“The Stardust Thief” by Chelsea Abdullah | Book Review

“The stars, they burn the night

And guide the sheikh’s way…”

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

SERIES: The Sandsea Trilogy (Book #1)

LENGTH: 467 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit Books

RELEASE DATE: 17 May 2022

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One NightsThe 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.

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.

My Review

“Go to her, go to her, they say,

The star of your eye.

Go to her, go to her,

The compass of your heart.”

Haha, so it’s been a few weeks since my last book review. Whoops. Honestly though, there was a ton of stuff going on last week and the week before, and I seriously had no time to read.

But I’m finally back with another! And what an absolutely stunning book to come back with!

Though it had a bit of a slow start, I ended up absolutely loving The Stardust Thief. The story and the characters were so compelling and interesting. By the halfway point of the book, it was difficult to tear my eyes away from the pages.

Anyway, let’s get into what I liked and didn’t like as much about the novel.

Stuff I Liked

Loulie had buried many things since her mother last told her that story.

Her name. Her past. Her parents.

But the story, she had never forgotten.

The characters were definitely my absolute favorite thing about the book. Loulie al-Nazari was a very interesting and compelling protagonist. I really liked her – she wasn’t like other MC girls that I’ve followed in the best way. She’s rough and jaded, with a tragic past (like several of my least favorite MC girls), but she’s also vulnerable and can’t do everything on her own. And this was a really big part of her character arc, which is something that I really enjoyed following.

Mazen bin Malik was a great deuteragonist, a great foil to Loulie, and had a fun personality. I really liked his character, and he was the first one that I connected with, even before Loulie. His insecurities and desire to break free from his isolation was very relatable to me.

Qadir was excellent, and I loved, loved, loved his and Loulie’s relationship. It was an entirely platonic, wonderfully written found family. I loved how he acted as another foil to Loulie – but in a different way that Mazen was. He was calmer and more contemplative than Loulie was, and it really balanced out their partnership, and helped them work seamlessly as a team.

He curled her fingers around the coin. “Not alone,” he said. “Not anymore.”

Aisha bint Louas was probably my least favorite of the protagonists, but I still really enjoyed her. Most of my character moment and character development tabs went to her, and for good reason. Out of all of the characters here, I feel that she had the most growth.

The thing I liked the most after the characters was definitely the short stories inserted throughout The Stardust Thief. They were told in a very engaging way, and were also expertly woven in to embellish on the actual plot.

The plot itself was also excellent. I loved all of the nods to A Thousand and One Nights, and Abdullah’s writing style. The whole thing was a super engaging adventure story.

Stuff I Didn’t Like

“We all start as cowards. We’re all afraid, Prince. The only difference between a hero and a coward is that one forgets their fear and fights, while the other succumbs to it and flees. Your fear of death does not make you weak. Only human.”

There were only a couple of things that I didn’t care for in the novel. First off – and this is more of an issue with a choice that the publisher made – the pages with the short stories were almost too dark to read the text off of. And as someone who already has some vision issues, it was extremely annoying. If these pages had just been a little bit lighter, it would’ve been fine.

The other thing I didn’t like was how whipped Loulie was about a particular character. Like, she was constantly simping over this man, particularly when they were in the room together. It was all just so awkward and annoying to me, mostly because I don’t feel like we saw enough of them together to justify all of the simping. But yeah, that was really the only other thing that I didn’t care for.

I did find some twists a little predictable (particularly those concerning Qadir), and I figured out most of them before they happened, but I didn’t mind that. It always feels good to get to these parts and find out that I was right. Also, I loved the twist on the title. I feel like you’re led to believe that Loulie is the eponymous Stardust Thief, but it ends up being someone else.

Final Thoughts

“The sun, it warms the sand

And set the sheikh’s heart aflame.

She waits in the shade, the sun says,

The beloved of your dreams.

She waits in the shade. The shade.”

