Mundie Moms

Friday, February 24, 2017

REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alywn Hamilton / Blog Tour: Rebel Recap Part 2 - Chapters 6-19 Recap / Giveaway


Welcome to today's stop in Penguin Teen's REBEL OF THE SANDS blog tour. This 3 week tour gives reads a look into the new cover of Rebel of the Sands, as well as the up release of this sequel, TRAITOR TO THE THRONE.  Today I'm sharing recap part 2, which is chapters 6-19. You can read my 4.5 star review for the book here. Please note there will be SPOILERS in today's recap. So, if you've not yet read the book, just skip ahead to read more about the books, and enter the giveaway below. 

On a side note, I have to mention these cover. Aren't the covers stunning? I absolutely love the new covers, and I'm normally not a huge fan of cover redesigns. Okay, back to the tour stop.



ABOUT REBEL OF THE SANDS 


By: Alwyn Hamilton
Published by: Viking Books
Released on: March 8th, 2016
SeriesRebel of the Sands #1
Purchase fromAmazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads

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.

REBEL RECAP #2 (Chapters 6 -19)


Ch. 6-8 

Amani escapes two marriage proposals, and a gun to the head, held by army commander. She sees her friend being shot, and takes a split second chance on the foreigner, Jin, and literally rides away/ escapes with on the back of the very Buraqi she caught. Jin knows Amani is the blue eye bandit. She also realizes Jin won't take her to Izman like she wanted to go to. He warns her about the town, and all the dangers she faces there. Knowing he won't take her, she drugs his drink, sells the Buraqi, and is on a train bound for Izman, which is a week's journey across the desert. We also learn more about the stories each on grew up being told about the Rebellion, and the differences in how they were told. 

Ch. 9- 11 
Also on the train is Shira, Amani's cousin, and the soldiers that are after her and Jin. Thankfully Jin catches up with Amani, before the soldiers do, thanks to her cousins for turning her in. We also get a good glimpse into the stubbornness and sexual tension between Jin and Amani. Once Jin corners Amani, he asks for the broken compass back. There's something very important about the broken compass, despite it sending Amani off in to the wrong direction when she tried to use it. To risk being caught, they jump from the train. For the sake of not dying in the desert, they come up with a plan on how to cross the dessert and get to Izman. Amani's straight shooting gets them hired by a caravan to begin their travels across the desert. Traveling this way will ensure more safety on the long journey. I love this quote, "I might have traitor eyes, but Jin had the sort of smile that would turn over who empires to the enemy-that made me fee like suddenly I understood him exactly, even though I knew other about him."

Ch. 12 -14 
I really liked the religious talks, and the brief history we get on both Amani and Jin's heritages. And just for a moment we get a tiny glimpse into secretive Jin... though he quickly closes down, after he tells Amani he has a brother. Jin tells Amani about the weapons that can wipe out whole cities, and what the army is planning to do. Things aren't looking good for the caravan. They come upon something they never excepted to see. Running low on water, the well they hoped to use, is destroyed. Their caravan is searched, and medicine made from magic is found. We also see that those who have magic are put to death. Now inside the city, Amani learns more about the Rebel Prince's family, the ties to the desert magic. She also finds an ally in Noorsham, a solider for the General. She frees the Barqi to run free back to the dessert where they belong. In the process she causes chaos, which for allows for a chance for her and Jin to escape back to the desert without notice.

Ch. 15 & 16
Trouble seems to follow these two everywhere. Back in the dessert, magic and nightmares combine. The caravan knows they're no longer brother and sister, and threaten Amani. A Nightmare attacks Jin, leaving him near death. In order to save Jin, Amani trusts in the stories she and Jin were told growing up. Though they might vary, she believed in the password, and says it right before she's attacked by Skinwalker who's bent on ending her life. At the last moment, she's saved by a girl on a leopard who says she must have been the one who said the password. Before Amani passes out from her wounds, she sees the girl kill the skin walker.

