Loulie al-Nazari, the Midnight Merchant, trades in relics-- items that carry jinn magic. When the sultan tracks her down and forces her to go on a journey to find one of the greatest relics of all time, she forms a reluctant alliance with the prince and one of the legendary forty thieves. Together with them, Loulie and her bodyguard Qadir-- a jinn posing as human-- set off on a mission rife with danger, knowing things are not as they seem.

The Stardust Thief drew me in from the very beginning, and had me breathless throughout. It's a beautifully written story full of intrigue, compelling characters, and a world full of wonder. It was one of my most anticipated books of 2022 and it absolutely did not disappoint.

This was a really fun book. I loved the setting, and how many different tales from the One Thousand And One Arabian Nights were woven into the plot. I enjoyed the variety of characters, and how the plot didn't go how I expected it to go, but was still satisfying. Definitely recommended if you love some Middle Eastern-inspired fantasy that whisks you off into magic-fueled adventure!

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Stardust Thief is a wondrously rich fantasy with all the depth and power of a story that's thousands of years old. Secrets unfurl with every chapter, because nothing is at it seems in this story. I love the characters we meet on this journey and felt their emotions and motivations keenly. I am very much looking forward to more work from Chelsea Abdullah and will be recommending this to all my friends!

This was amazing. I loved the way the author did a retelling of the Arabian Nights and merged them with her own story. Can't wait for the sequel.

I loved this book. It helped fill my "City of Brass" stories perfectly! Based on the stories from the Arabian Nights, this novel takes the reader on a journey through the world of Jinn and politics. Loulie is an awesome character to follow, with flaws that she recognizes and tries to overcome. Several scenes drew me to tears, which is a feat for a book! I recommend this book very highly!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because I do think the series and writer have potential. There's a lot to like about the Stardust Thief, and while I am giving it "only" 3.5 stars, I don't think it's a bad book (nor should 3 stars should be considered a bad rating, although I know many see it as such). It simply did not really grab me the way that I hoped it would.

First, what's good: Chelsea Abdullah is a good writer. While I would not go so far as to call this prose lyrical, as some have, I think the prose is solid. I was never confused about what was going on, nothing is cringey about the dialogue, the descriptions give me a sense of the place even if they're not particularly poetic. The book is very readable, and although the writing style is not as descriptive or dense as some adult fantasy, nor does the prose feel juvenile.

The story's premise is also a good one. The basic idea is that the main character, Loulie, finds and sells djinn relics on the black market. The sultan learns about this ability of hers and sends her after a legendary epic, a potentially deadly mission into djinn lands. She brings with her her djinn bodyguard (who is also her closest friend and coincidentally, a djinn), a prince, and one of the prince's elite fighters. Interspersed with the narrative are actual folktales from 1001 Nights, from which the book takes some of its inspiration.

The cultural details, from Arabic words peppered throughout to the descriptions of foods to the architecture, make the world feel rich and alive. The worldbuilding, mostly inspired from real world Arab culture, feels at once familiar and fantastic. Although I don't speak Arabic I have decent layman's understanding of the history and culture of the region, being a historian myself, but I feel like even a reader without any background knowledge would not feel lost or out of their depth with only the author's worldbuilding to go by. There are mysteries to the worldbuilding, but their slow unraveling is part of the plot, and we learn about them along with the characters.

Where The Stardust Thief fell short for me: I had a very hard time investing in the story. Perhaps due to the rather episodic nature of the 1001 Nights structure, halfway through the book I still wasn't quite sure what direction book 1 was headed. It takes a painfully long time for the main story in The Stardust Thief to really get started, which is fine, I don't mind a slow burn story, but in this case it also felt a bit unnecessary.

Part of this is due to the choice to write a multi POV story with characters who are all on the same journey. There are three main POVs, the Midnight Merchant, Loulie, the prince, Mazen, and the fighter, Aisha. Despite these characters being in the same place, they have very little emotional attachment to each other, so their interactions are often very surface level (with the exception of Loulie and her bodyguard, who is not, incidentally a POV character). However, the presence of the POVs also means that the main events of the book are often rehashed multiple times. When a big event happens during the halfway mark, we experience it from two characters' POVs, then we experience the aftermath, we get several characters examining the same event and reflecting on it. Multiple POVs in the same place work best when each character gives a new perspective on the same event, or character A notices something that character B does not, or interprets the event in a different way, or tells the story differently (think Rashomon). While the voice of each character is distinct enough in The Starlight Thief, the perspective each character brings isn't really fresh enough to warrant three POVs.

