This story is told in third person and follows thirty-one-year-old Maya, a former thief who worked to return ancient artifacts to their proper owners and current grad student at Princeton working toward a PhD in comparative cultures. She is the first settler from PeaceLove to attend an Earth University. She previously left her university studies and has now returned only her focus is shaky at best and her colleagues and advisors are worried about her performance and her obsession with an item referred to as the grail.

This mysterious grail could be the savior to all of humankind if they can use it to recreate the disappearing nodes that are something akin to wormholes enabling travelers to transport great distances to other worlds. The grail also enables a species known as the Frenro to reproduce and without it their people will die out. Maya has previously partnered up with a Frenro known as Auncle and they have become great friends. This friendship brings great conflict to Maya when she is pressured to choose between helping humans and her beloved friend.

Initially, I had mixed feelings about this story. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Katharine Chin. She did a fantastic job with the characters and story. However, I think the nuances and details of this science fiction story were such that I needed to read the actual text to absorb it fully. So, I did reread a text copy and wish that I had immersed myself in both simultaneously.

Maya leaves with Auncle when new information about the location of the Grail is revealed, but not before a representative of the Coalition of the Nations of Earth (CNE) tries to recruit her to their side. Maya and Auncle are joined on their quest by a former CNE soldier Wil and Medix, a medical robot. I enjoyed their adventure in attempting to retrieve the grail before the CNE group and their often strange encounters with various alien entities.

Maya is a complex character with some difficult decisions to make. I loved the relationships that she built with Auncle, Wil, Medix and her colleage and advisor, Liam. I loved the fantasy world. It’s complicated and confusing in the best way. There are some underlying themes here that will make you think, both about yourself as an individual, your friends, your family whether biological or found, and what exactly does the greater good (or the Whole) mean to you and what are your obligations to it. Filled with secrets, betrayals and great friendships, the journey to the conclusion of this story is fraught with peril and hard decisions.

Recommended to lovers of quests.

Thank you to Netgalley, Flatiron Books, and Macmillan Audio for a copy provided for an honest review.

Yume Kitasei has created a detailed and unique future for humanity, but she also set it on the brink of chaos and isolation. She uses a diverse cast of characters from all walks of life, and corners of the universe, to set in motion a heist that could save or damn the universe. Like most space opera’s her characters create a found family with people they may or may not even like very much to begin with. Their love is forged in chaos. Maya grew up on the Peace-Love colony and was once the best thief in the galaxy. Now, she just wants to study anthropology as a graduate student on earth. A galaxy wide virus that infected her in her youth leaves her with the side effects of blackout headaches that come with hyper vivid dreams that may contain the future. Lately her dreams have been about the grail, an object that no one has seen in living memory. When a series of events result in not one, but two requests to hunt for the grail of her dreams, Maya is forced to abandon her schooling and take to the stars. This book has the right amount of humor, heart and action to keep you interested. There are also some deep concepts about colonizing, xenophobia, war and xenocide that make you think a little harder about the true definition of morality and allegiance. It’s really easy to fall in love with this book.

I listened to this book through the Macmillan Audiobook Influencer program and think that Katherine Chin did an excellent job with her reading of this story. She infused action into the words on the page while still showing how important snark and sarcasm are to making dialog and characters shine. She is well versed in the Sci-Fi audiobook world and you won’t be disappointed if you choose to listen to this story.

I absolutely loved this book! What did I love about this space Opera you say! I loved the found family trope in this book, I loved the use of neopronouns, and I absolutely loved that it was a ANTI-colonial space opera. Also the audiobook narrations was great and it is a standalone novel so you do not need to read The Deep Sky if you just want to just into this novel.

So, here's the thing! I like neither heists, nor sci-fi! BUT!!! I absolutely LOVED The Deep Sky, so I wanted to read this!

The Stardust Grail follows Maya, a former art thief, who learns a clue about the Grail, something her mentor had been searching for for decades and could lead to the repopulation of his species. So, Maya decides to go back to the thieving life to help him. This is a world with multiple planets and alien species, and it was really fun. She makes great points about our world through the example of this world, which I really liked. Like in The Deep Sky, Kitasei writes a very gender and sexuality inclusive world, which is such a breath of fresh air. My one qualm (if you can call it that) is that she uses neopronouns - something that tripped me up for a second, reading in audio format, and I think could trip up a lot of readers who are not quite used to them. I am not saying this was a bad choice on her part, just that it takes some getting used to. Yay cultural growth! (also, I cannot tell through the audio whether her mentor was called uncle or auncle based on the pronunciation)