So yeah, I really enjoyed The Stardust Thief and I absolutely recommend it to any and all fantasy fans. It’s so well written, with great characters and a great story. Just read it. Please.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar


MY LINKS:

Weekly Wrap-Up: 5/22 – 5/30

So… These last couple of weeks haven’t been super great on the blog. But real life has also been quite the wild ride as well. Last weekend and early this past week, all kinds of crazy and unfortunate life stuff. And this weekend the power went out! Grrr. So much sucky stuff!

Anyway, I’m hoping that this week is gonna be more productive, and just better in general. And hey, summer has essentially started now, and that always feels great!

But yeah, I’m not gonna waste any more time. Let’s wrap-up the (very small) past week!

Wednesday 5/24: WWW Wednesday / Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Wednesday was when I finally got my crap together, and found myself to be mentally ready enough, and enough time to post. And I double posted!

First I participated in WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. I then also participated in Can’t-Wait Wednesday. Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings.

WWW Wednesday 5/24

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: “Witch King”

Thursday 5/25: Popular Books That I’ve Read Never #2

On Thursday, I finally got around to posting another Popular Books That I’ve Read Never. Popular Books That I’ve Read Never basically describes itself – it’s a blog post where I discuss popular books that I’ve never (and most likely won’t ever) read.

Popular Books That I’ve Read Never #2

Books I Read Last Week

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Goals for 5/31 – 6/4

This week I’m definitely gonna do more. Post more, read more, get more stuff done in real life. I’ve adjusted from last week, and the power’s back on, so productivity is gonna be a lot easier to keep up with.

Considering specific goals: I’m finally gonna finish The Stardust Thief, which I’m very excited to do. I haven’t finished it yet cuz I haven’t been enjoying it – on the contrary, I’m enjoying it a lot! – it’s mostly because I haven’t had any free time, or I didn’t have any light to read.

For other specific goals, I’m planning to post another Majestic Monday later, I’m planning on participating in the weekly bookish posts that I usually do, and I’m going to post at least a couple of book reviews. Oh, and I’m also going to post my monthly reading wrap-up for May 2023.

But yeah, that’s what I’m planning on for this coming week. As always, thank you so much for reading, and have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Popular Books That I’ve Read Never #2

So, it’s a week or so later than I wanted to post another one of these, but life has just been nuts for the past two weeks or so. But welcome back to Popular Books That I’ve Read Never!

(And yeah, I know I worded it a bit odd, but you can probably still figure out what this post is about, lol.)

Now, as I’ve said before, it’s not that I only read unpopular books, it’s that I don’t only read the popular books. I also don’t read hardly any of the really popular books, because those are usually nonfiction or memoirs (which I don’t usually like), or they have a TON of romance (which I also don’t usually like).

This post is primarily going to focus on SFF novels, mostly because SFF is primarily what I read. It’s gonna be of five books, because I don’t want it to get too long. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!


ONE:

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Crave by Tracy Wolff

SERIES: Crave (Book #1)

LENGTH: 571 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Entangled Teen

RELEASE DATE: 7 April 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it. Here I am, a mere mortal among gods…or monsters. I still can’t decide which of these warring factions I belong to, if I belong at all. I only know the one thing that unites them is their hatred of me.

Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me.
Which could spell death for us all.

Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally–as the bait.


TWO:

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

SERIES: Iron Widow (Book #1)

LENGTH: 394 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Penguin Teen

RELEASE DATE: 21 September 2021

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers.

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.


THREE:

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

SERIES: Legacy of Orisha (Book #1)

LENGTH: 531 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Henry Holt & Company

RELEASE DATE: 6 March 2018

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.


FOUR:

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

SERIES: From Blood and Ash (Book #1)

LENGTH: 613 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Blue Box Press

RELEASE DATE: 30 March 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.


FIVE:

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen

SERIES: The Bridge Kingdom (Book #1)

LENGTH: 354 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: CLA

RELEASE DATE: 13 August 2019

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

What if you fell in love with the one person you’d sworn to destroy?

