Blurb:
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.
This is the first book in the trilogy and also Alwyn Hamilton’s debut novel. I really enjoyed the plot of this story it’s a bit different to what I would normally read.
Amani is strong female lead, I really liked that she could look out for herself and didn’t need to rely on Jin to come and save the day!
I also liked how Amani’s struggles felt real, this particular line:
Is one I think a lot of people myself included can relate to.
This book is action packed with a little romance thrown in. I would like to have seen Amani and Jin’s relationship develop more and although I enjoyed all the action I would have a liked a bit more romance. So I’m hoping the next book will delve it to this more
I also liked the backdrop of the story, Alwyn Hamilton really captured the feel of the desert in her descriptions. I had no problems envisioning Amani’s surroundings.
Although I enjoyed this book I do feel there could have been more to it. There are a lot of supporting characters and I would like to have learned a bit more about them. Again I’m hoping as the story progresses we’ll learn more about them. I’m not going to mention them by name as I don’t want to give too much away!
Overall I would recommend this book, it’s a strong debut and I’m looking forward to reading the next book: Traitor to the Throne out on the 7th March 2017.
My Rating: 3/5
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