Title: Book 1: The Stardust Thief
Author: Chelsea Abdullah
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Loulie al- Nazari is known as the Midnight Merchant and known for selling magical items. One of her buyers introduces her to the sultan of Medinne. One of the sultan’s sons, Omar, asks her to bring him a magic lamp. Omar says he’ll go with but tricks his brother, Mazen, and magic relic thief, Aisha, go with Loulie in his place. Loulie brings her jinn bodyguard, Qadir. Together, they travel to find the land of the jinn, where the lamp’s supposed to be hidden. But there are others who are looking for them. Jinn who know about what Omar and Aisha have done to their kind. Other humans seek to betray them or get the lamp for themselves. Who will get the lamp first? Or will the jinn capture the group?
Rating: 3.5 – an interesting take on Middle Eastern mythology
Opinion: This was an interesting book. I really liked learning more about Middle East mythology. The book focused on jinn, ifrit, and ghoul (different kinds of ghosts). I found it interesting that interesting that Middle East stories start with “not here or there, but long ago” instead of “once upon a time.” I also enjoyed picking up on some Arabic words and phrases. There is no English translation after the words but most of them are easy to pick up on what they mean with context. The one thing that bugged me about the book was that when new or different characters enter the scene it takes a little bit to figure out who’s there. It also kind of felt like the author wasn’t sure how the book was going to end. It felt a little rushed, too. Overall, I really did love this book. The characters are well written and different. This is a great book for anyone who loves fantasy and mythology.
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