Lara has only one thought for her husband on their wedding day: I will bring your kingdom to its knees. A princess trained from childhood to be a lethal spy, Lara knows that the Bridge Kingdom represents both legendary evil – and legendary promise. The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom controls all trade and travel between lands, allowing its ruler to enrich himself and deprive his enemies, including Lara’s homeland. So when she is sent as a bride under the guise of fulfilling a treaty of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture the defenses of the impenetrable Bridge Kingdom.

But as she infiltrates her new home – a lush paradise surrounded by tempest seas – and comes to know her new husband, Aren, Lara begins to question where the true evil resides. Around her, she sees a kingdom fighting for survival, and in Aren, a man fiercely protective of his people. As her mission drives her to deeper understanding of the fight to possess the bridge, Lara finds the simmering attraction between her and Aren impossible to ignore. Her goal nearly within reach, Lara will have to decide her own fate: Will she be the destroyer of a king or the savior of her people?


So that’s it for Popular Books That I’ve Read Never. For now at least. You can bet that it’ll return again, though. I haven’t read nearly enough popular books for that to be the case.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday: 5/24

This past weekend. Ugh, this past weekend. I’m not gonna get into it, but there were a ton of unfortunate events that occurred, that led to other stuff. I can’t really talk about it, cuz there’s a very toxic person involved, and I’m not sure if they read my blog or not. But I thought you guys deserved to know why I’ve been MIA the past several days. Sorry about that.

Anyway, WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?


The Thing I’m Still Reading

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

CURRENT STATUS: 10% (ugh, I haven’t had any time to read courtesy of the thing)

CURRENT FEELS: 🤔 (considering, so-so) (I’m waiting for the story to pick up, I’ve heard it starts off a bit slow)


The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

★★★★☆ • 4 / 5


The Thing I Might Read Next

The Never Heir by Courtney Millecam

The Never Heir by Courtney Millecam


Thank you all so much for reading, and have an amazing day/night! Again, I’m so sorry for disappearing for a few days.

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday #15

I’m early today! …Compared to the last couple of Fridays, at least. Anyway, onwards to the post!

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

If she moved her head all the way up against the wall and tilted it to the left she could just see the edge of the moon through the bars. Just a silver sliver, almost close enough to eat.

Do you know the book? Think about it for a bit…

Annnd the book is 🥁🥁… Alice by Christina Henry!!

Didja get it??

Alice by Christina Henry

Alice by Christina Henry

SERIES: The Chronicles of Alice (Book #1)

LENGTH: 291 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Horror, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Ace

RELEASE DATE: 4 August 2015

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside. 

In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood… 

Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. 

Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.

Thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday: 5/17

So, last week was once again a bit of a bust. Ugh, there goes my reading roll. And even though there are some books that just aren’t meant to be at the moment, as I’ve changed my mind, I hope to get around to them eventually.

Anyway, WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?


The Thing I’m Currently Reading

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

CURRENT STATUS: 10%

CURRENT FEELS: 🤔 (considering, so-so) (I’m waiting for the story to pick up, I’ve heard it starts off a bit slow)


The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

★★★★☆ • 4 / 5


The Thing I Might Read Next

The Never Heir by Courtney Millecam

The Never Heir by Courtney Millecam


Thank you so much for reading, and have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 5/8 – 5/14

I had so much going on this weekend (sort of), so I didn’t have the time to post another time. Which kinda sucks, but that’s life.

I did completely reorganize my bookshelves though, so that’s definitely something. Now all the new books I’ve gotten this year have a home!

Anyway, here’s another weekly wrap-up for everyone. Let’s wrap-up last week!

Tuesday 5/9: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook Review

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

Last Tuesday, I reviewed Brandon Sanderson’s new standalone science fantasy novel, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England. It’s quite the band for such a fun book. I gave it ★★★★☆.

My review of The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook

Wednesday 5/10: WWW Wednesday

On Wednesday, I participated in WWW Wednesday like I usually do. WWW Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

WWW Wednesday 5/10

Thursday 5/11: Books I’ve Read With Zelda Vibes

Thursday was a day that I was excited about. I did a little something different then – I blogged about books I read that reminded me of The Legend of Zelda games (and exposed myself as a huge geek). What can I say, I was excited about May 12th.

Books I’ve Read with The Legend of Zelda Vibes

Friday 5/12: First Line Friday

On Friday, even though it was exceptionally late, I actually managed to participate in First Line Fridays. First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words.

First Line Friday #14

Books I Read Last Week

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (The Manga) by Akira Himekawa
(rating is for the entire manga)
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Goals for 5/15 – 5/21

So, I didn’t quite meet the goals I set for myself last week, but it was so worth it. (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is absolutely incredible, and so much fun, and super addicting.) But I’m determined to post two book reviews this week, and gosh darn it, I’m gonna do it! Also, I want to finish The Stardust Thief, and participate in the usual weekly posts I do.

Maybe I’ll do a couple of other posts too, but I’m not quite sure yet. We’ll see what happens.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday #14

It’s getting very late, but I was, uh, busy. With stuff. I’m here now, though, and am participating in yet another First Line Friday.

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

Outside, wind rattled the wooden chimes in warning. In the distance, waves crashed against the shore; the frantic whispers of water growing louder as if the sea was a mage summoning vio- lence. On this date-for nearly a decade now-the storm followed the same pattern. Next, thunder would roll in quicker than the tide with lightning cracking electric whips across an unforgiving sky. The devil demanded retribution. A blood sacrifice for power stolen.

It wasn’t the first time he’d be cursed by witches, nor would it be the last.

Any guesses? Here’s some lovely photos of books for your viewing please while you ruminate…

Annnd the book is 🥁🥁… Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco!!

(Did you guess it right??)

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

SERIES: Kingdom of the Wicked (Book #1)

LENGTH: 384 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Jimmy Patterson

RELEASE DATE: 27 October 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…
And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…

Thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Books I’ve Read with Legend of Zelda Vibes

Books I've Read Like the Legend of Zelda, with a beautiful backdrop of Hyrule Castle during a sunset

Sooo… This is kinda out of left field. A bit of an oddball post, too. But, um, I’ve got something to confess to everyone.

I. Am. A. Huge. Geek.

There, I said it! Whew! So glad I finally got that off my chest. I mean, I’m sure it was pretty obvious, from the kinds of books I read, but I wasn’t completely sure.

Anyway, I’m a geek, and The Legend of Zelda is like my favorite thing ever. Ever. And there’s a new game coming out tomorrow – Tears of the Kingdom. So I thought, what better way to pay tribute to the franchise that I love the most, than to connect it to books in some way and post about it on my blog. (Where everyone can see it.) (Cuz the internet is forever.)

(Yeah…)

So yeah, I’m bursting with excitement. These last 24 hours or so are gonna be hell. But I’m still riding the high of the hype train nonetheless.

But I’m heading towards a tangent. Let’s get back to books with Legend of Zelda vibes. Here’s five books (or series really, they’re all series) that I’ve read that reminded me of Zelda.

If you’re interested in any of the books/series on this list, click on the corresponding images if you want to learn more information. I got ’em linked.

#1: The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I thought I’d get the obvious one out of the way first. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is the progenitor of modern fantasy. Not just of books either. Of a lot of fantasy stuff.

Elf-like beings? Check. An epic quest to save the land from dark lord? Check. Magic and swords? Check. There’s a lot of similar vibes between these two series. Particularly if you watch the Peter Jackson movies and then play Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess.

#2: The Inheritance Cycle

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

So, I’m totally aware that The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is a bit of an homage/ripoff of a lot of the fantasy that’s come before it. (And Star Wars.) But I haven’t read any of those books (except for part of The Lord of the Rings), so Eragon and its sequels are going on this list.

