a_bookish_problem 's review for:

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

4.0

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book. 

Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief is a story of a mysterious merchant, her jinn bodyguard, and a sheltered prince in disguise who go on a quest to retrieve a legendary magic lamp. 

I make no secret of my love of a strong female lead. Loulie wasn’t my favorite one, but Aisha stole my heart from the beginning. She seemed far more alive and fully-fleshed than the intended main character did. The pace through the first half of the book wasn’t entirely slow but things definitely picked up about 60% in and my interest was hooked for the rest of the book. While the author doesn’t go into overly-descriptive detail of the surroundings, she still manages to build an atmosphere that I could feel while reading. 

This book is classified as Adult but aside from some descriptive violence when fighting there isn’t anything I would say couldn’t be read by a YA audience. My personal preference would have been to explore a bit darker themes, but Abdullah did a great job of fleshing out a world that I will be happy to return to in the sequel.