The Stardust Thief cover art

The Stardust Thief

The Sandsea Trilogy, Book 1

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The Stardust Thief

By: Chelsea Abdullah
Narrated by: Nikki Massoud, Rasha Zamamiri, Sean Rohani
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About this listen

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.

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.

©2022 Chelsea Abdullah (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK Action & Adventure Dragons & Mythical Creatures Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Magic Royalty Mythology

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Critic reviews

You'll be charmed immediately by the characters and pulled in by this exploration of how the stories we hear and the stories we tell ourselves - beautiful and heartbreaking alike - shape us. Perfect for fans of S.A. Chakraborty's City of Brass (C.L. Clark, author of THE UNBROKEN)
A thrilling adventure about found families, ancient magic and stories that linger (S. A. Chakraborty, author of THE CITY OF BRASS)
The Stardust Thief is a dream written upon a page - absorbing, lingering and poignantly told. Abdullah weaves a sweeping adventure of tales within tales, while laying bare the ways those we love can both uplift us and break our hearts (Andrea Stewart, author of THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER)
Abdullah has created a sumptuous feast of richly layered classic tales, and characters who will have you hungering to unravel their mysteries. The Stardust Thief will transport you, enchant you, and revive your belief in the magic of storytelling. (Shelley Parker-Chan, author of SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN)
Sizzling with action and secrets, The Stardust Thief is a grand adventure with unforgettable characters, enchanting magic, and plenty of heart (Melissa Caruso, author of THE TETHERED MAGE)
Abdullah is a gifted storyteller. . . [bringing] to life a rich world, rife with magic, where anything that can be dreamed up can happen (BOOKLIST)
This powerful, intriguing adventure will leave readers eager for more (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY)
A marvellous plunge into a beautifully crafted adventure (KIRKUS)
Abdullah transports readers into this rich world and literary heritage (LIBRARY JOURNAL)
All stars
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This book gripped me instantly! I was transported to another world and my mind was filled with new thoughts and possibilities. Fantastical and mysterious story which has left me eagerly awaiting the next instalment…

Fantastic debut novel!!

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The characters were underwhelming and transparent and I was very frustrated by the main character who reacted to imminent danger by closing her eyes and waiting for someone to rescue her. The story ended part way through on a cliff-hanger but I found myself not caring about the outcome of the battle enough to wish-list the next book

A decent story but...

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I found it not that easy too get into for the first few chapters and a little difficult to follow in places but on the whole it's a good story.

On the whole, a decent story

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The male narrator didn't flow particularly well. Sometimes it was like he was learning to read on the job

Will buy the next one

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I love this book so much! Chelsea Abdullah has made some of the funniest and endearing characters that I have read about in a long time

and the voice cast! can we talk about how phenomenal they all are?! I tend to flip between reading my hard copy and listening to an audio book but goodness it was hard to put the auduo book down as the voices were so amazing and in character just!!! I can't wait till the next book!!!

phenomenal!

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An enjoyable take on the Arabian Night tales. The plot feels a bit padded out at times but the likeable characters make up for that, looking forward to book 2.

A good start..

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I really enjoyed this fantasy story, beautiful told and made you feel you were right there in the heart of the battles, the markets and desserts. The only downside is the male narrator’s impression of Loulie - it sounds like when boys do very poor impressions of girls voices. plus the recording for his chapters were glitchy in places. Apart from that, fab story and can’t wait to listen to the next in the series.

Enchanting fantasy

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This feels like a summary of someone’s year long al Qadim campaign ( long ago when that was still a thing)… some parts show great promise. I hope she keeps writing them and improves…

It’s ok… could be great

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What an adventure, start to finish! I love reading about middle eastern inspired fantasy, it's such a breath of fresh air after reading so many Tolkien-inspired derivatives. I also loved the shorter tales woven into the longer narrative.

Voice acting is also top notch though sometimes the female voices done by the male voice actor can get a bit shrill lol

Amazing!

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I really enjoyed this story, it was completely different to everything I’ve listened to for a long time, and it lit up my imagination
I will say that the female narrator was excellent, I loved her pronunciations and way she brought the story to life. The male narrator was not so good, mostly sounding like he was just rushing through the reading. I did wonder if he was simply trying to sound like a young incompetent person, but it wasn’t bad enough to ruin it.
One real complaint I have, is that the story wasn’t complete. This is something that annoys me a lot with many new books, where authors or publishers just seem to think if they finish a book at the end of a chapter somewhere, it will force us into purchasing the next one. On principal I’m not purchasing the next book, I will leave the rest of the story to my own imagination. If it had ended properly, I would have gone to buy more books in the series.

A beautiful tale that sparked my imagination

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