I think I realized that because I had an audio ARC, I just didn't really get a lot of what was going on, details-wise. This is normally a me issue, but my hurdles in this book were ones that I think would not only affect me, and I would therefore say this would be a better book to read visually rather than through audio. Not that the narrator was bad, just the material was a bit confusing for me. I DNFed this one about halfway through, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because I decided I have to read it myself rather than listen to it. I will come back and give a better review when that happens!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a fun romp, like Dr. Aphra/Indiana Jones fanfiction in a good way. There were some things I didn't quite get, like the pacing was incredibly fast. There was so much that happened in the book, I wish it had been made as a duology, because with the pacing the way it was, it was a struggle at times to see how the characters had earned events that happened in the novel. That being said, there was a lot I liked in the way that Kitasei wrote about artifacts from other cultures and how other sentient species were portrayed. The extreme differences between species was one of my favorite things in the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

I've been looking for a great sci-fi book to read, and it finally found me! I loved the whimsical nature of this book coupled with the high stakes and frequent action. The depth of the book is beyond what I thought it would be, and I loved watching the characters grow and find themselves along with me finding the meaning of the story as well.

The characters are all very likeable, even though it feels like we don't get a ton of their backstories. They are so easy to root for, and I think it's because you can see part of yourself in each one of them. The book almost feels like the stakes are so high because the characters are so beloved. It's easy to forget about the breadth of the universe when these characters become your family.

The worldbuilding was so unique, and I adored the depth and commentary of the story itself. It really makes everything feel so familiar even when it's a world that we cannot imagine. It grips you from the first chapter and keeps you wondering what more could come of this beautiful universe and how the characters will shape it.

If you're looking for a deep and beautiful ride into the unknown, look no further!

“The largest private collection of rare artifacts from other worlds could be found in central New Jersey at Princeton University, and if anyone knew Maya Hoshimoto was a thief, they wouldn’t have let her anywhere near there. Fortunately, no one did.”

I don’t read much deep-space sci-fi, but this one was basically a futuristic outlaw lady Indiana Jones heist novel, so I was on board.

I really enjoyed this! The story was action-packed pretty much the whole way through. Maya is a little rough around the edges, but she has her own moral code that she sticks to as much as possible. It was interesting to see how different characters reacted to certain circumstances depending on their species, upbringing, or personal beliefs.

The world building felt very imaginative. The different worlds were fascinating. I liked that this universe felt very lived in. It had multiple species with vastly different viewpoints, life experiences, and morals. One of the main characters is basically a giant sentient potato. The story made me think a lot about concepts like blame and morality.

The audiobook is narrated by Katharine Chin. She did a great job giving voice to Maya and her adventures.

An interstellar heist, a race across space, collapsing travel nodes, and extremely high stakes pull readers into this latest novel from Yume Kitasei. There’s a lot of world-building involved in this one, so I tried to approach it like I was watching a sci-fi movie or show. Once Maya left New Jersey, things began to get more interesting for me.

I appreciated the migraine rep, enjoyed watching the dynamics between the different characters aboard Auncle’s ship, and found the differing motivations and moral codes of the various alien species to be fascinating.

I listened to this one on audio, and Katharine Chin’s narration kept me immersed in the story. I could easily keep track of who was speaking and was especially impressed with how the narrator handled a character who mimicked voices in one of the final chapters. This is a pretty complex tale, though, so I recommend listening when you are able to focus on the story. Due to the intricacies of the world-building and vast cast of characters, this isn’t the easiest audiobook to listen to while multitasking.

I received a copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own.

I am so grateful to @macmillan.audio for sharing THE STARDUST GRAIL by Yume Kitasei with me this week through @NetGalley!

I find it really fascinating that we are often better able to dive into the complexities of human nature when we involve life from another planet. It often becomes less political, less pointed, yet still contains the truths we ought to know. Choosing what we believe to be good, innate, human qualities and either adding them or purposely keeping them from other beings, highlights these deep questions I think we have about what makes us human, or good.

This is a fun story of a space thief who wants to hang up her ways and enjoy a quiet life on earth but gets caught up in a search for an elusive object that can help an entire civilization, but possibly with a huge cost and guaranteed adventure!

I was fully immersed in this audio with the various characters who were captured with such creative essences. It was a wonderful way to enjoy this story. Each voice was so distinctly done by Katherine Chin.


I definitely recommend this tale! I love the creativity that the unknown allows, yet we humans seem to carry our same issues through time and space. This was out June 11th, so travel is now available!