Ch. 17, 18 & 19 
All the stories are true. At least about the Rebel Prince, and the rebellion. Amani awakes in a beautiful place, full of color, life, and discovers all the secrets Jin kept from her. Not only does she learn that Jin is really a Prince, she discovers his brother is the Rebel Prince. Prince Ahmed, the rightful heir to Miraji, and the one who's inspired stories of revolution across the desert. Now, everything about the stories makes sense, and the magic of the desert is what has kept them hidden. Jin's stories were right.... We really get to understand the passion behind the rebellion, and why the Princes's are risking it all for it. We also learn more about Jin and Ahmed's growing up, their mother, and about those who are apart of the rebellion. 


ABOUT TRAITOR TO THE THRONE


By: Alwyn Hamilton
Published by: Viking Books
Released on: March 7th, 2017
SeriesRebel of the Sands #2
Purchase fromAmazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads

The sizzling, un-put-downable sequel to the bestselling Rebel of the Sands!

Mere months ago, gunslinger Amani al'Hiza fled her dead-end hometown on the back of a mythical horse with the mysterious foreigner Jin, seeking only her own freedom. Now she's fighting to liberate the entire desert nation of Miraji from a bloodthirsty sultan who slew his own father to capture the throne. 

When Amani finds herself thrust into the epicenter of the regime—the Sultan's palace—she's determined to bring the tyrant down. Desperate to uncover the Sultan's secrets by spying on his court, she tries to forget that Jin disappeared just as she was getting closest to him, and that she's a prisoner of the enemy. But the longer she remains, the more she questions whether the Sultan is really the villain she's been told he is, and who’s the real traitor to her sun-bleached, magic-filled homeland.

Forget everything you thought you knew about Miraji, about the rebellion, about djinni and Jin and the Blue-Eyed Bandit. In Traitor to the Throne, the only certainty is that everything will change.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her childhood bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She grew up in a small town there, which might have compelled her to burst randomly into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast were it not for her total tone-deafness. She instead attempted to read and write her way to new places and developed a weakness for fantasy and cross-dressing heroines. She left France for Cambridge University to study History of Art at King’s College, and then to London where she became indentured to an auction house. She has a bad habit of acquiring more hardcovers than is smart for someone who moves house quite so often. Follow her at @AlwynFJH.


ENTER TO WIN


Enter for a chance to win one (1) of ten (10) paperback copies of Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton (ARV: $10.99 each).


NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on February 13, 2017 and 12:00 AM on March 6, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about March 8, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


FOLLOW THE TOUR



Week One
2/13 – ButterMyBooks – Rebel Scents
2/14 – Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Reasons to Read Rebel
2/15 – My Friends Are Fiction – Guide to Bookstagram Featuring Rebel
2/16 – The Reader Bee – 5 Reasons to Look Forward to Traitor
2/17 – Fiction Fare – Rebel Recap Part 1

Week Two
2/20 – USA Today Happily Ever After – Excerpt
2/21 – The Eater of Books! – Rebel Mood Board
2/22 – The YA Book Traveler – Fan made Rebel Trailer
2/23 – Lost in Lit – Rebel Book Look
2/24 – Mundie Moms – Rebel Recap Part 2

Week Three 
2/27 – Seeing Double in Neverland – Rebel Makeup Looks
2/28 – A Page with a View – Favorite Repackages List Featuring Rebel
3/1 – What Sarah Read – Top 5 Reasons to Love Amani
3/2 – A Book and a Cup of Coffee – Rebel Playlist
3/3 – Once Upon a Twilight – Rebel Recap Part 3

Shadowhunters TV Series, S2 E8: LOVE IS A DEVIL / Review #shadowhunters

All gifs from FREEFORM's Shadowhunters website.
Happy Friday Shadowhunters. Check out our thoughts on this week's episode of Shadowunters below:

EMM'S REVIEW

This felt like another filler episode to me. Just when we start seeing a deeper side to our characters, they add more wet, soapy and unnecessary plot lines. Ok we did get to go to a party at Magnus' but that fun was short lived wasn't it!

