Goodreads Rating: 3.98 stars

Goodreads Summary:

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route.

But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

My Thoughts:

Let me just reiterate how much I adore this book. It brings everything I love about fantasy and wraps it up in a nice little bow. We have a strong female character who actually has a heart and thinks twice about killing. We have an adorable romantic interest who loves his family. We have a romance which actually builds and makes sense instead of being instant love. We have interesting side characters. We have an intriguing magic system. We have a complicated political system. We have basically everything I love about the fantasy genre in one novel.

The world is complicated and has a lot of lore attached to it. I’m hoping the next book will explain this more as the character learns more about herself because the two really go hand in hand. I’m also interested to see who our next main villain is going to be. This book had “villains,” but they weren’t really present human beings. They were more likes ideas on the fringe.

I’m ready for book two, that’s for sure.