Ok so we've got space travel, ice cream, a National Treasure-esque series of adventures, academic research, political discourse within equality, and space octopus-type creatures. I couldn't play this audiobook loud enough, I need to be consumed by this book and live in this world! The relationships created within the span of the book are so great, and you can see the character growth and development as it occurs. I laughed, I cried, I will be quoting parts of this book to friends, and absolutely will be stealing some character names for future pets. I LOVED the non-binary representation and inclusion of their pronouns. It truly was an amazing book,

This book is like Ocean’s 11 meets Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. The books is fast paced and a fun listen.

🌟June Release - Audiobook Review🎧 The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei 💫👩‍🚀🤖👾🚀

The Stardust Grail is a captivating, rollicking adventure with a cast of characters you root for and with themes that make you think. The reader, alongside the characters, explores not only deep space and alien worlds, but also ethical and moral questions and quandries.

What I loved:
👩‍🚀 Badass lady main character who is brilliant and brave but not without flaws. She's sometimes foolhardy and frustrating. All that to say, she's fleshed out and I was invested in her backstory as well as her quest. I was intrigued by her grappling with the ethics of who should get the Grail and which society she is working to save.
👾🤖🦾 The supporting characters are charming and provide depth and balance to the team and the narrative. Each offers different strengths, humor, and poignancy. I loved the team compromised of humans, an alien with a giant presence, and a robot with a metaphorical heart of gold (although he would love to have a real human heart of his own.) Fans of found family will enjoy this cast.
🌌 The imaginative worlds and alien technology.
🚀 The heist quest was fun and created the tension that keeps the plot moving forward.
🚫 The anti-colonization theme turns the typical treasure heist trope on its head. Loved that.
🎧 The audiobook narrator Katharine Chin was easy to listen to and gave different tones and voices to the various characters. I really enjoyed her narration!

Other thoughts:
📖 The pacing slows some around the midpoint, but it picks up and ends satisfyingly.
🌎 The balance of sci-fi and tech with humanity and interpersonal relationships and stories makes this a soft sci-fi read.

Thank you to the Macmillan Audio Influencer Program for my complimentary advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the space exploration and world that was build. Specifically when it came to the alien species and their culture. I also liked seeing how the main character constantly had to choose between her best friend and her race - humanity. The pace was medium and ranged between a bit slower to fast pace depending on the part of the story. I found a couple things to be predictable but not necessarily in a bad way. My only complaint was how quickly the ending was/felt. I would've loved for it to have been expanded on.

💫 The Stardust Grail 💫

An exciting space sci-fi adventure featuring the possibilities of new worlds and interacting with other species.

Maya is a reformed thief of valuable objects who is absolutely not taking any more jobs stealing valuable artifacts. Unless it’s her best friend, Uncle, who happened to be a fren-ro and needs the artifact to reproduce.

What follows is an intergalactic adventure with a motley crew, making enemies, fighting battles and making many narrow escapes.

There was a TON of world building in this one. I had to lean into the idea of not grasping it all and just go with the flow, especially with the abundance of different worlds and species introduced.

If you enjoy world building and space adventures, check it out!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

First, I want to thank Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books, NetGalley and Yume Kitasei for providing the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Stardust Grail is the first novel I've read from Yume Kitasei and it definitely won't be the last. I'll be checking out Kitasei's other novel and eagerly waiting for the sequel to The Stardust Grail.

This futuristic space fantasy centers on Maya Hoshimoto, a 31-year-old retired art thief turned graduate student, as she is drawn into another heist by an old friend for a treasure that is vital to the survival of an alien species. Straight away, I adored Maya as a character. She's both an academic who works through the problems with research and knowledge as well as an action girl who can think on her feet and has a reckless streak. She has a very rich backstory that adds texture to her character and helps broaden the world building. Essentially, she was the perfect heroine to follow for this fun treasure hunt.

The supporting characters were also well crafted and unique. There's a mercenary who keeps her cards close to the vest, an academic leaving Earth for the first time who has a rocky relationship with Maya, an ancient alien desperately trying to save their species, and a robot who wants to be sapient. This combination of characters bounce off of each other and Maya beautifully.

In addition to the excellent characters, the world building was fascinating and just complex enough for the story being told. It felt expansive without weighing down the narrative. The magic is also very unique, being presented as an illness that there needs to be a vaccine for, giving Maya both strengths and hindrances.