I'm not sure why they are still dragging out the Yin Fen addiction with Izzy. Maybe to keep Raphael in the picture? Not sure where this is going, but I hope it gets there soon.

Max is back, yay! Sadly we need his presence to unfold a larger more tragic story later if they follow the books. It will be interesting to see how his character is further used.

Best line of the night has to go to Magnus when Alec asked him if he'd like to throw a party "Have you met me" I liked this storyline and how it gave Alec a chance to stand up to his mom about Alec & Magnus' relationship. It was a cool party. But as a party for a child who is about to go through their rune ceremony, there seemed like a distinct lack of other children. Apparently Max is the only child in this world.

Oh actually no he isn't, we forgot about the warlock girl. And now Valentine is using her to blackmail her adopted mother Iris Rouse. I thought her story line would be dead and buried, apparently not.

I did like Simon & Clary's love declaration. They are a cute couple. It will be interesting to see how they portray them in the TV show.

Just when I was thinking this might be an ok episode, and the party at Magnus' is looking good, the writers have to make us unhappy again don't they. There were some good bits, Jace & Magnus talking about Alec before the party, Maia & Jace's banter and poor Jace pining over Clary now being with Simon. But oh no is there something in the punch? Of course it can't run smoothly.

The hallucinating story line went too far for me. I had flash backs to the bazaaro world episode from season 1. I thought the new writers might leave bad non book stories alone. When they try to bring in too much of the supernatural themes and not enough of the Shadowhunter mythology that Cassie wrote so well, I just want to turn off.

Although how creepy does Valentine look with the warlock child!


SOPHIE'S REVIEW

Well, Constantin Films/showrunner and the writers get some props from me today. I know, you're thinking hey, has Sophie been dipping into yin-fen, too? File this under: Things You Never Thought You'd See.

So, we get to see Magnus throw a party. I KNOW! A glitter bomb  of happiness just went off in my head! But, the powers-that-be are giving us a glimpse into something we never saw in the books -- the First Rune Ceremony. And for once, I'm okay with this. I've always wondered what it would be like, and outside of The Infernal Devices (where we see my namesake's ceremony, I think, or at least it's referenced), there isn't too much discussion of it.

Magnus' party is glorious and just as we might have imagined it. Maryse is also back from Idris (I'll just bet that Freeform loved the cheating Robert part of the plot because cheating parents is something they love to recycle into all their series as a point of interest in the adult characters storylines,  and her exchange with Alec over his relationship was pretty darn true to book form. As was the very awkward moment with Magnus as she walked into the party. Who didn't laugh at this moment below?

From Freeform's Shadowhunters webpage.
The weird part (and completely unnecessary part) was when everyone began hallucinating things. WHAT WAS THAT? Simon kissing Maia, Maryse trying to kill Jace and Alec thinking Clary still blames him for Jocelyn's death. Weird scenarios and an even weirder explanation. Not sure if this is the showrunner's way of tying up a bunch of plot holes, but hey, remember there's a lot of material in the books. No need to make up stuff. No, really. There's a LOT in there.  Once we found out who was behind these hallucinations, my eyeroll could be seen from space.


Ugh, the unevenness of this episode killed me, but there were good moments. Even the Rizzy (that's what I'm calling it so go with it, please) moments felt okay-ish. Fanfiction-ish, but okay-ish. It paid a little homage to that other vast series, Twilight, yet again with Raphy (that's what I'm calling him now because his Mafioso persona is growing on me) unsure if he can stop:

Source: Freeform Shadowhunters' webpage
For comparison's sake, here's a glimpse of our favorite sparklepyre in much the same position:

Source:google 
I guess it's gentlemanly to bite a girl on her wrist.

I wish Freeform would leave out this yin-fen nonsense subplot and focus on what they do best -- the characterizations (which are definitely much better this season) and the chilling aspects of the plot. The best scene by far was at the end, where Valentine is eating an ice cream cone and talking to the little warlock child, letting her know that she will get along with his daughter. That's where the show is at its best.

**  **  **  **  **

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts on this week's episode. If you missed it, be sure to catch up with it here on Shadowhunterstv.com.  

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