Sorry somehow requested twice, will review on the other download once I have read. Sorry to be a pain.

I loved the worldbuilding and fairy tale-feel of this book. It had very interesting characters and lore.
Unfortunately the story progressed quite slowly and not much happened overall until towards the end.

interesting world building and strong characters! the story upheld what it promised. solid 3.5 stars

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah is an epic start to a trilogy inspired by One Thousand and One Nights.

Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn.

This Arab-inspired fantasy alternates between three perspectives. The writing style was brilliant and had me hooked from the start, with amazing world building that made me feel like I was there with the characters. The pace was a tad slow at the beginning, but the picked up after that with a nic balance between action scenes and scenes of quiet.

The characterization was also brilliant, each of the personalities shone through and I liked that they were all challenged to do something. I think my favorites are definitely Qadir and Aisha.

I can't wait to read the next book which will be out soon. One I would love to recommend to others.

Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights the book follows Loulie al-Nazari, a criminal with a jinn helper who hunts and sells illegal magic. The attracts the attention of the Sultan when she saves his son, and he forces her and his son into carrying out a task his forty theives have failed at, locating the lamp. This magical and powerful object can transform the kingdom and bring proserity, albeit with drawbacks like the end of all jinns..

What should have been a thrilling tale that jumps between the 3 mains MCs as they journey across the deserts, uncover ancient temples and magics, and foil plans and have epic fights....it just...went on
I love worldbuilding, but this book really had a lot of it! So much so that it dragged quite a bit for the middle section. I came close to DNF-ing.

However, it did ramp up towards the end which saved it, and ended on a superb cliffhanger.
For fans of City of Brass I'd say this is a sure win.

Neither here nor there, but long ago…"The Stardust Thief" by Chelsea Abdullah is an utterly enchanting read.

Loosely based on One Thousand and One Nights, the story does a brilliant job of weaving adventure, mythology and magic!

I really felt like I got to know the four main characters and their motivations, Mazen in particular is full of charm. I also enjoyed reading the relationships between each character grow and develop in a realistic way.

The writing is descriptive, creating a vivid setting. The world building gradually unfurls as the characters travel across the dessert meeting mythical creatures and magical challenges,

The pacing was a little slow at times but by the end I was totally immersed in the story. I cannot wait to read the next book to find out what else is in store for these characters.

4.5 stars
Why did I leave this one for so long?! This was such an amazing story and I'm now eagerly awaiting the next book!

Chelsea Abdullah did not hold back her punches with this one and I found myself eagerly reading on as I needed to know what happened next!

These characters were amazing and so well written. I couldn't help but grow to love the group and I especially loved Loulie.

I recommend this to anyone trying to fill the hole left by the Daevabad trilogy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I found the passing of this book to be very slow and it seemed that were always traveling around. I found I always felt like it was building up and up but nothing was happening. I love these types of books and had high hope but unfortunately it fell flat.

This Arabian Nights-inspired fantasy debut was incredibly immersive, creative and unique. This is the kind of book which truly transports the reader to another world, with vivid descriptions of adventures across the desert filled with magical twists and turns. It's got princes, jinn and - of course - a magical ancient lamp. I found it a little slow-moving at times, but that may be because fantasy isn't my preferred genre. But the characters were well-drawn and the world was incredible. If you love all things fantasy, I'd recommend bumping this one up your list.

i love books with arabian settings, and this time, it's one inspired by the one thousand and one night? i'm in. i really like the world the author created, and our main characters, she's definitely interesting. i would love to say that the other main characters are my favorites too, but, well, i have a type. and that type was Omar. Omar and his forty thieves. i admit that he's the reason i'm anticipating the sequel.

The Stardust Thief is an adventure story filled with magic, following Loulie, the Midnight Merchant, her partner and jinn Qadir, Prince Mazen and thief Alisha as they travel to find an enchanted lamp.

I liked the relationship between Loulie and Qadir, they have an almost father and daughter dynamic. That said, at 20 years old Loulie still acts pretty petulant, especially towards Qadir, even ungrateful at times around someone who has no obligation to be there and effectively serve her. The relationship while sweet at times, is very one sided, although we do learn more about this relationship and the origins behind it as the book goes on.

Loulie is a strong character, motivated by what is right even when it scares or angers her. That said, she isn’t written as a 20 year old woman, there’s quite a bit of sulking and silent treatment going on, a lot of impulsiveness without thought or planning, and a lot of evading responsibilities. This is book 1 so I expect the character to develop but yeah, she reads a lot younger than she should. She’s an entertaining character though.
Aisha is by far the best character in this book, she starts off withdrawn, shaped by her vengeance, Jinns killed her family and killing them in return is all she lives for. Aisha starts the story effectively against Loulie, Qadir and Mazen, her loyalty, as a Kings thief, to Omar the prince, her loyalty unquestioned. As the book progresses though, you see the layers to Aisha’s, the person beneath what has happened to her.