Farmboy is upended from his normal life and set on the path to defeating a dark lord? Check. Dragons? Check. Magical blue swords? Check. Magic sentient trees? Check. And, last but not least, elves? Check.

#3: The Seven Realms

The Seven Realms Series by Cinda Williams Chima

The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima is a bit of the odd-man-out in this list, but I still felt a ton of Legend of Zelda vibes while reading these books.

A kingdom in turmoil? Check. Very atmospheric and immersive? Check. A male and female lead, one a mage and one a warrior? Check.

#4: The Chronicles of Prydain

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

Of this list, I’m probably the least familiar with Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain. But I’ve seen The Black Cauldron movie that Disney made, and I’ve read the first book (and most of the second, I think), so I know enough.

Orphan boy upended from his quiet life to go defeat a dark lord? Check. A quirky companion or two? Check. A beautiful princess with a complicated relationship with said orphan boy? Check.

#5: Deltora Quest

Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda

Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda has a special place in my heart. I didn’t really read them until I was in middle school – and even then I didn’t get very far because I thought I was too old for them and got embarrassed – but I did like what I read.

Then, in high school I found the anime adaptation (yes, there’s an official, licensed, anime adaptation) and watched it. And I absolutely adored it, even though the voice acting was… not the best. I loved the world and the story so much though, and I hope to read through the entire thing for the first time soon, and then share it with my children when they exist.

(Also, its similarities to a quest in a videogame are deliberate. Rodda saw his much her kids enjoyed games and wanted to write a book/series that reflected them.)

Oh, almost forgot. An epic quest to defeat the dark lord? Check. Swords and magic? Check. Locating magical stones to unlock a McGuffuin of sorts? Check.

BONUS: The Legend of Zelda Mangas

The Legend of Zelda Mangas (Legendary Edition) by Akira Himekawa

This is cheating a little, but I just couldn’t help it. I absolutely HAD to plug the Zelda manga. Mangas. They’re just so wonderful – the kind of supplemental material that fans love. And they have gorgeous artwork and they follow the base plot extremely well, even if a lot of stuff is cut to meet the page count.

The Legendary Editions of the mangas are also fantastic. I love how colorful and distinct they are, not to mention their omnibus forms makes them a bit more convenient to shelve and store.

And I can’t talk about the LOZ manga without mentioning the crème de la crème.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (The Manga) by Akira Himekawa

The Twilight Princess manga adaptation is absolutely amazing. Dare I say, nearly perfect. (And that’s not just cuz it’s my favorite game in the series and I’m biased. Nuh-uh.)

The art is beautiful, just like the other mangas, which is not at all surprising. (They’re all written and drawn by the same author, Akira Himekawa (which is an alias for a mangaka duo).) But this time, the mangakas were allowed to adapt the game at a more sedate pace. So, instead of doing the entire game in a volume of two, they had eleven volumes to tell the story. And it makes a glorious difference.

But yeah, I gotta stop gushing or else I’ll just keep going on. Forever.*coughs awkwardly*

So, these are the books with Legend of Zelda vibes. Have you played any of the games? Have you read any of these books/series on my list? What did you think of them?

Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reading, and have a really, really, awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar


WWW Wednesday: 5/10

So, last week was a bit of a bust, but I still consider myself to be on a reading roll. Even though there are some books that just aren’t meant to be at the moment, as I’ve changed my mind, I hope to get around to them eventually.

Anyway, WWW Wednesday is a meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?


The Thing I’m Currently Reading

Auggghh!! I’m so embarrassed! You’ve caught me in between books! 😳😣 (I was planning on starting my next read last night, but ran out of time.)


The Thing I Just Finished Reading

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

★★★★☆ • 4 / 5


The Thing I’m Gonna Read Next

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah


Thank you so much for reading, and have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar