Thief of Cahraman by Lucy Tempest
Fairy Tale. 322 Pages. 4 Stars
Synopsis:
The Selection meets Aladdin
ONE MONTH. FIFTY CONTESTANTS. ONE PRINCE. AN IMPOSSIBLE HEIST.
You have been summoned to Sunstone Palace to compete in our search for the future Queen of Cahraman.
After years on the run, Adelaide thinks her lonely and dangerous life as a thief is finally over. But her world is upended when a witch steals her away to a faraway kingdom, to perform an impossible heist. If Adelaide fails, her newfound family would be sacrificed to a beast.
To complete her mission, she’s forced to assume the role of a noblewoman and enter a royal competition. The prize is the hand of the elusive Crown Prince. Elimination means certain death.
As the witch’s literal deadline approaches, Adelaide has one last gamble to save the day, and to escape to a new life with Cyrus, the handsome and mysterious fellow thief who stole her heart.
But everything falls apart when the prince finally reveals himself…
Fairytales of Folkshore is a series of interconnected fairytale retellings that starts with the Cahraman Trilogy. Ada’s story continues in PRINCE OF CAHRAMAN.
My Review:
This was an interesting read. I’ve never been a big Aladdin fan, which makes me a little more difficult to win over in this case. This is the second novel-length retelling of Aladdin I’ve read and there were things I liked and things I didn’t. It was also my first Lucy Tempest book, so I am curious to see how she handles other tales. But for now, we’ll just look at this one.
To be perfectly honest, this had a really slow start for me. There were things that interested me in the beginning, like the characters and the lifestyle of Adelaide. I loved the opening where she’s robbing Cinderella’s manor and I loved seeing her in the tavern position. The dynamic between the Adelaide and Beauty was really cool, too. The way the characters were interwoven and all somehow crossing paths was exciting. I did really struggle to keep interest in the story though. It honestly took until the halfway point for things to pick up. From the time of the first test on, I was engaged. And, while I appreciate the setup Tempest took the time to work on, I just struggled to push through that first half.
That said, once the going got good, I really enjoyed the story. Especially the 50-85ish% bit. That was where I had the most fun. I liked the tests a lot and I liked the growing relationships between Ada and her friends. The intrigue of the mystery thief and his ghoulish companion was fun, too. I will say, however, one thing that really kind of got on my nerves was how eternally gorgeous and stunning Cyrus was. Literally like every single time we saw him Ada had to comment on how perfect he was. I mean, I appreciate a little cutie every now and then, but it was a little much. The good thing, though, was that Tempest actually gave him some character, too. He wasn’t all gooey green eyes and brilliant smile. Seeing how he was kind and caring and clever made me really, really like him as a character. I’m excited to see more of him, especially in his new element in book two. I also really liked his friend and hope to see that relationship more, too.
The world kind of confused me. I mostly just went with the flow when things were thrown at me, but I had a bit of a difficult time trying to wrap my mind around the map. My biggest issue was the whole land we started in vs the land we ended in idea. I just, geographically, struggled with the concept of placing everything in my brain. I know there’s a map at the beginning, and had I a physical copy of the book, I’d have consulted it regularly, believe me. But since I was reading on the kindle, I just gave in and went with whatever funky land names were thrown at me. Even in the first land we started on I was trying to sort out north and south from the tidbits we got from Adelaide’s memories. I wasn’t so thrown by the bikes and beads and such, though alongside the taverns and lanterns and all it did make my head wonder what time period she’d based this on. There also seemed to be a train in there somewhere, but I’m not 100% sure what exactly that was like and I may have been envisioning something too modern. Either way, I’m not opposed to different time periods in fiction, I just struggled to figure out what this one was exactly. It sort of felt like a bit of a mash up, honestly.
The culture was different, though, and I liked that. Hah, I did like the pronunciation guide at the end. That was helpful. I, at least, haven’t come across a lot of books with more eastern influences and it made the culture in the magical land stand out and curious. Some of the names I ended up sort of substituting in my head, but that’s just because I’m unfamiliar with the nuances. One thing I was curious about and hope we get more explanation of later is the religious state of things. I gathered that this was a society that had many different gods, and it reminded me a bit of what I know of Roman and Greek mythology, but it also didn’t seem like there was one specific set religion that they all practiced. I got the impression it was kind of a free for all? It was a little hard to keep up with at some points, but I think I caught most of what all we were exposed to. And I am very interested in learning more about Adelaide’s mother and her past.
In terms of the quality of the writing, there were some awkwardly phrased things and some typos. There were a few things that didn’t quite add up or weren’t fully addressed (like Ada stealing from the treasury the first time), but they were all minor things. I did have to read some passages a few times before I managed to piece some kind of meaning together and moved on, and, like I said, I thought the pacing was a little off. Slow at first and then like a head rush it went by so fast after that. There were definitely some predictable bits, but there were also some really sweet surprises in there, too.
Overall, I liked the book. I probably wouldn’t buy it to own by itself, but I would recommend borrowing it if you think you might be interested. And, depending on how the rest of the series goes, I may buy it to complete the collection. The cover’s gorgeous and almost worth it on it’s own! But, also like I said, Aladdin just never has been my cup of tea. I’m intrigued at this point and definitely planning to borrow the next one and continue the story. There was a sweet, but very mild romance. Nothing explicit. Very little violence, again nothing graphic. And I don’t recall any foul language either. I’d probably approve the book for a teen.
More:
Book 2 in the Fairytales of Folkshore series (aka Book 2 in the Cahraman Trilogy) is Prince of Cahraman (4 Stars)
Book 3 is is Queen of Cahraman (4 Stars)
Book 4 (aka Book 1 of the Rosemead Duology) is Beast of Rosemead
Book 5 (aka Book 2 in the Rosemead Duology) is Beauty of Rosemead
Book 6 is Princess of Midnight
I’m still working my way through the series, but it is clear that they should be read in order. You can click the links above to find more info on them and scroll down to find my reviews and ratings on Goodreads.
On GraceBought
Stay tuned next week for my thoughts on the next book in the series!
Prince of Cahraman