The Art Thieves took me on a journey that forced me to take breaks, overthink what I just read and how this forms a picture.

Through the small window to the world which is the protagonist's eyes, my impression of the environmental state of this dystopian future took a while to form. The focus was rather pretty much on art and relationships for a very long time. And on a variety of indigenous people. A fact that I really enjoyed.

There is a romance aspect and its pacing goes very well with the rest of the story, however it is the whole picture that is worth the read: What is there that is worth saving? Is it just nature? Is it human lives? Or can we create something as beautiful and important as true art that is worth breaking the very fundamental rules of the universe for it?

THE ART THIEVES by Andrea L. Rogers is excellent. Within the first few pages, I was hooked and stayed up way too late each night until I finished the book. Main character Stevie, her friends, her parents, and Angel--the new guy at the museum--are all well-developed and complex. The threads of connection Rogers weaves between all the characters is so strong and Stevie is such a strong center. Her deep attachment to her community, in Texas, Oklahoma and even beyond, feels so real. As the present and future become more tenuous, it's so genuine that Stevie takes time to eat with people, joining them in community and showing deep reverence for her elders.

This emotional core makes all the other aspects of this novel feel rooted no matter how much time is bent or other aspects of Cherokee Futurism drive the narrative. Nothing felt out of the realm of possibility. I really fell in love with. Cherokee Futurism and hope to read more of it, especially if it's written by this author. Please consider me mega fan of Andrea L. Rogers.

Rather than risk giving anything away in my review, I'll conclude with this: Read. This. Book.

I'm not overly familiar with Afrofuturism or Cherokee literature, but this book made me want to read more of both.

Thank you to Levine Querido for the gifted copy.

This book was great! It was 5⭐️ for me. If you are into speculative fiction & futurism then you are going to want to add this to your TBR ASAP. Inspired by Octavia Butler’s Afro-futurism, Rogers builds a near-future world that can be described as Cherokee futurism.

It is set in the near future where weather disasters and extremes are now the norm. But they live a pretty normal life considering the times. Her mother is intent on making sure the family is prepared in case of emergencies. She has a little brother, Levi, who is Black Cherokee, whom she loves very much and protects since he has bad food allergies.

But Steve’s life takes a turn one day when a mysterious young man appears at her museum job, an “indigenous” artist from Costa Rica. But is he an artist as he says he is or is he an art thief?

The book is divided into chapters named after song titles and the book is divided in half like a vinyl record of side an and side b. I love that the chapters are short, it keeps it mid-paced for reading. The playlist and the reading list alone will have you busy after you finish reading this book the first time.

I am now an official super fan of Andrea L. Rogers’ writing! Man Made Monsters was such a good book and it even had some futuristic chapters in it. Now she has hooked me with The Art Thieves. I love her writing style and how she unveils plot. One thing that you can bet on doing is returning to whatever front matter she has provided once you get into the meat of the book. There are always clues and connections hiding in plain site that once you connect them with the plot will make you go 🤯.

If you love to annotate books, you will enjoy engaging in a few quests. Let me set you up. Analyze the following in the book:
- Significance of stars and the sky
- Importance of art and humanity
- Music and vinyl records
- Book references

BOOK: THE ART THIEVES

AUTHOR: ANDREA L. ROGERS

PUB DATE: 8TH OCTOBER 2024

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REVIEW

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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This is the first time I'll be reading about a Native American from a Native American's POV and it was really nice and a wonderful learning experience. I learned a lot about the Cherokee culture. To be very honest, this was my favorite part of the book. That and the description of climate change and the way the earth deteriorated. It's something I could relate to considering the world we're living in now.

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I loved the beginning of the book, especially the emails Stevie sent to her aunt, it made me expect so much. Unfortunately, I felt it didn't deliver. I was expecting a description if the Apocalypse, but I only got one of the matters preceding it. That was what I expected the book to be all about.

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But, I did get an insight into Stevie's life, beloved sister, friend and daughter. I really liked Stevie, she was a good person. Most importantly, I admired what she did for her baby brother, Levi. I liked reading about her relationship with others, her parents, friends and Adam.

