The Stardust Thief
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 that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn.
With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. 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.
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 legendary, magical lamp.
Title: The Stardust Thief
Series: The Sandsea Trilogy
Author: Chelsea Abdullah
Genre: Fantasy
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publication Date: 06/17/2022
Publisher: Orbit
Language: English
ISBN: 0316368768
ISBN-13: 9780316368766
My Review
I promise, I will kill you, she thought.
She always kept her promises.
Holy moly, what an incredible debut novel this is! Such a treasure!
The Stardust Thief speaks of old tales of the jinn within a breathtaking adventure through deserts, caves, and markets in this Arabian-inspired world and spellbinding story. Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant, highly sought after but never seen. What she deals in are rare jinn relics and with the help of her jinn friend and bodyguard Quadir (who can shapeshift, btw) she has managed to elude the sultan's soldiers from her capture for the longest time.
Sweeping through the streets, she meets Mazen the sheltered son of the Sultan who is kept in a gilded cage by his father and who breaks out in the nights for a little freedom in the streets. Loulie doesn't know who he really is, but by trailing him, she wakes the attention of those who are hunting for a certain type of relic, and soon she ends up being swept up in a deal that takes her through old stories of the jinn, to the underworld of the sands.
Along with Aisha bint Louas the jinn hunter, who is part of Prince Omar's (the oldest son of the sultan) Forty Thieves, and who is sent to keep an eye on Loulie to help retrieve the relic, their stories and motives become intertwined with secrets left and right as we learn more about the history of jins, those who hunt them and their life-giving blood.
What I loved about this story is that it unspooled so easily at the beginning, so effortlessly to read of Loulie's world until the pace picks up and the threaded spool becomes thinner and more tightly wound. The layers of the fictional world are astoundingly thorough and the characters incredibly fleshed out. Ghouls, magic, relics - oh, and the intrigue, so amazing! Abdullah managed to keep the surprises coming. I enjoyed the history of the jinn thoroughly and the tales told of the old world grew organically, whenever scenes felt hopeless, she pulled out another trick to navigate different situations. Nothing was over the top and yet so intricate and well imagined.
This novel is simply stunning and I can't get over it. Within the book are pages that resemble old parchment to tell of the old and there is a map in the front of the novel. It all comes together to perfection and there wasn't a second I didn't enjoy reading this novel. If you are looking for an adventure in an amazing setting, give this thrilling debut a try!
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
All opinions are my own.
Thank you!
