Review – Thief of Cahraman by Lucy Tempest

**Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Title Thief of Cahraman

Author Lucy Tempest

Description from Amazon

Initial Thoughts

The first line of that description.  The Selection meets Aladdin.  As some of you may know, I love Aladdin.  When I was younger, I could literally watch that movie all day long.  I used to have it on VHS and I would watch it, rewind it, and watch it again.  I also haven’t written about it, but I really enjoyed The Selection Series by Kiera Cass.  I read it about 5 years ago but I still remember how much I loved it.  So basically, this book sounded like a combo of two things that I already adored.  Therefore, I had to read it.

Favorite Character

Cherine – I seem to have a tendency to gravitate toward sassy characters (please see Iltani from Gravemaidens).  Cherine was perfect.  She was mean most of the time, kind of an air head, and she became a better person for knowing Adelaide.  I love to see a main character who is a good person and it rubs off on other characters.

Cover Art

There are things I like and dislike about this cover:

Likes:

• The color scheme
• The border
• The Aladdin-esque architecture in the background

Dislikes:

• The girl on the cover – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  I don’t like to be told what to imagine.  If I wanted someone to show me what a character looked like, I’d watch TV.  When I read, I like to use my imagination.  When a cover has a photo of a character, It’s hard to not picture that the whole time I’m reading.
• Her pose – not only do I not like the photo, I think it’s a very odd pose.  Adelaide is strong, fearless, and smart, so why is she standing like that?

How could I have made it better?  Take the girl out and make the building in the background more prominent.

Series Value

Semi-spoiler alert: this book ends on a cliffhanger.  That’s the best way to get me hooked, leave me with an unfinished ending.  I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

Also, I think it’s great that Lucy Tempest has left a lot of open space for other fairy tale retellings to develop in this world.

One Thing I Wasn’t Crazy About

How obvious the plot twists were.  I found they were a bit predictable.  Not predictable enough to deter me but enough that I was a little disappointed that Adelaide’s character didn’t see through them.

Final Thoughts

I really liked this story.  I am so glad I received a copy on NetGalley.  For being an Aladding retelling, I thought it was very well done.  I like to think of myself as an Aladdin expert (having seen it literally hundreds of times allows me this status) and this story really captured the feeling of the original.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Recommendations for Further Reading

• Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith – I haven’t actually read this one yet but it gives me all kinds of Aladdin vibes.
• We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal – another bonus post because I haven’t read this one either!  But all the promo material I have seen gives me all kinds of Aladdin feels.
• If you just like retellings – check out this post for other classic fairy tales: Fairy Tales – Original vs Retelling?

Links

Thief of Cahraman on Goodreads

Buy Thief of Cahraman on Amazon