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I would have liked Adam's POV too. I feel like most of the plot of the book was lost because we only had Stevie's. I liked Adam as a friend, but I felt like both of them didn't have chemistry as lovers.

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I don't really have a good understanding of arts, I just think some are pretty and move on with my life. Hence, I can't understand why someone would come back in time only to steal art pieces when they are other things that could have been done. So, I didn't like it.

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I also didn't like the ending because it was confusing and I needed some clarifications. And I didn't get the Apocalypse.

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I gave this book three stars because I liked the premise, the characters, part of the storyline and I was able to finish it.

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Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, worried about the characters in the book you're reading? That's what happened to me while I was reading the incredible upcoming novel, The Art Thieves, by Andrea Rogers.

Stevie works in the gift shop at an art museum in 2052 Texas. Climate crises, racism, and queer-phobias persist, complicating the Cherokee teen's world. An interning artist at the museum befriends Stevie; as their friendship grows into romance, Stevie discovers he's actually a time traveler from the future, sent to save precious works of art from the coming apocalypse.

This YA novel is so engrossing. From the first page, the reader is pulled in and kept there until the very end. The characters feel real, the stakes are a little too relatable (climate crises and pandemics, anyone?), and the plot details come together beautifully.

Stevie shines as the main character, especially with the focus on her connection to her loved ones and culture. Her relationship with her step-dad is especially poignant and shown well. The variety of love on the page, from the initial blush of first love to the deep well of love she holds for her little brother, parents, and friends, really encapsulates her character, worldview, and priorities. The depth of her love for her family, and the friends who aren't blood related but are family, comes across clearly.

Stevie's actions, choices, and decisions are deliberate and measured, and for good reason. Yet one of the themes of the book is Stevie being right where she's meant to be, when she's meant to be there. Learning to trust her instincts and listening to her heart is a significant aspect of Stevie's character arc, and one that many readers will relate to.

With both Stevie's job and the plot regarding saving art, the importance of art is underscored. A variety of art is explored, including music, sculpture, photography, and more. Rogers expertly balances the importance of art with the history and culture of museums— especially the issues of museums disregarding NAGPRA and museums not returning objects of significance to tribal nations. The novel beautifully shows how museums can be treated as sacred spaces while still holding the institutions accountable for returning sacred objects to their homes, which acknowledges problematic museum policies and the roles museums have played in disrespecting Native Nations by refusing to return certain items and even human remains. Rogers addresses how historical objects are handled and repatriated with specific customs within each Native culture, highlighting differences between cultures while showing each custom belongs to that Nation. (If this section of Art Thieves appeals to you, make sure to check out Angeline Boulley's Warrior Girl Unearthed, as well!).

Rogers captures intersectionality in an organic and authentic way, which is one of the many reasons her characters feel so real. With a variety of races, religions, Native Nations, cultures, gender identities, and sexualities present, the characters in the novel feel like people you'd meet at Cherokee National Holiday, at school or work, while hanging out with friends. It's one part of what makes this novel's message hit so close to home.
This is one of those novels that stays with you, even after you're done reading it. I was turning the plot around in my mind when I wasn't able to be actively reading, including that middle of the night wake-up mentioned earlier. This is one you definitely don't want to miss!

The Art Thieves will be available October 8, 2024.

