Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) by Alwyn Hamilton – Spoiler Free Review

Title: Traitor to the Throne
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Series Name: Rebel of the Sands
Genre: Fantasy YA
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2017
Pages: 570 (Paperback)
Publishers: Faber & Faber
Rating:

Goodreads Synopsis:

This is not about blood or love. This is about treason.

Nearly a year has passed since Amani and the rebels won their epic battle at Fahali. Amani has come into both her powers and her reputation as the Blue-Eyed Bandit, and the Rebel Prince’s message has spread across the desert – and some might say out of control. But when a surprise encounter turns into a brutal kidnapping, Amani finds herself betrayed in the cruelest manner possible.

Stripped of her powers and her identity, and torn from the man she loves, Amani must return to her desert-girl’s instinct for survival. For the Sultan’s palace is a dangerous one, and the harem is a viper’s nest of suspicion, fear and intrigue. Just the right place for a spy to thrive… But spying is a dangerous game, and when ghosts from Amani’s past emerge to haunt her, she begins to wonder if she can trust her own treacherous heart.

You can find my review for Rebel of the Sands HERE! It is no spoiler free and it is in fact the very first review I ever wrote! So be kind 😂

Cover Art:

I love this book cover! The image above really doesn’t do it justice! You have to see it in person. Rebel of the Sands & Traitor to the Throne are my 2 favourite book covers.

I’m realising right now that my cover is slightly different to the one above! As you can see in the above pic there is a girl, I’m assuming Amani, jumping over the roofs of the city at the bottom of the cover. The cover I have, Amani is on there! It’s just the city. Mine also has review quote from Buzzfeed in the top left corner of the book saying “‘As funny as it is romantic, as smart as it is heart-pounding, and as spirited as it is magical.’ BUZZFEED”. None of the images on google are the same as my addition, only the images showing up on sites like Book Depository have that. Weird, I’m curious if you can actually purchase the cover without the BuzzFeed quote and with Amani jumping the roofs!

Writing:

I love Alwyn Hamiltons writing! I fell in love with it when reading Rebel of the Sands and this book didn’t fail to amaze me! I love that there is extra little bits about other characters and stories in this book as well! I like that it’s made obvious that it’s a story about someone else by have names under those chapters, for example “Chapter 20 The Nameless Boy”. It makes it really easy to follow!

Plot:

I loved the plot of this book! It so action packed and thrilling all the time! There is so many twists and turns and you are always left guessing what will happen next! Especially the last damn chapter! That seriously killed me! I felt like crying, celebrating and laughing all at once in that last paragraph! And now I want to read the next book right now! But I have to wait another year like I did after reading Rebel of the Sands!

Characters:

I still love all the characters! Amani is just amazing and so strong! Jin is just amazingly jin! Shazad, Ahmed, Imin, Izz, Maz, Hala and Delila are just perfectly written powerful characters that all have their different purposes in the story! I also loved the new additions of Rahin and Sam, they are both characters! I do really feel like Sam is the odd one with his name as all the rest are such different names, and then there is SAM! Sam is such a common name, I know like 5 Sams in real life. Was just a bit weird haha! Maybe it was because he is Albish, maybe they have more common names than the other places, I don’t know as I’m pretty sure Sam is the only Albish person we meet. I also hated Kadir and the Sultan, 100% agree with doing what the Sultan did to Kadir, except the reason he did it haha. There is also 2 other characters that come into this book unexpectedly! I won’t say who they are as this is a spoiler free review, but if you have read this then you know who I’m talking about. I enjoyed both these characters in this story! I don’t 100% agree with the choices the male one made, but I do get it. And the female I respect what she did in the end. Those last couple sentences won’t make a single bit of sense to anyone who doesn’t know who I’m talking about 😂. Oh well!

Overall:

Well if you haven’t been able to tell yet, I loved this book and I need the next one in my hands right now!! There isn’t anything I can fault with this book or this series so far, it is amazing and beautiful! Kinda wish it was going to be more than a series, but I’m keen to see how Alwyn Hamilton ends this series with the next book! I’m also keen to see what the next cover will look like! I hope they keep making this type of cover as well as the new ones!