Rebel of the Sands

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten Books I Picked Up On A Whim

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. This week it’s all about books you picked up on a whim, I’m going to take this as books I bought on a whim – so books that I’d never heard of, hadn’t read reviews for and books that I may have seen in passing on the internet but knew very little about. On to the books!

sudden death coverSudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue
I bought this book in Any Amount of Books, a lovely second-hand book shop off Leicester Square, the last time I was in in London. I had never heard of it before and when I read the blurb I was still none the wiser what it was actually about. It’s something to do with a tennis match and it mentions a lot of different historical figures and time-periods. I have no idea what it’s about or whether I’ll like it but that’s what made me pick it up.

the secret fire coverThe Secret Fire by CJ Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld
I bought this one during the London Bookswap Crawl and I had never heard of it before. The striking cover was what drew me to it and then it was only a couple of quid so I ended up buying it. I haven’t read it yet but I have a feeling I’m going to get to it sooner rather than later.

 

asking for it louise oneilAsking For It by Louise O’Neill
So I had heard about this book through murmurings on the internet but I hadn’t read any full reviews. Then one day I was browsing Amazon, clicking from book to book and I saw Asking For It again and it wasn’t that expensive so I bought it. My review is here. (more…)

REVIEW: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

rebel of the sandsAmani Al’Hiza is poor, orphaned and female, three things that make her a lesser citizen of the dead-end town of Dustwalk. Amani dreams of escaping the town and seeing the world she’s only heard about in campfire stories. When a foreigner with no name arrives in town, she realises that with him she might have a chance to leave Dustwalk behind. But the desert is full of dangers and magic. The Sultan’s army is growing and Amani soon finds herself caught up in a deadly adventure she never dreamt she could have.

The world of Rebel of the Sands is fascinating. It seems like a Arabic-American Wild West fusion with the small mining towns and the guns but then a lot of the characters names and supernatural creature are more Arabic inspired. It is great seeing how these cultures blend together to form its own unique world. Then there’s the magic that’s a part of this world, there’s the Djinn which are supernatural creatures and people who can change their appearance and have strange powers. This magic is a part of the land and how it all works is really one of the best things about the book. (more…)

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY: Rainy Day Reads

Top 5 Wednesday is a great feature created by GingerReadsLainey and hosted by ThoughtsonTomes. To find out more about Top 5 Wednesday and the upcoming topics, check out its Goodreads page. This week it’s all about rainy day reads, and to me a rainy day read should be a fun quick book so onto the five books that fit that criteria.

rebel of the sandsRebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
This book is fast-paced and action-packed. I read it all in one day which is the best kind of book when you’re stuck inside because it’s raining. Also it’s set in a desert so you can dream about being warm and dry while the rain hits your windows.

 

 

FullSizeRender (74)The Fade Out: Act One by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
So this comic isn’t cute or really much of an easy read but it is like a noir murder mystery and those are always the best when you can hear rain on the windows as it makes the story more atmospheric.

 

 

love streetLove Street by Andrew Matthews
This was my favourite book as a pre-teen and because it’s so short and sweet you can read it in one sitting. It’s a fun contemporary where the main character dreams about a soap opera in her head to help her make sense of her real life – it’s fun and cute, what more could you want on a rainy day?

 

Night Owls ElenaSquareEyesNight Owls by Jenn Bennett
A contemporary story about a couple of very different people who are both artists and it is set in San Francisco. It’s a quick read with relatable characters and a believable romance.

 

 

princess leia comicPrincess Leia by Mark Waid, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson and Jordie Bellaire
Comics and graphic novels are the best thing to read when it’s raining and the Princess Leia comic is great when you’re mind wants to get away from the dreary day you’re in. it’s full of space adventures, awesome kickass female characters and supportive female friendships and it’s generally just great.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten Books on my Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. As the title suggests, these are ten books I hope to get to over the next few months. Pretty much all of my books are currently packed in boxes as we’re moving house next week so these chosen few (plus my kindle) are to see me through until we’re all unpacked in the new place in a months’ time.

The Secret Fire by C. J. Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld
This is like a supernatural/mystery/end of the world type book and it’s been ages since I’ve read anything like that and I got to say the cover is one of the first things that drew me to this book – I love it!

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
This one is getting all the buzz at the moment so I’m intrigued to see what I make of it. I might wait a while to read it though as I read A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston in January and I’m slightly worried they’ll be very similar and then I’ll get bored/be biased.

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
I got this in the Illumicrate box and I’m interested to see what I think of it. While I like fantasy books I have very rarely read any book centred on witches so it will be new territory for me. (more…)

The London Bookshop Crawl aka An Awesome Bookish Day

Yesterday I spent the day going to many bookshops in London with a lot of book loving people. It was the London Bookshop Crawl which was organised by the wonderful Bex and it as so much fun!

Going into the Bookshop Crawl I didn’t know anyone. Bex had set up a Twitter list of the people who were going on the crawl so I’d followed them all to try and learn names and get to know some of them but really, I didn’t know anyone when I arrived at Foyles at 9:30am.

When I got there, there were already some people sitting in the café with hot drinks and pastries. After having a hot chocolate I went browsing the shelves of Foyles with Annette and Lauren, we talked about what genres we liked and recommended books to each other which was great. In Foyles I bought A Darker Shade of Magic and The Man in the High Castle – two books I’d been meaning to get my hands on for a while. I did start the crawl saying I’d only get one book per shop but that failed straight away! (more…)