Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

3.5

This book was a quick read and easy to follow. It reminded me of “City of Brass” at first, but it soon branched off. While I enjoyed the pieces of the story, I didn’t love the characters. Everyone was okay, yet no one stood out. I will probably read the sequel to see what happens next; I’m not dying for the next book though.

I really wanted to love this one but it just didn’t work for me. It’s not bad, per se, but it reads very generic. There was no point where I was excited to be reading the story, the characters and the world both felt formulaic and I had to bully myself into finishing. Ultimately I was left feeling ambivalent towards the happenings of this book, and thus will. not be picking up the second. The things I enjoyed about this book, are that the word itself, while not groundbreaking, felt lived in. I appreciated the fast paced sort of rollicking vibe of the narrative, and the character relationships—while somewhat defined by tropiness—were fun.

*arc review

Thank you to NetGalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review! This was another favourite from Orbit. While the story was a little slow to start, I adored how the author explored Arab culture in a fantasy setting and portrayed both romantic and platonic relationships between characters. The setting was probably the best part for me — southwest asia is often portrayed as a lifeless desert, but Abdullah showcased the diversity of the region effectively and beautifully. I can’t wait to follow this series.

The Stardust Thief is a tale inspired by One Thousand and One Nights. We follow a merchant, her body guard, a prince, and a thief on their journey to find a magical lamp.

The author really transports you to the desert and does a beautiful job of describing settings in lush detail. My favorite part of the story was the character development. I was instantly drawn to Aisha and loved to see her growth throughout the story.

The pacing of the story is a bit slow in the middle but it does pick up quite a bit in the last 75% of the book. I am really excited for how this book set us up for the next two in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley, Orbit Books, and Chelsea Abdullah for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinions!

The stardust thief review

Thanks to NetGalley for supplying this book to me for free for an honest review.

The Stardust thief seemed like a very interesting book to me. I’ve loved the tale of the One Thousand And One Nights, and even in high school I read a spin off called Shaddow Spinners that I loved. This book seemed like even a deeper dive into this classic Arabian tale.
Let’s start with the pros because it’s short and sweet.

Pros:
Really pretty description. Lays out a clear picture of place, sounds, and colors. The author really sets the atmosphere of the book without making it overly done.

She also really pulls you into the story. Everything is constantly moving you and the stakes along the way are clear but not predictable since obstacles keeps getting in the way.
At its core it is a page turner and something that keeps you engaged the whole time.

And here comes my nitpicking cons which I’ll preface are just my personal opinion and my own taste in books that I like or dislike.

Cons:
Choppy dialogue with phrases and lingo that sounds more modern than the world where this takes place. It brought me out of the story in those moments, and didn’t feel true to the time period at all.

Some of the action scenes and dialogue were a little cheesy. It felt at times i was reading a book meant for an younger audience. But with the language in it (not intense but a few strong words here and there) I wouldn’t be recommending it to younger readers.


Some scenes were described confusing leaving me a little lost if things were actually happening or just happening in someone’s mind.
This could have just been me and my dopey brain trying to comprehend what the crap was going on but it seemed to happen a lot so maybe my dopey brain is fine.

Even though these people have been through a lot, there is not really any camaraderie. I don’t expect people to be best friends but when you’ve journeyed a long way and have been through so much you’d think it would bring everyone closer together but there’s nothing. No kind of chemistry between anyone, even platonic friendships.
I get that this is a series and things will build but book two will pretty much be building from nothing because nothing happened between anyone.

Overall I enjoyed it and like I said I’m nitpicking here so take everything with a grain of salt.
It was an engaging read but not a series I’ll be continuing.

This was an absolutely fantastic reimagining of the 1001 nights tales! A truly fresh story told from multiple povs of a jinn relic merchant, one of the forty thieves, and a prince. I loved absolutely everything about this novel. The setting was so vivid I could feel the sand in my face. The interwoven stories of folklore tales in between the story made for an exciting read. I cannot get enough of a character who appreciates the value of storytelling and Prince Mazen’s love for stories shines brightly through! The pacing of this story was great and allowed just enough glimpses at just the right times. Thank you so much to the publisher for allowing me to read a free ARC of this book, I cannot wait until the next book comes out!

The Stardust Thief
by Chelsea Abdullah
YA Fantasy
ARC NetGalley


Loulie and her bodyguard are criminals. Using the name Midnight Merchant she finds and sells the illegal items that were enchanted with magic by the hated and hunted jinn. But she is betrayed and the sultan orders her to track down a lamp for him. His eldest son goes along to make sure she does as she is told.

