“Packed to the brim with danger and adventure, Sacet is the next great dystopian protagonist fighting systemic corruption. An amazing sci-fi setting and a well-established world made for a great read!” Claire, Readalot reviewer
"Sisters of the Sand by JB Villinger starts as your typical science fiction novel and then slowly evolves into a story that has the potential to have an epic conclusion. This is the first book in the series that centres around Sacet, an escapee from the Female Dominion who is found and raised by a family of Nomads. The Nomads are always on the run from both the Female Dominion and the Male Dominion. As the names suggest these two kingdoms are divided by sex and in constant conflict with each other, while the Nomadic tribes are caught somewhere in the middle.
In this desert world, Sacet, her brother Eno, and her grandfather Aberym travel from village to village while Aberym trains Sacet into the weapon he wants her to be. His only goal in life is for Sacet to save the world -no pressure- when suddenly tragedy strikes.
Villinger’s telling of the story was clear, crisp, and entertaining and the book slides into the niche of young adult science fiction as if it was always meant to be there. The reader is never bored. The setting in the book often changes from village to desert to city to war front, which lends the novel an almost epic feel, but in my opinion, falls short of its full potential in that regard. With more attention to character development and worldbuilding, this book could easily have fallen into the category of adult science fiction, on par with the likes of Brandon Sanderson. As it stands, the length and detail in the book fit a younger audience's attention span well.
Two-thirds of the way through the novel the reader becomes aware of a deeper conspiracy, but it is only in the final chapter that this suspicion is solidified. The novel itself takes on an entirely new scope at this point. This has the effect of making the reader think: “Maybe I don’t know what’s going on at all.”
Overall, it is a very enjoyable book to read, and I can see it becoming a series worth contending with. Sisters of the Sand is for readers who like their books to be heavy on adventure and do not mind a bit of violence." Antionette van der Gryp, online reviewer
About The Author
Inhabiting the Australian thoroughbred, horse-loving town of Melton, J.B. Villinger is not your typical schoolteacher. By day, he's molding young students into IT super soldiers, teaching them the fine art of crafting video games that don't suck, the flashy widgetry of Photoshop, and the tedious tedium of coding. But by night, he obsessively thinks about his unwritten stories and characters, instead of... you know... sleeping.
When he's not rewriting a chapter for the 67th time, James can be found staring at his ever-growing collection of video games, wondering if he'll ever have time to play them all. The answer is no, but he likes to dream. Board games, D&D, comics and anime, is there anything he doesn't like? Yes: cauliflower. He particularly likes lying games, although his poker face is about as unreadable as a children's bathtub book.
James often thinks about the meaning of life, his purpose and his legacy. What will he leave behind on this world for his young son, Theodore? That's why he proudly tells his tales, whether you choose to buy them or not. He is... I am... content with my creations.
