Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton - ESSENTIAL

Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands, #2) by Alwyn Hamilton, 513 pages.  Viking (Penguin), 2017.  $19.  

Content: Language: PG-13 (54 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13.  

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ESSENTIAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH  

17yo Amani has joined up with the rebels in an attempt to usurp the Sultan.  Amani believes the Sultan’s son, Prince Ahmed, will lead the desert land of Miraji better and has joined up with the rebel gang.  One night, Amani is stolen from her tent and presented to the Sultan as a gift because of her djinn powers and Amani starts to see the rebellion from another perspective.  

Sometimes a second book in a trilogy can be slow and detailed, but this second book keeps up the same intensity as the first book, with lots of action and character development.  I liked how the author showed the thinking of the enemy Sultan and Amani’s way of navigating through the palace politics.  It had been a couple of months since I read the first book and the author does a great job bridging the two novels so I could remember who was who and what had happened in the first book.  The content included violently creative deaths.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson