Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton, reviewed by Natalie Kelly-Haigh. Thanks Natalie!

Meet Amani, the Blue Eyed Bandit. Her life seems to be closing in on her, trapping her into the hell she has always been planning to escape. Having only what she thought were her blue eyes from her father that she never knew, her mother was the only one she had. Her mother told her stories of a city, full of freedom and opportunities for them. A place where they could go and find Amani’s aunt. Instead her mother is killed when Amani is young, and Amani confides in teaching herself the skills in firing a gun up on the far and hidden sand dunes that surround her only reach of life. Only to come back later to the only place she has to call home; to the sexist, traditional and close minded people she hates.   

Her desperate tries to get money to leave to the city her mother described, lead her to an arena with a gun and a scarf to mask the girl behind it. While shooting for money, her unusual blue eyes call on the title of the Blue Eyed Bandit. When all hope of leaving seems lost, the mysterious foreigner she shot with in the arena and hid in her shop, saves her. After brutally sacrificing a friend, she seizes her only chance at freedom, and rides across the empty sand dunes on a godly creature with a broken compass to guide the way. 

When the last piece of hope she thought she knew turns out to be a lie, she follows her connection with the foreigner, running from pursuers and chasing a goal. However Amani doesn’t actually know, what that goal is… 

The Rebel of the Sands is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read, the story so well told that it blesses those that read it. If you’re looking for a good book, this story has it all. 

RESERVE YOUR COPY OF Rebel of the Sands! 

Reviewed by Hannah Gough

The Guardian journalist Gary Younge picked at random one day (24-hour time frame) in 2013 in which ten young people were killed by guns in America. 

Each chapter of the book is devoted to one of the ten victims and varies in length as some are more in-depth as Younge was dependent on the willingness of friends and family members to be interviewed. In the book Younge opens up the stories of the young lives while at the same time weaving in his own personal journey in undertaking this investigation. 

This book helps to put a human face to the gun-related death statistics which are flashed before our eyes regularly in the media. ‘Another Day in the Death of America’ reminds you that behind the numbers are actual young children; take Jaiden Dixon for example, a 9 year old boy who had been slow getting ready for school that morning but didn’t make it off his front porch before he was shot dead.  

As Younge states, this is not a book about race or gun control, it is about understanding the circumstances that resulted in ten young people being shot and killed in a 24-hour period. This is not an extraordinary day in terms of murders in the USA, none of these deaths made the news: it was ‘just another day’. 

The book is relevant on so many levels especially since the underlying structural problems of gun control or lack thereof in America are still unresolved. This book will make you feel emotions which are warranted given the shear number of gun deaths – take the time to read this book. 

I will leave you with this poem by a freshman student named Tyler who went to school with one of the youths killed. 

We hope to live,

Live long enough to have kids 

We hope to make it home every day

We hope we’re not the next target to get sprayed…

We hope never to end up in Newark’s dead pool

I hope, you hope, we all hope. 

RESERVE YOUR COPY OF Another Day in the Death of America! 

Reviewed by Vindhya Kathuria

The Hate U Give is a brutally honest book, speaking up about the very real issue of police brutality and giving a strong voice to the Black Lives Matter movement.  It unapologetically gives insight to the reality of racial bias in the justice system, through the eyes of a 16 year old girl whose world is shattered because of it.

Starr lives on the border of two completely different worlds; the rough neighbourhood where she lives and her posh high school in the suburbs. On one hand her “normal” consists of  gunshots, gang violence and riots. But despite all that it is where her true roots lie and a home she could never abandon.  On the other side exists a sense of safety, secureness and protection. But with it comes a cost to conceal her true self, she becomes the non confrontational Starr who holds back her slang and doesn't give anyone a reason to associate her with “ghetto”.

However the fine barrier between her two worlds clash when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her best friend Khalil. Another case of police brutality, another unarmed kid who did nothing wrong but was merely shot based on his race and colour, another name to add to the list of R.I.P hashtags, another person who deserved better.

Now Starr finds herself caught up in the middle of it all. Being the only witness to Khalil's death, only she knows the truth. What she says or doesn't say could determine everything. She is torn between fighting for justice for her friend or keeping quiet to avoid meeting the bullet herself.

This heartbreakingly powerful novel demands for change in the current police force and justice for those individuals who are harassed for their colour. It is a critically important read as it is not only informative and compelling but also teaches readers to stand up and use the greatest weapon they have ; their voice.

RESERVE YOUR COPY OF The Hate U Give! 

Reviewed by our very own Hannah Gough!

If you enjoyed the podcast Serial, this is a book for you!

True crime literature doesn't do it justice, as the author Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevichsuccessfully weaves in her own story. We don't live in a black and white world where people who commit crimes are wholly evil. However, how does one come to terms with a man who has confessed and is indeed guilty of a child's murder? Ricky is on death row when we first meet him and Alexandra is a young law student, but the story takes you back to the very beginning of both of their childhoods to try to make sense of it all. If you are ready for the journey, I cannot recommend this book enough. It reads like a thriller while calling into question the very essence of who we are as human beings.

RESERVE YOUR COPY OF The Fact of a Body!