Ahhhhh, here it is: the final book in the Rebel of the Sands trilogy. I feel like I have been waiting for this all my life. I read Rebel of the Sands when it first came out, and following Amani on her journey across the desert, into the Sultan’s palace in Traitor to the Throne, and back across the desert, has been a delightful (and not so delightful) journey.

*Because this book is the third and final in the series, there ARE going to be spoilers, because I don’t think I can write this review without them…*

When gunslinging Amani Al’Hiza escaped her dead-end town, she never imagined she’d join a revolution, let alone lead one. But after the bloodthirsty Sultan of Miraji imprisoned the Rebel Prince Ahmed in the mythical city of Eremot, she doesn’t have a choice. Armed with only her revolver, her wits, and her untameable Demdji powers, Amani must rally her skeleton crew of rebels for a rescue mission through the unforgiving desert to a place that, according to maps, doesn’t exist. As she watches those she loves most lay their lives on the line against ghouls and enemy soldiers, Amani questions whether she can be the leader they need or if she is leading them all to their deaths.

Where to start…

Let’s start at the end.

I can’t believe how well Hamilton wrote that ending. It was done perfectly, where she spanned five decades after the war had finished, and she tied up all the loose ends, and also told us where our characters had ended up, and even what the world was like after all the characters had died. Hamilton showed how flawed humans are, and how war is always on the horizon. She showed that wars don’t stop the fighting between realms over night; it takes time. I just felt so satisfied with the ending. It felt right.

 

“But even if the desert forgot a thousand and one of our stories, it was enough that they would tell of us at all. That long after our deaths, men and women sitting around a fire would hear that once, long ago, before we were all just stories, we lived.”

― Alwyn Hamilton, Hero at the Fall

 

I love Hamilton’s writing so much, and every time I get to meet her at Waterstones in Birmingham, I always tell her how magical her writing is. She fully immerses you into the story and makes you connect with ALL of the characters – even the villains – and I think that’s such a great skill to have when you’re writing ANY book. From book one, she built this fantastic world and magic and magical beings, throwing in politics and romance for good measure, and has ended up creating one of my favourite trilogies (and worlds). I will read ANYTHING that this woman writes. Absolutely anything.

One of the things that I LOVE. about this series (and mainly this book) is how we are shown the ancient history of the world. I think this was such an apt thing to include in Hero at the Fall because the rebel camp and the Sultan’s army are gearing up for this massive battle, and to hear some of the ancient history just made it more exciting. I also loved how we meet some more of the mythological characters and we also get some of the history told through the perspective of one of the Djinn’s which was fantastic. It added an extra layer to the story, that I didn’t even know it needed.

 

“We contained our own stories. A thousand tiny parts of the story would die with us.”

― Alwyn Hamilton, Hero at the Fall

 

One thing that a story needs, and especially a series are great characters. This is something that Hamilton has done and exceeded. Amani, Hala, Shazad, the twins, Sam, Jin, the Sultan, Delia, Rahim… Everyone was fleshed out and just felt so real. I’m sad that I didn’t get to see much of Rahim in Hero at the Fall because I really did love him in Traitor to the Throne, but we DID get to see Noorsham again which made me happy because I really liked his character in Rebel of the Sands, and I was excited he was getting more character development.

There WERE points though that I did get slightly annoyed about, hence the 4 stars and not 5. I felt like the beginning was very slow and it did take time to really build up the atmosphere. I don’t think it needed to be 500-odd pages, because there were times where things could have been said in a couple of sentences but Hamilton took up a page; I reckon about 100 pages could have been cut easily. BUT, that was the only thing that let this book down for me. I probably should have mentioned this at the beginning, but I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator for the series is brilliant. She voices each character so well.

 

“I’m so sorry, Noorsham,” I said. And then I punched him in the face.”

― Alwyn Hamilton, Hero at the Fall

 

Anyway, back onto the positives!

Jin and Amani.

I will forever love these two together, and what I was dreading was that now they were reunited, they would be inseparable and romance would take over the book, but it didn’t! Yes, they had their moments but they love each other! The romance definitely didn’t take over the storyline which I’m super happy about. What I’m not happy about however, and I’m still trying to get over is who died. I WAS NOT READY AT ALL!

I really am trying to write this review without spoilers but it’s so god damn hard. Yes, people die. Some of your beloved characters WILL die and you will cry and it break your heart so much. There’s a game that the Djinn play with Amani that I couldn’t handle, and I was just sat on my bed crying the whole time… It got so intense, and I didn’t prepare myself for it at all. We lost a key character in Traitor to the Throne which I definitely wasn’t ready for, but there is another character who has a link to them that also dies and I’m just… yeah… I’m getting emotional writing this review, so I’m going to stop talking about the deaths now. But you get the gist. A lot of the main characters go.

I’m just going to go and cry in a corner. Bye…

Overall, this was a fantastic book, and a brilliant way to end a much-loved series. This is going to be one that I’m definitely going to be re-reading.

 

 

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