Of all the relationships in the book (none of which are romantic, so far), the friendship between Loulie and her bodyguard Qadir is by far the most satisfying one to read. It's obvious they have a long history and their respect and affection for each other is shown through their actions and the way they relate to and think about each other. I appreciate that we're not simply told that their friendship is important to each other, it's demonstrated. Likewise Prince Mazen, who is a bit of a disaster, is shown to be a disaster. He makes huge mistakes and sometimes those mistakes have real consequences. Nevertheless, he's sympathetic and we hope to see him growing more competent and gaining a sense of purpose. That said, perhaps because I was never quite certain what the characters really wanted, or what the emotional stakes were, I had a hard time connecting to them. They had all the ingredients necessary in good well rounded characters, but I kept waiting to really care about them, and while there were moments, I never fully bought in.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and book 2 could really ramp things up for all I know, so I am keeping an open mind. The Stardust Thief is not a bad book, but for me it doesn't quite cross that line from good to great.

This book was a little confusing at first, and a little slow, but once it sped up a bit, it hooked me! I loved the characters, and I loved the story! I love how it transported me to another world!

The Stardust Thief was my most anticipated release in 2022 and to some extent, it did live up to the hype. Let's break it down.

Overview:

♥️ Fairy tale retelling
♥️ No romance
♥️ Jinn/human friendships
👍 Multi POV
👍 Morally good characters with a touch of grey)
♥️ Adventure story

Quick recap: The Stardust Thief follows a seller of illegal magic (Loulie) as she is coerced into retrieving a magic item by the Sultan. She travels with the sultan's son in disguise (Mazen), as well as one of the oldest prince's 40 thieves (Aisha) and her Jinn partner.

This is first and foremost an adventure book. It's written with the same cadence as recent released like The Jasmine Throne or The Unbroken, but the execution itself is actually a little closer to Shadow of the Gods or a Sanderson book. Don't pick this up expecting massive character studies, flashy politics, or epic romance.

If you are looking for a book with sweeping, epic action scenes and incredible magic, you are going to love The Stardust Thief. If you love storytelling within a story, monsters that can be friend or foe, and Arab folklore this is your story.

The story follows beats from One Thousand and One Nights and weave these tales in seamlessly. Its so beautiful seeing these fairy tales come together naturally and revealed over the course of the story. Some are told as tall tales by main characters, but many are actually written into the bones of the book, with different characters playing different roles from folklore. This also influences the spirit of the book's storytelling.

You have a ton of action scenes and moments where our heroes are stopped in their travels to deal with monsters, evil humans hiding in the shadows, spoiled royals, and more. Again, these moments are perfectly woven into the fabric of the plot.

The characters might be my biggest disappointment, but I want to be clear that they are by no means bad. There are 3 POVs, and each character is relatively predictable and played safe. They are all incredibly charming and likable, each with great and distinct voices, but there are not a lot of risks taken with the characters. Aisha, the elder princes thief is probably the most complex character in the bunch, but she can also be a little more tedious to read because her motivations are relatively ignorant and her main focus is revenge. Mazen is a cowardly, kind prince inspired by his mother's storytelling. He will be quite popular with some readers but I was not very interested in him.

Loulie is a wonderful baby angel, and her relationship to Qadir is unquestionably the strongest relationship in the book. They have a beautiful bodyguard codependent friendship going on and their moments together are the hi light of the character interactions.

None of these characters connect too much and you are mostly watching them deal with their own problems, which can. be disappointing at times. They do become something a little closer to friends later in the book, but the character relationships are not the focus of the story. I say this because going in knowing that can help manage expectations so you can enjoy the other great things The Stardust Thief has to offer. As a side note, there was no romance which I absolutely LOVED, because if romance comes later it will be EARNED. If the book plans on not having any romance at all, that is also awesome. Either way, more books where nobody gets together in the first book!!!!

