Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton

Title: Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2)
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 528
Source: Bought
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Overall: 5 STARS

SUMMARY 

The sizzling, un-put-downable sequel to the New York Times bestselling Rebel of the Sands, by the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Debut Author of 2016!

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.   

MY THOUGHTS 
A new dawn. A new desert. And there is a traitor in the rebellion's midst. When Amani is betrayed and kidnapped, she finds herself among enemies in the heart of Miraji: the Sultan's palace. The wives of the Sultim, the Sultan's heir and firstborn son, are jealous of Amani's arrival in the harem, though she has been marked off-limits. And the Sultan himself is different than Amani had imagined from all the stories she'd heard growing up. A cunning and very intelligent man, she can never forget the powerful Sultan once killed his own father and brothers to seize the throne.

Amani is not the same girl she was half a year ago, someone who could leave others behind to ensure her own survival. Now she has friends and a cause she would die to defend and protect. She may be on her own in the palace, cut off from her magic and guns, but she'll gather all the information she can to secretly send to Prince Ahmed's supporters. She'll be a spy the rebellion so desperately needs as the Sultan's army keeps pushing them back. You can take a girl out of the desert, but the Blue-Eyed Bandit's instincts have kept her alive thus far. Amani just needs to stay sharp and tread carefully, for the Sultan is keeping many secrets and planning something major.

While Rebel of the Sands was a wild, adrenaline-fueled adventure across the desert, Traitor to the Throne has a different feel to it this time around, though that doesn't mean it's any less captivating. The focus shifts to court politics and intrigue within the palace, which is much more unfamiliar territory for Amani. Ever since she joined the rebellion, she's always been more of a soldier, fighting on the front lines as the Blue-Eyed Bandit. But in the palace, she begins to learn that Miraji is in a precarious position, that foreign countries are at their borders, watching how the civil unrest unfolds and waiting for their chance to strike.

Betrayal and heartbreak. Love and loyalty. Danger and high stakes. I absolutely loved everything about Alwyn Hamilton's Traitor to the Throne! There was so much tension and suspense in this book, and thrilling twists and turns that left me constantly on edge, wondering what I'd discover on the very next page. And the unforgettable conclusion left me stunned and literally gasping in shock. How am I supposed to wait until next year to find out how the trilogy will end? I need it right now!