A review by booksthatburn
Stealing Thunder by Alina Boyden

Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.
The more I realized what was happening in the plot, the less I liked it. First, the things I liked: Razia has a consistent manner of referring to her past as a prince, and a confident way of presenting herself now as a hirja. Trans identity is complicated, and reading a story starring someone in another culture with an experience I partially recognize is nice.

I love heist books and was hoping to love this too. But I find myself realizing that part of what I love about heist stories is someone enthusiastically using their wits to accomplish something difficult and dangerous. Razia is stealing on behalf of someone whom she eventually realizes is exploiting her, and she doesn’t want to do it. She recognizes that now that she has a patron there’s no reason to steal, and it’s actually a terrible idea. She doesn’t want to do it, and I don’t want to read it. Also, it’s hard to feel good about the romance plot when she’s a child being sexually exploited as a courtesan, and the romance is with an adult (at least as far as I can tell) who starts out as a client.
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