The Stardust Thief

by Chelsea Abdullah

English language

Published Sept. 28, 2022 by Orbit.

ISBN:: 978-0-316-36876-6

(14 reviews)

Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a magical lamp.

Neither here nor there, but long ago...

Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp.

Neither here nor there, but long ago...

With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan's oldest son to find the artefact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen and confront a malicious killer from Loulie's past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything - her enemy, her magic, even her own past - is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.

6 editions

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 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.

V171 reviewed The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The Stardust Thief' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was good! A very accessible, fast paced, intriguing fantasy retelling of the Forty Thieves. I particularly loved the world building. Abhullah did a fantastic job of creating a rich and lively setting that felt genuine and interesting. I didn't like the character work so much, most characters were extremely one-dimensional, and while they each had an appropriate character arc that influenced their actions, none of them really had an arc that impacted who they were. Granted, it's the first book in a series, so I imagine we'll see more of that in subsequent installations. But overall this was very charming. I do think it may not end up being terribly memorable as time goes on, but I'm definitely interested enough to pick up the next one that's supposed to release this year.