The book is named after Omar, the eldest prince and the villain of the series. Im actually most intrigued to learn more about him..particularly because the book is named after him; but he is also set up as one of the more layered characters.

If I had one thing I would say i'd like to see improve in book 2, it would be for Chelsea Abdullah to take a few more risks or develop some of her darker characters. There is so much potential here and despite my criticisms, this was a genuine joy to read cover to cover. Its a very strong debut and i'm fairly confident I will be following this author's career moving forward (including the next installment of The Sandsea Trilogy).
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This was a wonderful, whimsical fantasy debut with a compelling adventure! While the pacing did feel a bit slow at times, especially in the first half, the lead-up to the climax was excellent and there was plenty to love about the characters and worldbuilding. The author's' scope of imagination when it came utilizing magic was always a treat. The characters were also well-defined and charismatic. I found something to like about every major character, which is rarer than you'd think, and I also found their relationships and interactions to be compelling as well! I'd be interested to see how they develop as individuals and with one another.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the world of THE STARDUST THIEF, and I will definitely keep an eye out for the sequel.

The Stardust Thief launched me into a beautifully built world with inter-character relationships which kept me flipping the pages (albeit virtual pages) for more. Coming from the perspective of a woman of color, I'm always on the lookout for protagonists that share this similar trait for relatability and also because it was so rare to find such characters in my childhood, that they hold a special place in my heart.

In this book, the plot takes you from the blood tainted riches of a sultan's palace housing a daydreaming storyteller's son, to the back alley deals for illegal magical contraband sold by a clever and tough-as-nails female merchant in a normally male dominated world with her loyal and mystical companion. I'm also always drawn to storylines that include characters of the shadier-grey variety, for the colorful and eye-opening perspective it can provide, and Aisha, as one of the antagonist's 40 thieves, and some of the jinn characters you meet, do not disappoint. I especially love that unlike many of the young adult novels I've read, romantic love does not take center stage in this story. Rather platonic and familial love is the main focus throughout the storyline, allowing the focus to be more on the character growth through their sometimes conflicting but rewarding relationship inter-dynamics than the outcome or struggle of romantic love.

When Maizen (the sultan's youngest son), Loulie and Qadir (badass merchant and jinn friend), and Aisha are forced to undergo a journey through thriving cities, escaping possessed ruins, and navigating a city sunk beneath a sea of sand, you get a glimpse of how people from all different backgrounds can clash, grow, and hurt (both good and bad) in so many different ways that lets us all relate to on some level.. This outweighs the sometimes slow pace of the plot during a couple of the higher action scenes, BUT it did not stop me from wanting to know how their story ends. And as all good books, this one does leave you wanting more with at tits conclusion, the author indicating that the adventure has only just begun for the characters that you've grown to love.

Thank you to Metgalkey and the publisher for the arc of this book.

This is a retelling if you will of the Thousand and One Nights folklore. Loulie is the Midnight Merchant who illegally sells magical relics of the Jinn, in Disney’s Aladdin they would be the genie. She gets caught by the sultan and tasked with obtaining a special lamp for him or die. She, Prince Mazen, a thief and Qadir her Jinn friend set out together encountering many adventures and twists along their journey.

A truly well done Arab fantasy/myth book. Quick paced and adventurous. I loved how the stories were woven in and when she had a story teller actually tell the whole of one of the Arabian Nights tales. Truly clever writing of Jinn, their magic and having to hide. The characters were all multidimensional dealing with change and an uncertain future. We get multiple POVs. Mazen’s was honestly the weakest and he never got better.

It did feel a little long but I feel this was done intentionally to represent oral stories of the culture. Overall was well written and I’ll look forward to the next one.

The Stardust Thief is a fantastical character-driven story of adventure across a sea of shifting sands on an impossible journey to find an ancient relic in a hidden jinn city.

Loulie is the Midnight Merchant, known for procuring rare magical relics that she illegally sells in the Night Market. When the sultan hears of her and her abilities after she saves the life of his son, he summons her to the palace to blackmail her into going on a quest for him if she wants to keep her life: find an ancient lamp that houses a jinn king inside, buried thousands of years ago somewhere in the vast Sandsea. Accompanied by her jinn bodyguard, the best thief in Madinne, and one of the sultan’s sons, Loulie sets out into the desert to find the magical relic, which she knows will have deadly repercussions for jinn everywhere if it ends up in the hands of the sultan.

I absolutely loved this book! I have been excited to read it for months ever since I saw the stunningly gorgeous cover design, and it did not disappoint.

The Stardust Thief feels similar to The City of Brass while still being entirely its own story. I love that. Readers who loved that series need to read The Sandsea Trilogy next. The Daevabad Trilogy was incredible, and I’m so excited to find something similar—an Arabian fantasy about deserts, magic, jinn, and politics. I might even like The Stardust Thief more though…

This book was very easy to read and become immersed in. I feel like I flew through it, which is not normally the feeling I have while reading a long adult epic fantasy. I loved Chelsea Abdullah’s writing style, and it was very easy to get lost in these pages. It also helped that this book had very short chapters, which is always a good thing in my eyes.

I loved every character. Loulie is cunning and smart and strong. Mazen is delicate and precious and definitely my favorite character. Qadir is mysterious and safe. Aisha is hard-hearted and severe but I still liked her determination and resilience. Ahmed is charming and happy. Even Omar has his good moments too.

One thing that I didn’t really understand, however, is why the jinn killers are also so interested in jinn relics. They want the magical artifacts imbued with jinn magic, but the jinn can’t make them if they’re dead, and the killers’ goal is to slay every jinn. So that didn’t really make sense to me. I get that it’s about being powerful, but you have to keep some jinn alive so they can create more relics.

The Stardust Thief is full of unexpected plot events. I wouldn’t necessarily say plot twists because I believe a plot twist is when you expect the plot to go in one direction but then it suddenly “twists” and goes this other direction. This book is more along the lines of you have no idea what will happen next, so when the plot progresses you’re surprised because you never would have guessed that the characters would end up here or do this thing because it’s an unconventional outcome, but you roll with it anyway. So many things happened in this book besides what the synopsis on the cover alludes to, and I liked that because it made the story feel like it had more depth.

My only real complaint is that the last fifty or so pages had a lot of reveals in them that weren’t fully explained because the plot was moving along so quickly, and I’m not sure if I fully understand everything that happened or the implications of it all. The main characters would have these revelations of knowledge, but they wouldn’t outright say what they figured out, and it made me feel dumb because I wasn’t catching on. Sometimes the “obvious” things were not as obvious as they seemed. Other than that though, I have no complaints about this book. It was so very good.

I’ve recently discovered that I love Arab fantasies. Give me more of them. I appreciated that the Arabic words in this book were used in a way that the reader could intuit their meaning. Including them made the story feel genuine, but I’m also grateful I didn’t have to stop to define every new word because Chelsea Abdullah used them organically.

Overall, The Stardust Thief was phenomenal! It is a story for lovers of stories and adventures. Mini tales are dispersed throughout the novel, and I loved seeing how they were woven into the story after they appeared. I am so excited I got to read this book early, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy because I know I am going to love it. Any fantasy fan out there has to pick this one up.

4.5/5 - My rating for this book fluctuated between 4 and 5 stars so we're just going with 4.5! I am always one to immediately pick up fantasy books inspired by other cultures and written by women, and I LOVED this Arab fantasy written by an Arab woman! It was a little difficult to get into initially (sometimes it takes time to catch up with the world building that's happening when I jump into a new series), but I felt like the pacing was decent throughout, and it sped up exponentially for the last 40% of the book. The way that Abdullah wrote stories within stories in a way that seamlessly integrated into the narrative was artful and so well done. I thought each of the characters was well-developed, although some seemed more like YA characters than fully fledged adults. I love the magic system, and I hope we get to explore it more in the future books in the series! The last probably 15% of the book was just one after the other of "I should have seen this coming and yet I didn't see this coming at all" moments where the pieces that Abdullah set up early in the book fell into place.

This book reminded me a lot of The Daevabad Trilogy by SA Chakraborty, but with more magic and less political intrigue. I will definitely be buying this one for my bookshelf and *begging* NetGalley for ARCs of the next books in the trilogy. I MUST know what happens!