Thank you to the author, Levine Querido, and NetGalley for a digital ARC such that I could share my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters were interesting, loveable and well-rounded and the story was captivating, if a little disjointed. For the longest time, while I was reading it, I was convinced that I would rate this book 5 stars, because I felt truly immersed and emotionally invested in the characters and their journeys in a way I hadn't experienced in a long time. However, the ending felt far too abrupt and unsatisfying for me, which somewhat ruined my enjoyment of the book.
The world in which "The Art Thieves" takes place is very well fleshed out. There are little bits and pieces of world-building that are inconspicuously woven into the text, which really help the world feel real. Things like the fact that the face on the 20 USD is now Harriet Tubman, or that the heat caused by global warming has necessitated changes in how manual labour is scheduled add an extra sprinkle of colour to an already very colourful world.
What I struggled with a bit was the pacing of the story. While it is difficult to assign it to any one genre, it is probably best described as YA dystopian sci-fi with a dash of mystery. However, this only really becomes clear around page 100, before then there is very little indication of a sci-fi, dystopian or mystery story. It feels like the story really only starts after the first 100 pages. Personally, I did not mind this, as I found the writing so immersive that I had no issues staying motivated to keep reading on, but others may not have the same experience and get frustrated during this long stretch.
Another pacing issue concerns the second half of the book. Scenes and actions in the first half were described in enough detail, without overstaying its welcome, to be immersive, the second half felt a bit rushed. Stevie's trip to Philadelphia is one example where I felt like everything went a bit too fast, which broke the immersion quite a bit. I also felt like the incident with the space station and the satellites went by way too fast and almost seemed as if it had 0 repercussions. Adam predicted the event, Stevie saw it happen, it was on the news like once, and then it's pretty much never discussed again. It had such little impact on the plot that thought that it was hinting that Adam was not actually from the future and Stevie had somehow just imagined the incident. If that was indeed the intention, then I don't think it was conveyed very well, since I cannot recall any other events that would point towards such an interpretation.
The end was unfortunately the part of the book that I struggled with the most. Perhaps this is in part attributable to the fact that I had so fallen in love with the world from the book that I did not want to leave it. I suspect, however, that it was mainly due to the fact that I was much more emotionally invested in the relationships between Stevie and her family and her friends, than in the one between Stevie and Adam. Yet the way the book ends very clearly puts the emphasis on this latter relationship, which I did not find as interesting. I would have much preferred if it had ended with Stevie arriving at her house in the Cherokee nation, where she finally gets to reunite with her mother and other relatives after having been apart, unable to contact each other for so long.
Ultimately, I did still enjoy this book very much and am happy to have read it. I loved going along on Stevie's journey, I loved getting to know Levi and Jess and Loren and Paka and all the other wonderful people inhabiting this world. It takes special skill to build a dystopia so beautiful that the reader regrets having to leave it behind.

RATING: 2.5 STARS

Let me preface this entire review by saying I loved learning about the Indigenous peoples and culture through this story. I think that it was the best part of the book, and it taught me so many things that I didn’t know, and has really piqued my interest in expanding my knowledge of the subject.

While I think that The Art Thieves had many important messages regarding racism, environmentalism, prejudice and social constructs, the story fell flat for me. I agreed with all of the moral topics that were broached in the book, but everything about the plot seemed very lacklustre.

The pacing was very odd. The beginning of the book seemed extremely slow, and seemed meaningless compared to the second half of the book, when things really begin to kick off. But then once we hit the peak in the book, things speed up to an unnecessary pace, leaving the plot to be unbelievable and bare. I felt like so many things were brushed over which needed much more of a build up, or explanation for the reader, to be as impactful as the author hoped they would be. For example, the huge reveal in the middle, was just put out there suddenly; out of the blue, and stated in a way that came across as “well it’s like this because I said so”, and not in a crescendo of tension, questions and emotions that would have made sense.

To begin with, we are introduced to a myriad of characters that sometimes have important roles in the story and sometimes don’t. While I understand that this was most likely done to portray a feeling of community surrounding Stevie, it definitely took away precious page time from important characters like her Dad, Adam and Loren, who I thought had the potential (and were meant) to be really impactful characters in the story, but turned out to lack depth in the long run. Many of the characters we meet in the beginning of the book are never mentioned again. I would have much preferred more in depth character building for the more prominent characters in the whole book.

The writing just seemed a bit choppy to me, like I was missing pages of clarification or explanation to help world build and expand on the characters. Some characters even had really metaphorical dialogue that seemed important at the moment, but then never amounted to anything other than a fancy bit of writing in the middle of an otherwise very simple novel. Jess seemed to be the main culprit of this, saying foreboding and auspicious phrases about half way through the book, only to hardly have any more dialogue and mention after that.

All in all, I think that this book has a huge amount of potential. There are so many important topics touched upon in this book that I can’t truly write it off as unenjoyable. It just felt like I was reading a first draft instead of a 99% finished book.

