Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

13 reviews

angela005's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Genocide, and Torture

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Infidelity, War, and Forced institutionalization

angiedotthereader's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

What an adventure! Chelsea Abdullah is now one of my favorite fantasy authors. Her imagination is out of this world and I was so immersed in the desert world that she created in this book. 

There is a lot going on in this story and some chapters were very jam packed, and I had to take breaks from reading to ruminate and make sense of the story. 

Overall I cannot wait for the second book in this series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Genocide, Violence, and Murder

laura_mcloughlin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

 

For the most part I enjoyed this book. The world building and characters are good, but the pacing was a bit off. Things got real exciting about the 60% mark, then slowed down to a crawl until right at the end. This is part 1 of a trilogy and the ending felt a bit abrupt. I do look forward to reading part 2 next month when it comes out.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Murder, Death of parent, and Violence

ofheartsandaros's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol

angeldevoursliterature's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Confinement, Grief, and Genocide

Minor: Cursing

stargazer_ley's review

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The facinating focus on Arabic cultures is a pleasant change of pace for me, however I found myself wanting a glossary to define certain terms. While context provided some measure of assistance, I would have preferred actually having the information (Google is exactly helpful when I don't know what I'm trying to find.) That said the characters and story were compelling and I found myself constantly having to mentally update my theories. It was overall a good book that I'm glad I purchased and I am looking forward to getting the next volume. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Racism, Grief, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Cursing

kirchnerkd's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder

kbairbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This. Was. Everything. Fans of the City of Brass Trilogy I have found our newest obsession. This was AMAZING. I’m literally speechless. So this is the end of the review. READ THIS BOOK.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Alcohol, and Animal death

elizabeth_lepore's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexism

asipofcozy's review

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I could not for the life of me figure out what I wanted to rate this book. I yanked between a 3.75 and 4 star for the last hour and still my mind is warring with me.

The Stardust Thief is a story filled with magic, stories, flawed characters, and betrayal. I mean what more could a girl want. I instantly fell in love with the worldbuilding and the magic system. I felt immersed in the stories that were being told, and it was almost like I was transported into the world when everyone gathered to listen to the old storytellers.

We end up following the POV's of Mazen (the prince), Aisha (the thief), and Loulie (the merchant). There is nothing I love more than flawed characters that struggle with their inner beliefs and views of the outside world. It makes the story all that more enjoyable. Even when Mazen's naive characteristics drove me up the wall, I still enjoyed reading about his struggles of family duty and want of adventure. These flaws also make for great character develoment and complicated characters - which is a big win for me.

Where my rating debate comes in is the writing style and how the book reads. This is labeled as an adult, yet reads and comes across as YA. I wanted more intricate adult fantasy descriptions and in-depth knowledge behind the magic system that most adult fantasy's give. However, The Stardust Thief is lacking in this aspect. While I enjoyed the fast pacing plot and the quick action that had me turning the pages. I wanted those moments of deep imagery, especially in a world that is colorful and full of jinn and magic. 

Given that, I still can't wait to pick up the next book when it releases.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Animal death

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, and War