Alywn Hamilton’s debut novel, Rebel of the Sands, combines a hardbitten western setting and hardboiled narrative style with eastern myth and a restrictive, patriarchal social structure. Heroine Amani is an orphan forced to live in her brutal uncle’s home, in a tiny, dusty town without prospects. But she’s also a brilliant sharpshooter who dreams of using her talents […]
Like so many readers, I first discovered Robin McKinley’s Newbery Award—winning epic fantasy novel The Hero and the Crown as a teenager. Dragged along to a yard sale with my mother, I decided to look through a jumble of old books piled into a crate marked “.10 cents each.” The novel was buried at the bottom, and while […]
This month I reached out to many of our previous Mind Melders to chat about the books they always find themselves thrusting upon their fellow readers. Tell us about a book that was particularly amazing, possibly one that flew under everyone’s radar, that you always find yourself recommending to people. These are the books you constantly […]