This is a Native American YA story about a young photographer who works for an art museum in Texas while she is waiting to start college. It involves fantasy and time travel as well as the gratuitous child dying of a terminal illness, but otherwise is a unique and creative story.

I Read 16% of the book, there were a few scenes that I liked, one which included the Washington ladder that I hadn't heard of. But otherwise this book was not for me.

Ich habe mich über das Buch sehr gefreut. Es ist nicht nur fließend zum lesen sondern auch sehr spannend.

I gave this book almost 100 pages and I just don’t understand what the plot is. The email at the very start hints at something big happening, but nothing has happened yet. I also thought this was going to be a more futuristic story and am not getting that. I hope the right audience find this book but its not for me.

THAT’S IT?? Ah man, I don’t even know where to start. To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when getting into this book. I thought I had a general idea, but I was way off and I think that honestly worked out for the better. When the mid-book-twist was revealed, I was like HUH? I’m so glad I kept reading because I enjoyed the development of the plot so much! The character’s dynamic did fall a BIT flat for me but in the end, I was interested in reading how it would all end for the FMC. There were also a few characters that were introduced but were quickly forgotten? However, I did like the sense of community that they added to the FMC’s story. The ending was so cute but also left me with so many questions?? The author does hint that this isn’t the end, so we will see!

If the brief synopsis sounded interesting and you were considering picking up this book, I’d say DO IT! I WILL be picking up a copy of the official book when it comes out Oct. 8th!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
It took me a while to finish this book, not because I didn't like it, but simply because I am a mood reader... I was going through a phase of only wanting to read fantasy books, and I wanted to give this book a fair chance.

This novel offers a fascinating glimpse into a future shaped by climate change and its long-term impacts on people's lives. One striking moment for me was when Stevie noticed the absence of birdsong, highlighting a silence due to the environmental changes.
Another aspect I found captivating was the continuous intertwining of Native communities and their languages, along with the unique presence of emails throughtout the book, which provided an interesting perspective.

This is one of those books that makes you wonder: if I had the chance to know the future, what would I do? Who would I save? And what pieces of art must be preserved?

The first half of this novel is very slow and then suddenly it becomes dystopian. The end of the world as we know it, love that is not limited by time as we know it.
A little bit of Cherokee history, art and culture, a bit of climate change, a bit of racism, a bit of prepperism.

The Art Thieves asks questions like, what art is worth preserving? And how far would you go to save the ones you love?

Stevie's half brother is allergic to everything, not ideal for an apocalypse. Her job at the museum helps her find fulfillment, and maybe romance, but then she finds out about an impending apocalypse from a time traveller.

Stevie is a Cherokee citizen and her Nativeness and Native community feature prominently. In the real world, Natives already exist in their apocalypse, so seeing how the tribes react to another one was very cool.

This is a Indigenous futurism at its finest. The Art Thieves from the future are trying to preserve things that have been lost to time for the future, the real ones that might get lost to time.

It's up to you as the reader to decide what was worth saving, and if they chose correctly. My opinion is that they did.

Stevie loves to look at The Ladder, whenever their shift allows, they are in the room it calls home, drawing it. Stevie’s little brother Levi is her whole world, alongside her parents, best friends Jess and Loren, and her aunties. But when Adam join the museum as an artist intern, Stevie’s world expands, even as it collapses.

Set in a future impacted by ecological collapse, pandemics, and war, The Art Thieves is heavily inspired by the Afrofuturism movement. Andrea Rogers adapts the movement for her own Cherokee culture with great success. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Afrofuturism, sci-fi stories, and stories of climate change.

Content warning for sexual assault and pedophilia.

Let me start by saying this isn't the kind of story I normally gravitate to, but I am a huge fan of Man Made Monsters, so I had to read this one.
Once I started this book, however, I was immediately hooked. There's just something about Andrea Rodgers' writing that just keeps you reading.
So if book about the apocalypse, time travel, and environmentalism are you're thing I highly recommend this book.

I love anything art related so I was intrigued by the title. It was a cute YA that I would recommend to any age