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kjthenerd3's review against another edition
4.0
This book had me totally hooked from the first couple of chapters, but that ending gave me whiplash for REAL. There were some literary elements that made it feel like it was dragging a bit in the middle, but a 4.5/5 for plot.
thephdivabooks's review against another edition
3.0
Alina Boyden’s Stealing Thunder tells the story of Razia Khan, who was born as the Crown Prince with wealth, status, and power beyond what most will experience. Razia was also born as a woman in a man’s body, and she gave up all of her wealth and power to become her true feminine self and leave behind the hatred she faced from her father. Razia now lives with means far below the most debased laborers and works as a courtesan in Bikampur by day and a thief by night. If her past were to be revealed, she would risk a death sentence. Razia has caught the interest of Prince Arjun of Bikampur. Their connection is strong and their romance becomes a main part of the story, and their connection is threatened by the game of cat and mouse they find themselves in (Arjun is looking to catch the thief in Bikampur, and Razia is the thief).
I enjoyed seeing trans representation—both in the FMC and the author herself. Razia is a strong character and she is created in a way that doesn’t overly rely on her status as a trans woman. Her transition happened before the book, so Razia is finally living externally as the woman she always was inside. One thing I liked was that Boyden wrote Razia as a cunning, kind, flawed woman. She wasn’t overly perfect or imperfect, which made her feel real and not like a character in a book. I think the author being trans helped to avoid some of the potholes I see authors fall into trying to write trans characters, where they become too concerned with uplifting the trans character that they don’t make them a whole person with strengths and flaws. The trans characters tend to be all bad or all good—Razia was imperfectly both.
The story itself wasn’t for me, though I liked aspects of it. One thing I’ll mention—this is billed as an adult fantasy novel but it reads firmly Young Adult fantasy, both in style and characterizations. There is a villainous character named Karim who is also a prince and who assaulted Razia before her transition when she was living as Prince Salim. By the end of the book, I felt that Karim was presented in a somewhat heroic way that felt disingenuous to his actions earlier in the book and his lack of remorse. I also found the plot to be a bit meandering, though I admit that YA fantasy is not a favorite genre of mine and I may be the wrong reader for it. Sometimes the world building makes my eyes glaze over, because I am after all a character-driven reader.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.
I enjoyed seeing trans representation—both in the FMC and the author herself. Razia is a strong character and she is created in a way that doesn’t overly rely on her status as a trans woman. Her transition happened before the book, so Razia is finally living externally as the woman she always was inside. One thing I liked was that Boyden wrote Razia as a cunning, kind, flawed woman. She wasn’t overly perfect or imperfect, which made her feel real and not like a character in a book. I think the author being trans helped to avoid some of the potholes I see authors fall into trying to write trans characters, where they become too concerned with uplifting the trans character that they don’t make them a whole person with strengths and flaws. The trans characters tend to be all bad or all good—Razia was imperfectly both.
The story itself wasn’t for me, though I liked aspects of it. One thing I’ll mention—this is billed as an adult fantasy novel but it reads firmly Young Adult fantasy, both in style and characterizations. There is a villainous character named Karim who is also a prince and who assaulted Razia before her transition when she was living as Prince Salim. By the end of the book, I felt that Karim was presented in a somewhat heroic way that felt disingenuous to his actions earlier in the book and his lack of remorse. I also found the plot to be a bit meandering, though I admit that YA fantasy is not a favorite genre of mine and I may be the wrong reader for it. Sometimes the world building makes my eyes glaze over, because I am after all a character-driven reader.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.
vmayne's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
gabalodon's review against another edition
5.0
I looooved Razia and her sisters and I loooooooooved the zahhaks!!! I thought the action and plot and pacing were great. The narrative voice would get lost in the weeds sometimes and repeat reflections, I didn't think Arjun had much of a personality, and occasionally Razia's choices went contrary to previous inner dialogue. But overall I enjoyed the read, the political strategies were interesting, it was hard to put down, and especially by the end I was very invested in seeing Razia shine, so I rounded up. I already read the back to the second and all I can say is I can't wait for her to stab someone else in the throat.
desperatecheesecubes's review against another edition
adventurous
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
kcreadsthings's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
honeycupreads's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.25
I honestly don’t know where to start with this review, I hated this book so much. There are so many things about this book that pissed me off that I genuinely lost count. I originally was going to DNF it but then it got so bad that I knew I needed to finish it so I could write this review tearing it to shreds.