Now, my main problem with this book - Mazen. Mazen is a wet blanket of a boy, a bumbling, irresponsible dead weight. He knows what is right and wrong and yet he feels powerless to stand up against it so he does nothing. Even his reason for being blackmailed, he would rather die in the desert and be a liability to the group than risk being trapped in the palace (like Hakim who, you guessed it, is trapped because of him).While Loulie endangers herself to try do or right something, Mazen feels sorry for himself, a self confessed coward, and feels sorry for others but resigns himself to suffering. He also resents his brother Omar and yet falls pretty easily into behaving like him at the expense of kindness. Mazen is also painfully inconsistent, for example he refers to his brother, the jinn killer, as a murderer, is horrified by the blood he has spilled, and yet “Omar was insufferable, but he was still his brother. He would have to be insane to trust a killer over him”. He also forgets a major atrocity that Omar commits because he wanted to forget it.

With Mazen smitten with Loulie and likewise we get the comments of her noticing his “starry eyes”, I’m worried romance between the 2 is on the cards, which would be disappointing. I really enjoyed Ahmed and Loulie together and love was there, although impossible. Mazen however is so different to Loulie it wouldn’t make sense. While Ahmed takes full responsibility for something that happens (that actually Mazen allowed to happen), when it comes to his own actions, Mazen is all thought, he lacks any substance at all in a book sandwiched by 2 strong willed, complex and driven women. You don’t need to have a fearless, testosterone fuelled action man, but you can’t even say he’s the morals or scheming of the group, he’s just a wet noodle. Instead of “coward” used, and boy is that word using, it would be replaced with privileged. As the youngest son, as a prince, he doesn’t need to blood his hands or stand for something, his protected life means he can afford to be weak, unlike Loulie and Aisha who have been forced to survive. And yet both these women have to mother him and praise him for doing something when he actually does something as if he were a child. Any looming romance would just make no sense and yet it’s inevitable.

Now the writing. The style is easy to read making this a relatively quick read because it’s easily digestible, there’s also some nice sections of story telling. But it’s also repetitive at times. Like I’ve said above, the word “coward” when describing Mazen, either in his narrative or in conversation, is used too freely it becomes tiresome. The trope of killing characters, dragging out their mourning and then bringing them back, also overused. Then another character is just casually killed off the page :/ There’s also vagueness on how the magic in the relics works, namely the body switching bangles. If you are injured when you have switched bodies, who is injured? Who would die? It’s not really explained and yet would have huge repercussions.

This is an enjoyable enough book as an adventure story, if Mazen weren’t in the book as a token love interest, make it about 2 strong women on opposite sides of a cause, or put Omar with Loulie on the adventure, and this would’ve been a totally different, more interesting dynamic. The writing is pleasant enough, the world building is enjoyable (although vague at times) but I don’t think I will continue with the books because I don’t want to tolerate a romance, but I would like to know more about Alisha’s future and more about Qadir’s past.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved the writing in this one, and the story. My only issue was just at times it felt like a long read when it shouldn't have. However, it really is a stunning debut, I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!

Really loved the arabian setting in this ya fantasy. The plot was interesting but I loved the characters more. You had the typical broody Prince, the jester, the bad ass femme fatale, the nerd, but in a fantasy world. Definitely recommend

Oh my goodness, this book was GORGEOUS. Packed with lush mythology, vividly realised characters and SO MUCH VOICE, it sucked me right into its world and I was hooked (genuinely struggled to put it down once I got going which says a lot as I have been stuck in a major reading slump!). I adored Loulie, Mazen, Qadir and Aisha, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!

his is such a stunning adventure!

one that weaves lush mythology and vibrant world-building to create an immerse narrative that you wont want to leave. it does an amazing job of incorporating the tales from ‘a thousand and one nights’ within a fresh and engaging plot. and the characters are such exciting travel companions every step of the way.

i have been desperate for something to fill the void that the end of ‘the daevabad trilogy’ created, and this fits perfectly. i cant wait for this series to continue!

such a massive thanks to orbit books for the ARC!!

The Stardust Thief is the kind of book that you're enjoy reading, you're having a nice enough time with it, but at the end of the day you do realise that it was all a bit underwhelming. Not in the way that it's badly written (like I said, you are having fun with it!), but kind of unpolished. Maybe not given the right amount of care. And maybe the author not having enough confidence in both her own writing skills, and the readers' reading comprehension skills.

Because the main issue with The Stardust Thief is its worldbuilding. It's interesting, the bones are right there to make something great, but it's just... not. It doesn't live up to its potential. It doesn't have enough depth. Looks like the author, in order to avoid info-dumping (which in itself is a good thing), accidentally also avoided adding some meat to said bones. And it's disappointing since it's very clear she would be able to make it better, that she has the skill for it.

I'm not sure I will be picking up the sequel, but I will be interested in any new series from Abdullah.

Incredible adventure Middle Eastern fantasy with an iconic main protagonist. This book was so well paced and easy to follow despite multiple POVs. Can’t wait for the sequel

The Stardist Thief is a very good novel, that I enjoyed reading. I particularly loved the tales that are imbricated into the story and is very original.
The plot is quite good, full of twists and I had a great time. Worldbuilding is also very complete.
Characters are very realistic, with coherent emotions and feelings. The relation between Loulie and Qadir is very beautiful, I loved their friendship.

I love the journey, would definitively recommand !

I found this a bit tricky to get into. There's a lot of lore. There were parts I Ioved - the desert world, the culture, the main character. But the pacing was off and it's very slow in the middle.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC to review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the storytelling, narrative voice, and the worldbuilding was so lush.