The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Stardust Thief was another one of my “by-the-cover” buys. Absolutely beautiful cover. I couldn’t resist. It went on my never-ending, taller than the Eiffel Tower TBR and that’s where it stayed for over a year. In the meantime I was one of the authors participating in a signing that Ms. Abdullah was also part of, so of course I had to have it signed. Back to the TBR for almost another year. A few weeks ago I finally picked it up, began reading it, and loved it!
The story does have a YA tone but it does have quite a bit of graphic violence, so be aware of that in case you have a younger YA who wants to read it.
Great story, awesome characters, magical setting. I loved that it was peppered with so much folklore and mythology. Being a linguist (AKA language nerd), I really enjoyed the addition of Arabic words and phrases throughout the story. I also liked the very slow burn romance(s?) budding between a few characters and the (however surrogate) father-daughter relationship between the Midnight Merchant and her jinn companion.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the character arc for Aisha. Loved it and it was very well-done.
Now a quick word about the audio book (I have both audio and print). Because it’s a story told in three POVs, it’s also narrated by three different voice actors. I have to say that I am not a fan. Because each individual actor voices the characters in a different way, it was jarring for me to hear Loulie’s dialogue in three very different voices. Same with other characters in the book. Just a personal preference.
Highly recommend this book.
Author Natalina Reis 