Flauschbuch reviewed The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1)
Wants too much, does too little
3 stars
Given the way this book is promoted as a take on the story of the 40 thieves and 1001 nights I expected this to be a sort of adventure narrative in which the protagonists have to overcome obstacles by being clever and inventive (possibly, I misremember those tales). And while we do get the adventure (a road trip through the desert in search of a powerful magical artefact) all the obstacles are basically solved with combat. The action scenes become a little repetitive after a while. Speaking of combat, there's a lot of violence in this book. The bodycount is really high. Accordingly, there's also a lot of trauma the various characters have experienced in the past or experience during the book. Too much which the author doesn't (and can't) adequately deal with. The book has some interesting characters and some intriguing themes - heritage and its obligations, burdens and …
Given the way this book is promoted as a take on the story of the 40 thieves and 1001 nights I expected this to be a sort of adventure narrative in which the protagonists have to overcome obstacles by being clever and inventive (possibly, I misremember those tales). And while we do get the adventure (a road trip through the desert in search of a powerful magical artefact) all the obstacles are basically solved with combat. The action scenes become a little repetitive after a while. Speaking of combat, there's a lot of violence in this book. The bodycount is really high. Accordingly, there's also a lot of trauma the various characters have experienced in the past or experience during the book. Too much which the author doesn't (and can't) adequately deal with. The book has some interesting characters and some intriguing themes - heritage and its obligations, burdens and guilt; power and who gets to wield it; exploitation. I also really liked the stories being told throughout the book. In summary, the author probably tried to include too much (there's also some palace intrigue) and thus ends up doing too little with all the interesting stuff. Nevertheless, it is a solid adventure novel until the last chapter or two when a lot of unearned reveals just happen out of nowhere and it all gets really confusing. The ending kind of put me off from wanting to read the sequel.