With characters and settings vivid, the story went along at a steady pace so it was a quick read. The blurb gave away Loulie's bodyguard's secret, which wasn't revealed until later in the story, so there was an oops. And in the story, they were walking, but she turned in the saddle... oops. But it's an ARC so hopefully it will be fixed before release.

The only other issue I had with this great story was towards the end when a whole lotta stuff was going on and new/only mentioned here and there, names were tossed right and left, and there was nothing to merge them with the story so I had a hard time remembering who was good, bad, alive, dead, human, jinn, horse, or sand... It was kind of a mess so it took away from the story because I had to stop and think about what was going on, re-read, (which I don't like having to do) so I could keep the facts straight. And then it ended in a cliff-hanger. (grrrr).

But it was still a good story and I'll look for the next in the series.

3 Stars

Thank you for allowing me to read this! I really enjoyed the plot and characters. It was a really interesting fantasy, which was a bit more unique than my recent fantasy reads. I think some of the characters and conversations could’ve had just a bit more depth, but not a deal-breaker since the plot was wonderful.

Overall I enjoyed this book, and I will want to read the second book when it comes out.

This book is inspired by <i>One Thousand and One Nights</i> and several stories are told throughout (formatted quite nicely). One of the POV characters is also a storyteller and that comes into play in several different parts of the story.

There are 3 POV characters: the Midnight Merchant, who finds and sells jinn artifacts with her bodyguard/companion; a Prince, who has been rather sheltered his whole life; and a thief, who has her own agenda.

Much of this book takes place while several of the characters are traveling together. And although they do have adventures along the way, I found this section of the book to be the least interesting. I liked the beginning, in setting up the characters, and the ending better. But the ending seems almost a little too fast paced and it was hard to keep up with everything going on, especially with the jinn.

One of the tropes listed for this book is found family, which is one of my favorite tropes; however, the group in this book doesn't really feel like a found family. Maybe that will happen as the trilogy continues, but they barely work together most of the time in this book.

I do think the book does set up a good foundation for the rest of the trilogy.

Arab inspired fantasy and literature is my favorite kind of literature. I might be a little biased given that I, myself, am arab but that’s besides the point.

Loulie was such a refreshing protagonist. I love seeing arab women doing their thing and her dynamic with the other characters was something so beautiful to see.

This book deserves five stars just for the depictions of arab food, dances, and just culture in general. It’s so rare to see them represented well and it’s clear that although the author is arab, her research goes beyond her own experiences. Being able to see arabic words transliterated and not left in italics leaves me with such an indescribable joy.

I cant wait to see more from this series and more from this author.

A solid debut novel!

This book follows three points of view: a legendary thief with a jinn bodyguard/father figure, a sheltered prince thrust on a journey he’s highly unqualified for, and a mysterious jinn hunter who may or may not be trustworthy. The last, Aisha, was by far my favorite character (unfortunately the one with the least POV chapters). She was intriguing and badass, and I wanted to know more about her throughout the story. The other two main characters were pretty standard, and I wish they had a bit more depth. I didn’t connect with them as much as I hoped to.

The descriptions of the various locations were detailed and vivid, though the overall worldbuilding was pretty basic. A lot of time was spent on the characters’ journey through the desert, and while there was plenty of action throughout to keep it from going stale, readers who don’t enjoy reading about travels to a destination may find this story slow at times.

While I think this book could have been stronger in some areas, I think Abdullah has a lot of potential in the future!

This Middle Eastern inspired fantasy was such a fast paced, adventurous book! It was non stop action, revelations and twists! The world building was great, and the characters were well written! I have always been a sucker for books with Jinn, lush deserts and magic, and this book was all that and more! I can’t wait to see what is next for Loulie, Mazen and the gang!

A fun fantasy book that cured my reading slump! I recently read a fantasy book awful enough to make me swear off the genre for a time. I was so sure that the genre was a lost cause but this book made me think otherwise. I think that that's a testament to how good this book was! Excited for what's to come and can't wait to immerse myself once again in the world and the characters' lives in the sequel.

Lush storytelling and endearing characters. This was a beautiful novel that only reminded me of my own love for the cultural roots that is storytelling. Still, in its beauty I found myself wanting more complexity, more stakes in the aftermath, and ending where our characters don't run away and leave it to someone else. The Stardust Theif reads like a YA Fantasy, and while there is nothing wrong with that, I was going in expecting the dark and fascinating intrigue I've come to love about Adult Fantasy. The novel reads easy and slowly, again not all bad things, but this did take away from my overall excitement.

Chelsea Abdullah is a new must-buy author, and I couldn't be happier!