Starting, I just want to say as a cis white woman I won’t be going into much detail about how race or transphobia were handled in this book because I don’t believe it is my place. However, what I will say is that I feel like both topics were handled pretty poorly. Within the first chapter, we meet our MMC, Arjun, and immediately Boyden chooses to use food to describe his eye color and I knew it would be downhill from there. It’s pretty well known that when writing poc, you shouldn’t use food as descriptive words, but even if Boyden was unaware when starting this novel, one quick Google search would tell you that. As for transphobia, I cannot say much seeing as Boyden is trans so I don’t feel as though I should critique the way she chooses to write about the trans experience. What I can talk about, however, is how incredibly useless and vile the male characters were in this book.
Arjun is one of the most horribly written male characters I have come across and I was reading Wattpad fanfiction in 2013. In the very beginning of this book when he finds out that Razia is the heir to the throne of Nizam and promises that he will keep her and her secret safe, he then chooses to spend the rest of the book doing the exact opposite. Over the next two days, he says nothing while his father repeatedly makes vile transphobic comments about her and then he lets her identity become the knowledge of not only his father and his court but the man who sexually assaulted Razia when she was eleven. Her identity is revealed several more times throughout the book and every time he stands there without even attempting to protect her. One particular moment of Arjun’s that made me want to light this book on fire is when he and Razia are discussing the attack on the Firangi ships and she expresses the grief she feels for the zahhaks that were killed and he says “I think you made the right choice becoming a hijra, Razia.” as if being trans was just a choice she decided to make one day.
I honestly don’t know if I fully want to get into how much Karim and Udai suck but in the hopes that someone who is contemplating reading this book comes across this review and decides to not pick it up, I will continue. I will start with Udai because I think I will be able to keep his shorter (this is not a promise). We meet Udai shortly after meeting Arjun and immediately he is horrible, repeatedly making transphobic comments and treating Razia as if she is weak and not worthy of basic respect. Any time he begins to show the smallest, most basic signs of respecting Razia he says something disgusting about her to follow it up or it’s just the most backhanded compliment of all time. The thing that pissed me off the most about his character progression is that the closer we get to the end of the book the “nicer” he becomes, even hugging her when they make it back from stealing the thunder zahhaks. None of this respect came for free though, he couldn't be kind to her until she “proved” herself repeatedly before almost dying by scaling a 200-foot cliff.
Shockingly enough as terrible as he is Karim is so much worse somehow. We meet Karim in chapter 9 right after we find out that he SA’d Razia when she was younger and unfortunately, he is there like a parasite for the rest of the book (and no he doesn't get killed off, although that might’ve bumped this from .25 stars to .5 stars). I think I could find a million different things to hate about him and his role in this book but I will try and keep this as short as possible. After he finds out Razia's identity the first thing he says is that “the breasts are a nice touch.” and she “was a pretty little thing even then, and I knew you wanted it.” The next day they go to his home and he then reveals her secret to his father and a dozen of his father's guards (being utterly useless again, Arjun says nothing. I mean if nothing else at least he’s consistent). After a meeting with their fathers, where Karim deadnames her for probably the 20th time, he asks Arjun to accompany him for some wine knowing that Razia will have to come along. It is in this scene that Karim's blatant disrespect and transphobia are boiled down to JEALOUSY. If you think you read that wrong I am here to clarify that you most certainly did not, the big reason that Karim is being gross and transphobic isn't because he is simply a piece of shit, no, it’s because he is jealous, and wants Razia for himself. As if everything I’ve already said about him wasn’t bad enough it seems as though Boyden was trying to redeem him in the last half of this book. When they are stealing the thunder zahhaks there are at least two times where Razia talks about helping her friends get into the palace, not “my friends and Karim” no, just “my friends” as if she simply no longer cared about what Karim did to her. There are also two additional scenes where it becomes pretty obvious that we are supposed to see a “change” in Karim, the first being when they are flying into battle and he says “You’ve already proved me wrong,” which is then followed up by Razia's inner monologue where she says “which was a more generous gesture than I’d ever expected from him. I still hated him for what he’d done to me, but I supposed maybe he’d done the growing up my cousin Rashid hadn’t." as if sexually assaulting someone is a result of being young and that rapist’s simply “grow out of it”. The second scene also shows again how useless Arjun is and how no one in this book shows Razia basic human respect until she has “proven herself worthy.” When the battle has ended and they are speaking with Razia’s father, he states that he plans to kill her, who comes to her defense you ask? Not Arjun, not even Udai, it’s Karim who starts singing her praises as if he hasn’t been horrible to her throughout this entire book, and even before that.
Honestly, there is so much more I could say about this book but I simply feel as if what I have already said wasn’t enough to dissuade you from reading it nothing I say further will change your mind. The premise of this story had so much potential but it was executed in the worst way possible I feel bad for Razia because she deserved so much better in every sense of the word.
