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Sandworld: Book One of Four Dominions
All Mira Kinvara wanted was to be a great mechanic, like her father. But when the sickness that killed her mother ten years earlier reappears in her rural town in the Sand Kingdom, this time afflicting her father, Mira’s world is shaken to its foundations.
The only hope her father, and her entire town has lies in The Hourglass, the shining capitol of the Sand Kingdom. Her only ally is Sonam Nzari, a chauvinistic young man for whom she was nearly purchased as a child bride. Mira and Sonam quickly find themselves tumbling into a dark world of organized crime, international espionage, corrupt dignitaries, and law enforcement bent on their arrest.
Had Mira remained in her village, the fever no doubt would have taken her. But seeking the cure may be deadlier than she thinks.
The only hope her father, and her entire town has lies in The Hourglass, the shining capitol of the Sand Kingdom. Her only ally is Sonam Nzari, a chauvinistic young man for whom she was nearly purchased as a child bride. Mira and Sonam quickly find themselves tumbling into a dark world of organized crime, international espionage, corrupt dignitaries, and law enforcement bent on their arrest.
Had Mira remained in her village, the fever no doubt would have taken her. But seeking the cure may be deadlier than she thinks.
378 pages, Paperback
Published April 9, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 27, 2019
I found the premise of Sandworld interesting, but the story fell flat for me. I didn't care for some of the content. I made no connection and skimmed through it. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
February 2, 2019
I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Trigger warning: mentions of abuse, mentions of prostitution
4 ⭐️
This is an interesting steampunk novel for teens. Mira is young woman who refuses to uphold the sexist traditions of the Sand Kingdom. Sonam is a young man who has been brought up in the upper part of town by an abusive father. They have nothing in common except a failed mariage proposal to Mira when she was 13. In fact, Mira despise Sonam. Until both their fathers are taken ill by the pyritic fever raging in the city. Mira has to stop Sonam from possibly spreading the fever across the kingdom. This journey will take them to The Hourglass, where they'll realize this is much bigger than their precious little town.
In what I am guessing is Graham P. Smith's first novel, he paints an interesting picture. He obviously tried to make his story a feminist one (which I applaud), although he slightly misses the mark at some points. There's a talk of purity in the beginning (chapter 5), which Mira accepts even though she refuses every other aspect of the patriarchal society. Mira was brought up as an independent girl by her father and she acts like a feminist, but she sometimes overdo it to the point where she sounds more like the classic "not like other girls" main character we used to see in most teen/YA novels. She also believes tears are for cowards, an issue that isn't really resolved through the book. Although Sonam was raised by a sexist father, he does try to act in an equalitarian way as much as possible. Unfortunately, he sometimes overdoes it. In chapter 30, when he looks Kepri over at the party, he immediately starts beating himself up about treating women as objects. Let me be clear here: you can find someone cute and look them over without objectifying them. If you're not just thinking about ripping off their clothes even though you just met them, and you see them as a complete person (aka more than their body), you're not objectifying them. You're just appreciating that they look good. I do appreciate the girl friendships and the acceptance Mira has for Kepri and her sisterhood (even though she has reservations in the beginning, which is completely normal).
Smith's writing is riveting at times. He knows how to make a plot twist and uses that knowledge to surprise the reader a few times during the story. You think you're going somewhere and end up in a totally different lane without realizing it. Then you stop reading and go "what?" and like the book even more because you did NOT expect this twist. Unfortunately, this is dimmed a bit by the repetitions of unnecessary details and the contradictions woven into the text. I think this book would need another review by the publisher before the publication date, unless it's only the Kindle version that has a lot of grammatical errors. I noticed at least 30 errors (grammar, misspelled words, words missing, wrong words, etc.) in the entire novel, which is a bit much.
I appreciated the story and wonder what will happen next. I'm looking forward to the next installments. We don't have enough steampunk novels for teenagers and young adult, so this one is welcomed. I hope the sequels include more steampunk aspects and explanations of such.
Trigger warning: mentions of abuse, mentions of prostitution
4 ⭐️
This is an interesting steampunk novel for teens. Mira is young woman who refuses to uphold the sexist traditions of the Sand Kingdom. Sonam is a young man who has been brought up in the upper part of town by an abusive father. They have nothing in common except a failed mariage proposal to Mira when she was 13. In fact, Mira despise Sonam. Until both their fathers are taken ill by the pyritic fever raging in the city. Mira has to stop Sonam from possibly spreading the fever across the kingdom. This journey will take them to The Hourglass, where they'll realize this is much bigger than their precious little town.