The Stardust Thief took me on a rollercoaster of emotions... to put it simply. I went from laughing to screaming to hyperventilating to biting my lip and obviously— finally— to crying. These characters are a breath of fresh air, and I love their continuous journeys into moral ambiguity as well as their self discovery into their personal identity. Loulie will always hold my heart because she reminds me of my own ambition and curiosity, especially when it comes to situations where you really shouldn't be curious haha. Mazen reminds me of one of my favorite underutilized trope— the teddy bear male lead. He's honestly the epitome of a clutzy prince, running around trying to help bu only making it worse. It's amazing! Aisha, in many ways, reminds me of my typical fantasy women because she's strong, loyal, and absolute in her decision making (at least until the ~thing~ happens). You can tell an author is phenomenal with their characters when they can create side characters nearly as fleshed out as the leads. Qadir comes to mind immediately as well as Ahmed.

I couldn't tear myself away from this story, and even during the slower portions of the novel, I was entertained by witty banter, dynamic new environments, or political intrigue. Every scene had a point to be made in terms of the overall plot, and I love simply getting to enjoy it. My only real critique in terms of world building is that I wish Omar was in more scenes. Now I know why he wasn't because he's a scheming lil' prince, but I couldn't help but want more. He's the Stardust Thief himself, so I thought he would've played a much more significant role throughout the entirety of the story besides sending the entourage on their quest,

One of the best surprises when it comes to debuts is great writing. I wasn't necessarily expecting bad writing, but I was blown away by Chelsea's ability to double task with world building and purple prose. The dialogue drew my attention but never felt forced or out of character. Even when the actual stories arrived, they felt fundamental to the story, and I loved her slight shift in storytelling in those moments. It felt distinct from her own writing, but it still held that magic from the main story. Basically, she gave me a beautiful world to consume as well as prose that felt lifelike in description. Besides Omar, the fighting descriptions were the only other issue I found because I could not picture them well, particularly the last one, but that could be due to the inherent chaos of the scene.

Overall, I need the sequel like yesterday please because I cannot wait over a year for more! Not after that cliffhanger!!

Thank you to Orbit Books for letting me review an eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have been blessed in getting arcs that I am so anticipated to read, so thank you, netgally and publisher, for approving me of this again.

I have always preferred characters over plot. I truly believe that a book will feel flat for me if I didn't care for the characters. So many stories are like, except for the Stardust Thief. I love every single one of them especially Mazen. I love my himbo, my bff.

I didn't give this a higher rating because I truly believe that Chelsea Abdullah can be better. Her writing and her world are so good but I do think she can improve. And I can't wait to see that next book

This book was insane it kept me on the edge of my seat for hours. The writing was just so beautiful and it followed some of the styles of traditional arab literature/ poetry which added so much to the book. Even the small references to arab culture had me going insane because it’s so rare that we find authors who actually are from the region/research writing about it. The setting and characters were just so intricate that I reread it right after because I didn’t want to leave the book. This is going to be one of those books I buy for friends’ birthdays because I need to force them to read it.

"The Stardust Thief"
I'm absolutely sure that all my friends will be OBSESSED with this story. It's an *ADULT* Arabic story with everything I like, a wonderful retelling of a tale I love and was passionate about as a child. The book has so many events that I didn't expect and the ending of it is WONDERFUL and it's just the beginning of a trilogy that I think will be very famous in the world of books when it launches, in May. I CAN BARELY WAIT.
5 stars.

*Spoiler free*

This was a bit of a weird book for me, because I thoroughly enjoyed so much of it, and yet I didn't fall in love with any of them. I think it's a fantastic book, but all my feelings boil down to it just wasn't for me.

The characters are extremely strong, and the dynamics between them are even better. Grumpy Father Figure and Headstrong Daughter can't be put in front of me without me becoming a sucker for their entire dynamic. And these are only two characters. There's a legendary thief, a cowardly prince, and a prince with lofty ambitions. That's only scratching the surface. There is quite a lot going on, but it's excellently crafted.

The world was also so vast and so well built. There is so much there, and on top of the many characters, it created for a book with an incredible amount of death.

Though, I did feel like that the plot was jerked to the side multiple times for what looked like side plots to take place, but they were actually the main plot. I don't know if this had to do with my expectations for book or something else, but it just wasn't my favorite part.

Overall, this was not a bad book! I did enjoy it, even if some parts didn't quite ring as true as others.

Unfortunately, something about this writing style led me to give up on this title around 15%—there was nothing wrong with it at all— "It's not you, it's me" kind of thing—but yeah, super sad about it. I was my most anticipated book of 2022.