What an interesting and easily captivating book! I am ALWAYS excited for a Heist and I enjoyed it so much. I would say it's a bit light on the world-building, but it worked for me and was easy enough to follow. I did wish we got more of an overview of this universe (or at least the important groups that were part of the story) before acronyms were thrown at us. It's kind of Heist-lite, focusing more on the characters and the history of their people. I enjoyed all the character interactions, unlikely friendships, drama, and twists along the way. There was so much imagination in the different worlds and peoples and how everyone was interconnected as nodes on a greater system (which I picture as a tree). I honestly feel like there is so much here that it COULD be a series, but I am actually so grateful that it is a standalone because I don't like to wait for the conclusion.

Note: the audiobook is definitely the way to enjoy this book!

I feel like I have to run and read Kitasei's other work cause this was DELIGHTFUL. It hooked me almost immediately and it kept my attention the entire time. The sci-fi, the worldbuilding, the characters, and the plot were all done so well. I loved the heist aspect of this and it was just wonderful. It also explored many different themes, such as colonialism, friendship, love, survival, and more. It's quite a rich story and I will definitely get a physical copy of it because I want to reread this physically and annotate it. I had a great time with this, highly recommend it if you're into sci-fi, heists, and tense plots that are still character-focused.

I loved this book so much!

Found family heist in space... what more could you want? For fans of Becky Chambers looking for more full length stories.
This book also talks about colonization, friendship, history, and an Indiana Jones-esq artifact heist.

I loved this so much I immediately bought The Deep Sky. I cannot wait for Yume Kitasei's next book!

4.5 stars,

**𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘** 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒃𝒚 𝒀𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒊

Release Date: June 11, 2024

4⭐️0🌶

This is a beautiful soft scifi story of a The Holy Grail retelling. Maya is a professional thief. She leaves her Ivy League schooling to travel the galaxy and steal expensive objects. She decides to come back to Earth and pursue her PhD at her alma mater when an ancient journal appears at the museum intake that she has been looking for for years. This journal is meant to lead her to the space Grail that will teach her how to made more "nodes" or portals to solar systems that have life forms.

This is a futuristic Earth where most people live off-planet due to the poor air quality on Earth. A "node" appeared in the solar system and once explored it was found to go to another solar system that has other higher level sentient life forms. This node leads to a whole system of nodes that lead to many other planets with sentient life forms.

Maya finds that the nodes are dying and she needs to find the Grail in order to save all of the nodes and their current way of life.

I would recommend this book for any fans of The Aurora Cycle Series by Amie Kaufman or Ready Player One by Ernest Cline!

A big thank you to @netgalley for approving me for this ARC!

#readersofinstagram
#book #bookreview #bookish #booktok #read #reader #kindleunlimited #ku #kindle #reading #audible #hotgirlsread #arcreview #arcread #arcreader #arc #advancedreadercopy #netgalley #softscifi #futuristicearth #galaxyexploring #scifi #romantasy #yumekitasei #thestardustgrail #theholygrail #amiekaufman #readyplayerone #ernestcline

The Stardust Grail is a space adventure tale with elements of heist, academia, interstellar travel, and interstellar politics. I saw someone referenced space Indiana Jones and I think that works well. The MC grew up off-world, is best friends with an alien, and has a history of thievery. But she's also an historian and deeply values cultural and historical artifacts. She's trying to get back on the straight and narrow but is pulled into "one last job", you know how it goes. She ends up back in space with her best friend and zir new crew, planning to steal an incredibly important object. Last job though, for real. The book is fast-paced and full of fun, curious characters.

Yume Kitasei is incredibly inventive. I read her first book, The Deep Sky, and absolutely loved it. The Stardust Grail is equally inventive. I could see this on the big screen, and I will continue to read everything she writes.

All that said, The Stardust Grail felt to me like a collection of really cool ideas, one right after another, that never quite solidified into a whole. It was like walking from room to room but never getting a sense of the entire house. I finished feeling like only half of my questions were answered, almost like the beginning of a series. Is this the beginning of a series? I didn't think so. We spend a very, very long time not understanding the main object of thieving desire and yet none of the characters acknowledged how confusing it was until at least halfway through. That contributed to a feeling, not of fun suspense, but that I had missed something important and/or was being really thick.

The audio narrator I thought did a reasonable job. There is a certain 'dramatic reading' voice that I encounter a lot in audiobooks, particularly young adult I think, but don't really like that much and find inauthentic and unbelievable. Maybe it has to do with a certain sense of theater! to each line that can actually undermine the rise and fall flow of the novel as a whole. I think this narrator had that a bit, so I was pulled up out of the story here and there. I thought they did an admirable job with the neo-pronouns though. It didn't always sound like it felt natural to the performance, but it was pretty good.

Overall I enjoyed my time, and I imagine many, many readers will love this book wholeheartedly.