In what I am guessing is Graham P. Smith's first novel, he paints an interesting picture. He obviously tried to make his story a feminist one (which I applaud), although he slightly misses the mark at some points. There's a talk of purity in the beginning (chapter 5), which Mira accepts even though she refuses every other aspect of the patriarchal society. Mira was brought up as an independent girl by her father and she acts like a feminist, but she sometimes overdo it to the point where she sounds more like the classic "not like other girls" main character we used to see in most teen/YA novels. She also believes tears are for cowards, an issue that isn't really resolved through the book. Although Sonam was raised by a sexist father, he does try to act in an equalitarian way as much as possible. Unfortunately, he sometimes overdoes it. In chapter 30, when he looks Kepri over at the party, he immediately starts beating himself up about treating women as objects. Let me be clear here: you can find someone cute and look them over without objectifying them. If you're not just thinking about ripping off their clothes even though you just met them, and you see them as a complete person (aka more than their body), you're not objectifying them. You're just appreciating that they look good. I do appreciate the girl friendships and the acceptance Mira has for Kepri and her sisterhood (even though she has reservations in the beginning, which is completely normal).
Smith's writing is riveting at times. He knows how to make a plot twist and uses that knowledge to surprise the reader a few times during the story. You think you're going somewhere and end up in a totally different lane without realizing it. Then you stop reading and go "what?" and like the book even more because you did NOT expect this twist. Unfortunately, this is dimmed a bit by the repetitions of unnecessary details and the contradictions woven into the text. I think this book would need another review by the publisher before the publication date, unless it's only the Kindle version that has a lot of grammatical errors. I noticed at least 30 errors (grammar, misspelled words, words missing, wrong words, etc.) in the entire novel, which is a bit much.
I appreciated the story and wonder what will happen next. I'm looking forward to the next installments. We don't have enough steampunk novels for teenagers and young adult, so this one is welcomed. I hope the sequels include more steampunk aspects and explanations of such.
May 16, 2020
Although the story was very interesting, some parts of it went a bit slow. There wasn't much of an ending, but that's to be expected in a series. I did enjoy it.
March 26, 2019
But this was not magic. It was technology. Innovation. Engineering.
It was so much better than magic.
4.5 stars rounded up. What a great debut novel and first installment of a new series!
In the desert town of Beryl, 16 year-old Mira has a reasonably good life. Her father loves her dearly and has taught her how to be a kind and independent woman. Since the passing of her mother some years prior, Maleer (Mira's father) has made sure that Mira knows her worth on a regular basis and teaches her valuable skills in mechanics to help her succeed at having a prosperous career when her schooling years are over. Yet, their world is one that still contained shadows of the old ways, when men weren't so supportive of equality between genders and saw women as little more than property. Enter Sonam, Mira's schoolmate and the only son of one such chauvinist.
After being harassed, bullied, and threatened by Sonam, Mira has no room for compassion when she finds out that his father has contracted the same fever that killed her mother years ago. Yet their destinies become intertwined as Mira's own father falls ill, and the two must set out on a difficult journey into the Sand Kingdom's capitol, where danger and deception are present on every street corner. It's a race against time to find a cure for the town they call home.
I really liked the pacing of this book. Each situation flowed into the next without any awkwardness, and continued to further the plot. There were some moments in the second half of the book that felt a little predictable, but I feel like that's fairly common in the YA fantasy world. Even so I don't think they took anything away from the overall story.
There seemed to be a limited number of main characters in this first book of The Four Dominions, which I thought was interesting, but again, made sense for the overall story. Towards the end there are more players that come forth and become major parts of the plot, but in the first half, it's really just Mira and Sonam. The POV was mainly centered with Mira except for one chapter in the latter part of the story that was seen from Sonam's perspective. I wished there had been more alternating between these two characters since we didn't really get to see much of what motivated Sonam apart from what Mira knew or found out along the way. Based on the intro chapter to Mistworld, maybe we'll get more input from other characters in the future!
Overall, I thought this was a very pleasant, easy read that showed some originality, aptitude for world-building, and excellent storytelling. I'm excited to see what Mistworld has in store!
It was so much better than magic.
4.5 stars rounded up. What a great debut novel and first installment of a new series!
In the desert town of Beryl, 16 year-old Mira has a reasonably good life. Her father loves her dearly and has taught her how to be a kind and independent woman. Since the passing of her mother some years prior, Maleer (Mira's father) has made sure that Mira knows her worth on a regular basis and teaches her valuable skills in mechanics to help her succeed at having a prosperous career when her schooling years are over. Yet, their world is one that still contained shadows of the old ways, when men weren't so supportive of equality between genders and saw women as little more than property. Enter Sonam, Mira's schoolmate and the only son of one such chauvinist.
After being harassed, bullied, and threatened by Sonam, Mira has no room for compassion when she finds out that his father has contracted the same fever that killed her mother years ago. Yet their destinies become intertwined as Mira's own father falls ill, and the two must set out on a difficult journey into the Sand Kingdom's capitol, where danger and deception are present on every street corner. It's a race against time to find a cure for the town they call home.
I really liked the pacing of this book. Each situation flowed into the next without any awkwardness, and continued to further the plot. There were some moments in the second half of the book that felt a little predictable, but I feel like that's fairly common in the YA fantasy world. Even so I don't think they took anything away from the overall story.