(Thank you to my friends Adi, Ani, and Marz [@starzreads] for proofreading this review for me!!)
Starting, I just want to say as a cis white woman I won’t be going into much detail about how race or transphobia were handled in this book because I don’t believe it is my place. However, what I will say is that I feel like both topics were handled pretty poorly. Within the first chapter, we meet our MMC, Arjun, and immediately Boyden chooses to use food to describe his eye color and I knew it would be downhill from there. It’s pretty well known that when writing poc, you shouldn’t use food as descriptive words, but even if Boyden was unaware when starting this novel, one quick Google search would tell you that. As for transphobia, I cannot say much seeing as Boyden is trans so I don’t feel as though I should critique the way she chooses to write about the trans experience. What I can talk about, however, is how incredibly useless and vile the male characters were in this book.
Arjun is one of the most horribly written male characters I have come across and I was reading Wattpad fanfiction in 2013. In the very beginning of this book when he finds out that Razia is the heir to the throne of Nizam and promises that he will keep her and her secret safe, he then chooses to spend the rest of the book doing the exact opposite. Over the next two days, he says nothing while his father repeatedly makes vile transphobic comments about her and then he lets her identity become the knowledge of not only his father and his court but the man who sexually assaulted Razia when she was eleven. Her identity is revealed several more times throughout the book and every time he stands there without even attempting to protect her. One particular moment of Arjun’s that made me want to light this book on fire is when he and Razia are discussing the attack on the Firangi ships and she expresses the grief she feels for the zahhaks that were killed and he says “I think you made the right choice becoming a hijra, Razia.” as if being trans was just a choice she decided to make one day.
I honestly don’t know if I fully want to get into how much Karim and Udai suck but in the hopes that someone who is contemplating reading this book comes across this review and decides to not pick it up, I will continue. I will start with Udai because I think I will be able to keep his shorter (this is not a promise). We meet Udai shortly after meeting Arjun and immediately he is horrible, repeatedly making transphobic comments and treating Razia as if she is weak and not worthy of basic respect. Any time he begins to show the smallest, most basic signs of respecting Razia he says something disgusting about her to follow it up or it’s just the most backhanded compliment of all time. The thing that pissed me off the most about his character progression is that the closer we get to the end of the book the “nicer” he becomes, even hugging her when they make it back from stealing the thunder zahhaks. None of this respect came for free though, he couldn't be kind to her until she “proved” herself repeatedly before almost dying by scaling a 200-foot cliff.
Shockingly enough as terrible as he is Karim is so much worse somehow. We meet Karim in chapter 9 right after we find out that he SA’d Razia when she was younger and unfortunately, he is there like a parasite for the rest of the book (and no he doesn't get killed off, although that might’ve bumped this from .25 stars to .5 stars). I think I could find a million different things to hate about him and his role in this book but I will try and keep this as short as possible. After he finds out Razia's identity the first thing he says is that “the breasts are a nice touch.” and she “was a pretty little thing even then, and I knew you wanted it.” The next day they go to his home and he then reveals her secret to his father and a dozen of his father's guards (being utterly useless again, Arjun says nothing. I mean if nothing else at least he’s consistent). After a meeting with their fathers, where Karim deadnames her for probably the 20th time, he asks Arjun to accompany him for some wine knowing that Razia will have to come along. It is in this scene that Karim's blatant disrespect and transphobia are boiled down to JEALOUSY. If you think you read that wrong I am here to clarify that you most certainly did not, the big reason that Karim is being gross and transphobic isn't because he is simply a piece of shit, no, it’s because he is jealous, and wants Razia for himself. As if everything I’ve already said about him wasn’t bad enough it seems as though Boyden was trying to redeem him in the last half of this book. When they are stealing the thunder zahhaks there are at least two times where Razia talks about helping her friends get into the palace, not “my friends and Karim” no, just “my friends” as if she simply no longer cared about what Karim did to her. There are also two additional scenes where it becomes pretty obvious that we are supposed to see a “change” in Karim, the first being when they are flying into battle and he says “You’ve already proved me wrong,” which is then followed up by Razia's inner monologue where she says “which was a more generous gesture than I’d ever expected from him. I still hated him for what he’d done to me, but I supposed maybe he’d done the growing up my cousin Rashid hadn’t." as if sexually assaulting someone is a result of being young and that rapist’s simply “grow out of it”. The second scene also shows again how useless Arjun is and how no one in this book shows Razia basic human respect until she has “proven herself worthy.” When the battle has ended and they are speaking with Razia’s father, he states that he plans to kill her, who comes to her defense you ask? Not Arjun, not even Udai, it’s Karim who starts singing her praises as if he hasn’t been horrible to her throughout this entire book, and even before that.
