Published by: Faber&Faber, February 4th 2016
Genre: YA, High Fantasy, Retellings, Magic, Djinn
Pages: 368
Format: Ebook
"Tell me that and we'll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that's how you want your story to go and we'll write it straight across the sand."
Dustwalk is Amani's home. The desert sand is in her bones. But she wants to escape. More than a want. A need.
Then a foreigner with no name turns up to save her life, and with him the chance to run. But to where? The desert plains are full of danger. Sand and blood are swirling, and the Sultan's enemies are on the rise.
This book makes me !!!!!!!!! out loud.
I knew from 5% that I would love the characters, and I fell SO HARD for them. Jin is swoony and everything I love. Amani is badass and out for her own survival and I identified with her massively. I love that she could shoot a gun but also had softer, feminine aspects that didn't undermine her strength (and she didn't have to be masculine to be strong.)
I always love a good girl-pretends-to-be-male-to-survive-the-matriarchy story so that was right up my street, and the rest of the plot was perfect (minus the rebels because I'm never 100% into rebellion plots.) Amani made some decisions I totally wouldn't have, which was a bit jarring when I was so into the book I felt like I was her, but I understood why she'd make them.
The romance is too much, it's just everything. I will ship them forever.
Here's a list of other things I loved:
Steam trains
Kinda cowboys
Shootouts
Djinn horses
Sand magic
Siblings!!
Super hot kisses
POC main cast
Unique world
Actually present (and spoken about) sexism
Feminism!
My only gripe is the world. First off, I ADORE it and it's so, so memorable and stands out from many other worlds. But instead of being middle eastern, it's more an american western, cowboy type world, which is ... not great. It takes something middle eastern and westernizes it. BUT that being said the world is what really makes it thoroughly unique compared to book such as The Wrath & The Dawn, The Fire Wish, A Thousand Nights. So good points and bad points.
To sum: READ THE DAMN BOOK.
I knew from 5% that I would love the characters, and I fell SO HARD for them. Jin is swoony and everything I love. Amani is badass and out for her own survival and I identified with her massively. I love that she could shoot a gun but also had softer, feminine aspects that didn't undermine her strength (and she didn't have to be masculine to be strong.)
I always love a good girl-pretends-to-be-male-to-survive-the-matriarchy story so that was right up my street, and the rest of the plot was perfect (minus the rebels because I'm never 100% into rebellion plots.) Amani made some decisions I totally wouldn't have, which was a bit jarring when I was so into the book I felt like I was her, but I understood why she'd make them.
The romance is too much, it's just everything. I will ship them forever.
Here's a list of other things I loved:
Steam trains
Kinda cowboys
Shootouts
Djinn horses
Sand magic
Siblings!!
Super hot kisses
POC main cast
Unique world
Actually present (and spoken about) sexism
Feminism!
My only gripe is the world. First off, I ADORE it and it's so, so memorable and stands out from many other worlds. But instead of being middle eastern, it's more an american western, cowboy type world, which is ... not great. It takes something middle eastern and westernizes it. BUT that being said the world is what really makes it thoroughly unique compared to book such as The Wrath & The Dawn, The Fire Wish, A Thousand Nights. So good points and bad points.
To sum: READ THE DAMN BOOK.
Characters ★★★★★
Setting/world ★★★★★
I am sad that the world is more western. Which is especially interesting because the author is British right? Why make it the Old West? D:
ReplyDeleteAnywho I love everything about it. Kirsty flailed at me about it, so I know I want it! Just a few more weeks, just a few more!
I am so intrigued by this book! It sounds v different from the stuff I normally read but I am so interested by it!!
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