OH MY GOD???? That was literally the best fantasy book ive read in awhile.. This Arabian fantasy was everything.. The fantasy in this book the magic EVERYTHING was on point. Not 1 filler chapter every chapter was amazing. Not even kidding. Such strong powerful women in this book and i loved every second of it. So many powerful iconic characters and it makes me so excited for book #2 I NEED IT NOW. This book had villains and thinks would change and i wouldnt expect stuff ever. Such a fast paced fantasy such detailed writing..

The worlds and cities were so beautiful.

The rep was amazing in this book. The characters development was amazing. I cant say ONE bad thing about this book. This book was one of my highly anticipated reads of 2022 and i am so glad i got this arc.

I loved the magic in this novel the author's imagination is amazing. Seriously this was a phenomenal book.

STRONG 5 stars. If i could give more i would!!

Thank you netgalley for this arc!

I've had a hard time reading lately 😂 and I loved this . Gave a small review on influenster stating i recieved on netgalley ❤️ saying how great it is on their book worm 🐛 section
. Loved the characters,world building and dialogue. A huge spell binding page Turner. Thanks so much for the copy 💜

The book is a modern day version of 1001 Arabian Nights. Abdullah does a phenomenal job of describing the world in deep depth. I enjoyed the plot and was captivated with storyline. It's well worth the read and I look forward to the next in the series.

A beautiful book about the nature of story-telling! I love the richness of the folklore/mythology, and the way that the tales were woven into the primary story. Qadir is a fantastic character!

Everybody loves a grumpy adoptive dad. Chelsea Abdullah writes with such splintering and beautiful agony that I was left with every bone broken, every vessel cut, and my ashes nothing but fragrant dust.

With storytelling like One Thousand and One Nights, pick up The Stardust Thief and enter a world of quests, legends, romantic princes, sibling rivalry, and unfriendly thieves under a desert’s starry night sky. Loulie al-Nazari, the Midnight Merchant, hunts and sells magical relics with jinn bodyguard, Qadir. When she saves the Sultan’s youngest son, Mazen, she’s thrown into his father's privileged world. Along with a cowardly prince, a grumpy jinn bodyguard, and an irritable swordswoman, Loulie must pursue a legendary land for an ancient magical lamp. Join this reluctant group as they face a vengeful jinn queen, vicious killers, and heartrending truths. You’ll enjoy the feel of the glittering sand underneath Loulie’s feet, the brush of the wind as Mazen gazes at the stars, and the longing of a soft-hearted prince as he looks upon a girl sharper than a bloodied knife. Watch the tightening of their hearts as they dance a drunken night of riches and laughter, and cry with them every step of the way, be it in happiness or heartache. Qadir’s grumpy but lovable adoptive dad persona will inspire you to hug anything within grasp as you find yourself desperate for that comforting but heartbreaking dynamic. Abdullah writes stories like a sparkling, burning thing painted against the pitch-black night, ever out of our reach. Gently touched with lyrical writing, Abdullah’s talent is making you feel like magic exists. You will be obsessed, trying to hold onto the magic, and dripping in the madness of your own making.

What a lush, stunning adventure!

This book absolutely dripped with scintillating magic. Every tiny drop more that I read about just left me in pure wonderment, I was so thoroughly enchanted by the world building.

The characters were robust, charming (even the non charming ones) and kept me hooked, even in the slower paced moments. I really loved Loulie, she is such a strong, smart, badass heroine. She was tough, but had some amazingly tender, vulnerable moments. Actually, all the female characters in the book were top notch. There's not a single one who I didn't find unique and memorable.

The pace was great, although I personally kept having to pull away from the text to look up specific terms and turns-of-phrase. That is probably my own ignorance/language barrier bias coming through, but it did take me out of the scenes a bit.

A must-read for lovers of magic and fantasy!

Luscious, adventurous, and dangerous, this is the book that every fantasy fan should pick up. With characters that jump off the page, and tales that suck you in like the sand tempest in the story, THE STARDUST THIEF has the potential to become an instant classic. Definitely pick it up!