Honestly, there is so much more I could say about this book but I simply feel as if what I have already said wasn’t enough to dissuade you from reading it nothing I say further will change your mind. The premise of this story had so much potential but it was executed in the worst way possible I feel bad for Razia because she deserved so much better in every sense of the word.
(Thank you to my friends Adi, Ani, and Marz [@starzreads] for proofreading this review for me!!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Rape, and Transphobia
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, War, and Pedophilia
Minor: Death, Ableism, and Misogyny
photopotamus's review against another edition
I really wanted to like this book, but I didn't. Running into distasteful stuff - like blatant colorism - didn't feel sensitively handled and instead felt like endorsement from the writer, even though I am assuming that the intention is reflecting real cultural biases and stigmas. I also hated the character Arjun - lots of promises to protect followed by sitting by silently as Razia is seriously abused by his dad & friends.
It may be that this story just isn't for me. I hope the folks it's for find it!
It may be that this story just isn't for me. I hope the folks it's for find it!
whatsmacksaid's review against another edition
5.0
I loved it, Alina Boyden is going on my auto-buy list. It’s a simple story told on a grand scale—Razia is looking for love and security in life, and she finds it. Also, there are feathered dragons. Highly recommend this book.
rhensie's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I really wanted (and still do want) to like this book more than I actually did. It has a trans protagonist, dragons, and a super interesting setting. But there are major hurdles preventing me from enjoying this as much as I wish that I did:
1) Instalove. I can cope with this, sometimes, but this is just beyond the realms of believability, considering the circumstances. The whole book takes place in what, a week? Two? And I'm meant to believe that such a strong relationship built int hat time? It was pretty frustrating to be honest.
2) There is a lot of repetition of the same thoughts throughout this book. This was the first thing that started to turn me off it a bit. It's very strange. A lot of the thoughts themselves are interesting - but you can only hear the same thing so many times before you get annoyed. And sometimes it felt like the author had forgotten that she'd said the same thing 2 pages earlier?
3) (CW: CSA, rape)The idea that Razia just... seems to sort of forget that Karim raped her as a child is beyond me. That she in any way has camaraderie with this man is just bizarre. Why did Karim even stick around? I really dislike this plot point.
4) How is it physically possible that Razia has the answer to actually everything? How have these generals survived more than 6 months on their own? Honestly, it feels pretty much like a dead world MMO - the actual world would not survive without the protagonist of the book to hold it up. I like the idea of her securing her place in the court, but this is honestly just outrageously beyond my suspension of disbelief.
5) The ending. Why? I hate it? Why would that be the choice made?
6) There were some bright sparks of characters here that could have been interesting, but other than Lakshmi (and actually Udai to some extent) they weren't, really. Everyone was either too evil or too perfect.
7) The whole premise of the plot is 'if anyone finds out Razia's father/deadname, she will die' AND YET SOMEHOW WITHIN 100 PAGES LITERALLY EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER KNOWS?!?!?!?!??!? Actually, the middle of this book is just insanely infuriating and repetitive, plot wise. The ending starts to get interesting again, but as the ick with Karim.
1) Instalove. I can cope with this, sometimes, but this is just beyond the realms of believability, considering the circumstances. The whole book takes place in what, a week? Two? And I'm meant to believe that such a strong relationship built int hat time? It was pretty frustrating to be honest.
2) There is a lot of repetition of the same thoughts throughout this book. This was the first thing that started to turn me off it a bit. It's very strange. A lot of the thoughts themselves are interesting - but you can only hear the same thing so many times before you get annoyed. And sometimes it felt like the author had forgotten that she'd said the same thing 2 pages earlier?
3) (CW: CSA, rape)
4) How is it physically possible that Razia has the answer to actually everything? How have these generals survived more than 6 months on their own? Honestly, it feels pretty much like a dead world MMO - the actual world would not survive without the protagonist of the book to hold it up. I like the idea of her securing her place in the court, but this is honestly just outrageously beyond my suspension of disbelief.
5) The ending. Why? I hate it? Why would that be the choice made?
6) There were some bright sparks of characters here that could have been interesting, but other than Lakshmi (and actually Udai to some extent) they weren't, really. Everyone was either too evil or too perfect.
7) The whole premise of the plot is 'if anyone finds out Razia's father/deadname, she will die' AND YET SOMEHOW WITHIN 100 PAGES LITERALLY EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER KNOWS?!?!?!?!??!? Actually, the middle of this book is just insanely infuriating and repetitive, plot wise. The ending starts to get interesting again, but as the ick with Karim.