There seemed to be a limited number of main characters in this first book of The Four Dominions, which I thought was interesting, but again, made sense for the overall story. Towards the end there are more players that come forth and become major parts of the plot, but in the first half, it's really just Mira and Sonam. The POV was mainly centered with Mira except for one chapter in the latter part of the story that was seen from Sonam's perspective. I wished there had been more alternating between these two characters since we didn't really get to see much of what motivated Sonam apart from what Mira knew or found out along the way. Based on the intro chapter to Mistworld, maybe we'll get more input from other characters in the future!
Overall, I thought this was a very pleasant, easy read that showed some originality, aptitude for world-building, and excellent storytelling. I'm excited to see what Mistworld has in store!
January 25, 2019
I should start with a caveat: this is book is a little outside my lane. I read (probably more than) my fair share of YA books but before now I had never ventured into anything of the steam punk variety.
I want to give this book 4.5 stars.
I found this story to be very interesting and engaging. I kinda feel like I devoured it.I have two reasons for deducting half a star:
(1) there were a few places that word choice seemed very awkward -- like to.the point where I noticed it. The book's editor could have done the author a few more favors.
(2) There were a few times when the internal dialog of the main character seemed a little...inconsistent. Like the author was trying to force an opinion or view that was a little inconsistent with the rest of the character's thoughts. Sadly, this is not uncommon in YA genre though.
Neither one of these minor complaints affected the overall storyline or my enjoyment of it. I enjoyed the good and look forward to Mist World!
I want to give this book 4.5 stars.
I found this story to be very interesting and engaging. I kinda feel like I devoured it.I have two reasons for deducting half a star:
(1) there were a few places that word choice seemed very awkward -- like to.the point where I noticed it. The book's editor could have done the author a few more favors.
(2) There were a few times when the internal dialog of the main character seemed a little...inconsistent. Like the author was trying to force an opinion or view that was a little inconsistent with the rest of the character's thoughts. Sadly, this is not uncommon in YA genre though.
Neither one of these minor complaints affected the overall storyline or my enjoyment of it. I enjoyed the good and look forward to Mist World!
April 23, 2019
I absolutely enjoyed this book! It's refreshing to read abour a female protagonist who is courageous, strong, independent, smart, and yes, she's pretty too. Although Mira can be impulsive and stubborn at times, she is a true heroine whose fierce love for her father and the people of Beryl fueled her desire to find a cure. I also like Sonam, and even though he was misguided at first, he proved to be a loyal and trustworthy ally to Mira. The storytelling and world building is effectively done, transporting readers to the Hourglass and the dangers and surprises that lurks within its walls. The only qualm I have is that Kepri ruined the Mira and Sonam romance I thought was brewing. However, I'm still hoping for the possibility of romance between these two as this is just the first book of the Four Dominions series. In the meantime, I have some dust devils to deal with as I await the second book, Mistworld. Thank you to Zimbell House Publishing for my review copy.
April 9, 2019
I enjoyed this book and was able to get through it pretty quickly! What's great about this YA dystopian fantasy is that there isn't a romance between the protagonists (despite what the cover pic implies) unlike every single other book in the genre. While I do like romance, it's becoming cliche in YA dystopians, so this really set "Sandworld" apart from others. That's not to say that there isn't romance in the novel at all, though. (So if you like the romance, don't fret!)
The novel ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm excited to pick up the second book in the series once it's released!
The novel ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm excited to pick up the second book in the series once it's released!
March 23, 2019
Love this book and can't wait for the next installment to come out! Usually when I've read young adult fiction, the plot and its twists have been very predictable, but this book is really well written. I didn't see the twist near the end coming at all and the story line was filled with action and kept my interest throughout! Looking forward to seeing more from this author!
July 21, 2020
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
In a desert steampunk world, a city is overrun with plague. A tomboyish girl, and the suitor she spurns have to get to the capitol for an hourglass that will cure everything.
I give the author credit for the thought he put into his world, but the story and characters are mostly cliches.
In a desert steampunk world, a city is overrun with plague. A tomboyish girl, and the suitor she spurns have to get to the capitol for an hourglass that will cure everything.
I give the author credit for the thought he put into his world, but the story and characters are mostly cliches.
February 20, 2019
I was captivated from the first page. The characters pulled at my heartstrings, and I found myself wanting to cry, laugh, and fight beside them. The suspense in the story is genuine and keeps you guessing until the final chapter. A great introduction to what seems to be a solid series!
May 13, 2019
This book is so good. As soon as I purchased it I could not put it down. The plot is entertaining and with so many twist and turns it makes you want to never put it down. Mr. Smith is an amazing author and I can not wait for book two Mistworld.
March 5, 2019
Kept my attention from the first page to the last
April 25, 2019
I enjoyed reading this book. It has action, adventure, mystery, and romance all in one. The story line flowed at a fast pace that keep you wanting to read more.
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February 21, 2019I really enjoyed this book. Thought the story line was interesting and liked the characters. Looking forward to Mist World. Great job, Graham Smith!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews