any book that is a part of a series has the series title and book number listed after it so you don’t accidentally spoil yourself.

~A~

 

~B~

Bad Beginning, The by Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1)

Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer (Between The Lines #1)

~C~

Captain Sinbad by Graham Diamond

Chaos of Stars, The by Kiersten White  

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

Cinder and Ella by Kelly Oram (Cinder and Ella #1)

Court of Thorns and Roses, A by Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1)

~D~

Darker Shade of Magic, A by V.E Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic #1)

Darkest Minds, The by Alexandra Bracken  (The Darkest Minds #1)

Divergent by Veronica Roth  (Divergent #1)

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige (Dorothy Must Die #1)

~E~

 

~F~

Fates Divided by Jules Barnard (Halven Rising #1)

~G~

Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen #2)

Going the Distance by Mila Rossi (No Excuses #1)

~H~

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne

~I~

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff  (The Illuminae Files #1)

Into The Dim by Janet B. Taylor (Into The Dim #1)

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh

~J~

 

~K~

Kiss Cam by Kiara London 

Kiss in Time, A by Alex Flinn

Kitchen Boy, The by Robert Alexander

~L~

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (The Dark Artifices #1)

~M~

Madly by Amy Alward (Potion #1)

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (Me Before You #1)

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar  Children #1)

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

~N~

 

~O~

 

~P~

Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover (Slammed #2)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

P.S. I Like You by Kasie West  

~Q~

 

~R~

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins (Rebel Belle #1)

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier (Precious Stone Trilogy #1)

~S~

Shadow Queen, The by C.J Redwine (Ravenspire #1)

Sin Eater’s Daughter, The by Melinda Salisbury (The Sin Eater’s Daughter #1)

Slammed by Colleen Hoover (Slammed #1)

Songbird Thief, The by Skye Allen

Songs of Seraphina by Jude Houghton

Summer of Irreverence by Cathrine Goldstein

~T~

Tainted by Ginna Moran (Demon Within #1)

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (Monsters of Verity #1)

Thousandth Floor, The by Katharine McGee (The Thousandth Floor #1)

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #1) 

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before #1)

Truth About Alice, The by Jennifer Mathieu

~U~

 

~V~

Vicarious by Paula Stokes (Vicarious #1)

~W~

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler 

Whole New World, A by Liz Braswell (A Twisted Tale #1)

Wizard’s Forge, A by A.M Justice (The Woern Saga #1)

Wrath and the Dawn, The by Renee Adhieh (The Wrath and the Dawn #1)

~X~

 

~Y~

 

~Z~