Race the Sands, Sarah Beth Durst
Race the Sands, Sarah Beth Durst
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Race the Sands
A Novel

Author: Sarah Beth Durst

Narrator: Emily Ellet

Unabridged: 15 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 04/21/2020


Synopsis

“National Velvet with monsters and a big helping of palace intrigue, Race the Sands is monstrous (literally), heartwarming, and empowering in equal measure. An incredibly fun and inspiring read.” – Katherine Arden, New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the NightingaleIn this epic standalone fantasy, the acclaimed author of the Queens of Renthia series introduces an imaginative new world in which a pair of strong and determined women risk their lives battling injustice, corruption, and deadly enemies in their quest to become monster racing champions.Life, death, and rebirth—in Becar, who you are in this life will determine your next life. Yet there is hope—you can change your destiny with the choices you make. But for the darkest individuals, there is no redemption: you come back as a kehok, a monster, and are doomed to be a kehok for the rest of time.Unless you can win the Races.After a celebrated career as an elite kehok rider, Tamra became a professional trainer. Then a tragic accident shattered her confidence, damaged her reputation, and left her nearly broke. Now, she needs the prize money to prevent the local temple from taking her daughter away from her, and that means she must once again find a winning kehok . . . and a rider willing to trust her.Raia is desperate to get away from her domineering family and cruel fiancé. As a kehok rider, she could earn enough to buy her freedom. But she needs a first-rate trainer.Impressed by the inexperienced young woman’s determination, Tamra hires Raia and pairs her with a strange new kehok with the potential to win—if he can be tamed.But in this sport, if you forget you’re riding on the back of a monster, you die. Tamra and Raia will work harder than they ever thought possible to win the deadly Becaran Races—and in the process, discover what makes this particular kehok so special.

About Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Beth Durst is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Spellshop, as well as over twenty-five fantasy books for adults, teens, and kids, including the Queens of Renthia series, Drink Slay Love, and Spark. She has won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. She lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily May on February 14, 2025

Feb 2025: Just a random reminder that this is still one of the most underrated fantasy novels, IMO. Call it what it is: monster racing. Forget that, and you die. This book was everything I wanted. Ever since I read Durst's The Queen of Blood in 2016, I've been saying that she's a seriously underrat......more

Goodreads review by Petrik on June 09, 2020

An exciting and enjoyable standalone fantasy for both adult and young adult audience. The Queens of Renthia trilogy by Sarah Beth Durst is a series that I occasionally saw but, as usual, I’ve never gotten around to reading it due to out-of-control TBR pile. Race the Sands is a recently published book......more

Goodreads review by Niki Hawkes on April 23, 2020

I loved everything about Race the Sands! Hooked from the very first page, the interesting character profiles is what struck me first. Tamra had a great backstory: she’s a highly skilled trainer (old injuries keeping her from competing in the kehok races herself), and an incredibly badass character (......more

Goodreads review by ☘Misericordia☘ on June 17, 2020

Q: How does one live a moral life and still live in reality? (c) Q: “Inside I am screaming,” ... “Inside we all are.” (c) Q: “So I’ll be a fish. Or a bird. Or a cricket. Or whatever. Does it matter, so long as I’ve done the best I can?... Death erases all we are and all we were. So the past and the fut......more

Goodreads review by Choko on May 10, 2020

This was a very enjoyable and engaging young adult fantasy about a world where reincarnation is very real and depending on what you do and stand for in life, you end up as all types of animals and insects. However, if you have been really good, you get to be reincarnated as a human again, while if y......more