Thief of Cahraman

I have to admit, when I first saw this series I didn’t really want to read it. I don’t like to read books that have a series that follows one story because then everything is drawn out and there is just so much stress. But I really loved this book, it was so good! Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down.
Thief of Cahraman is the first book in Lucy Tempest’s first series, the Folkshore series. In this series, she has written and is writing different fairy tales, but she is writing them in sets instead of just one book for each fairytale. Thief of Cahraman is the first book in the set of retellings based on Aladdin. There are three books in this set, these books are a gender bender retelling of Aladdin. I loved this book, it was really good and kept me interested the whole time and it made my want to read the next ones
This book follows the journey of a thief, someone who has had to work hard to survive. You first meet Adelaide when she is stealing a book from a lady who lives in her town. But Adelaide is not like most thieves, she has found a home a place where she no longer has to steel. She has finally found a family, people who she can trust. But everything is not as it seems and the world she knows as is going to change.
One day is all it changes for her world to fall apart, one day she is taken from all she knows. She is transported from the home and world that she knows. Adelaide is taken to Cahraman by a witch who wants something that only Adelaide can get her. This witch tells Adelaide that she needs to get her what she wants from the King of Cahraman or she will her hurt her friends, the family that Adelaide has finally found.
And so Adelaide takes on the biggest heist that she has ever done, except this time the stakes are higher and she has a lot more to lose. Adelaide sets out to sneak into the castle of the King of Cahraman and take what was hidden from the witch. Adelaide sets out to steal a gold lamp.
But Adelaide will not only have to find the lamp, but also survive a contest held by the prince, who is looking for a wife. In order to find the lamp she will have to pass all the test held by the prince in order to keep on looking for the lamp. Luckily Adelaide has help, along the way she meets a servant named Cyrus and his friend Ayman. She convinces him to help her and finds herself falling for this kind man.
As Adelaide tries her best to stay afloat, to find the lamp and to not get kicked out of the contest, she finds herself wishing for more. She wishes that she was just a normal girl, who could just run away with the help, but she knows that she is not normal and that she has a mission that she must complete.
This was a great book, I loved Cyrus. He was so kind and nice. I found myself falling for him right along with Adelaide. I also really loved Ayman, I felt so bad for him, but he was so cool. Adelaide was a great heroine, someone who overcame great odds. I loved that she was not just a helpless maiden, but someone who could help herself and someone who cared for others.
I would definitely recommend this book, it has totally changed my view on series of books. I can’t wait for the next book. This book leaves you on such a cliffhanger, I am on the edge of my seat waiting for what happens next.

So this one was such a pleasant surprise and this is one YA series that I definitely will be continuing on with.
I noticed a review of this on someone else’s book blog their positive review was enough to persuade me to give it a chance and with it also being read now on NetGalley I was in luck.
I have a soft spot for Fairy-Tale retellings and this one really appealed to me mostly because Its Aladdin and I had never encountered this one retold before and also because it gender swopped the roles placing Adelaide as the thief.
So Thief of Cahraman was part of a trilogy and is told completely from Ada’s POV it’s an imaginative interpretation of Aladdin with enough differences that it wasn’t predictable or boring at all and despite a somewhat slow start here when this did pick up I couldn’t put it down.
Of course, I guessed where this was going and the twist the author puts on the story but did this bother me? hell no.
I was engrossed from start to finish and despite this being a clean YA and me being a middle-aged mum I really enjoyed this a lot.
I could also see the set up for other fairy tales within the given narrative definitely a beauty and the beast one that’s for sure so I will certainly look forward to checking that out at a later date.
Also noticed a Cinderella story arc as well.
This one most definitely gets my seal of approval and I have already borrowed book two from Kindle unlimited so watch this space.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Thief of Cahraman (Fairytales of Folkshore #1)
All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9460945-bex-beckie-bookworm
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This book is honestly the best thing I have read in the longest time. In the introduction when I read that it was supposed to be a interconnected series and when the future retellings are listed I spent time while reading trying to figure out which character may be in a future book. Lucy really has a way with words and managed to keep my short attention span locked on her book. Whenever I had a spare minute I was reading which is honestly rare for me, I love reading but it takes so much to actually catch my interest. I honestly think it may because you’re promised more and can already see the way things will come together. I bought the kindle version for myself and bought the paperback version for my mother as a gift and she also can’t put it down. Having beloved fairytales rewritten in such a interesting way is just so amazing to see. I’m so excited for what Lucy will write in the future and I’ve already preordered her other book Prince of Cahraman.

(TAGGING THIS REVIEW AS
HAVING A POTENTIAL FOR
MINOR SPOILERS!! YOU HAVE
BEEN WARNED)
The Good
This is such an amazing start to a series. Adelaide is a young woman who just wants a place to call home, and she finally thinks that she found one. All of this changes the night of the town festival when Adelaide and her “adopted family” are kidnapped by a witch needing her special talents as a thief. For those of you who play video games (and for many who don’t) the Easter eggs hidden in this novel easily show you what they mean by it being a series of interconnected fairytale retellings. Adelaide’s best friend is named Bonnie, a girl who always has her nose in a book and lives alone with her father. Adelaide has a run in with a girl who lives with her stepmother and stepsisters and is forced to do their chores. During the “princess test” as I am going to call it she hears gossip that there are two families who have a beast in their family. That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to fairytale references found in this book.
Adelaide as a character is highly relatable, even for those who have never imagined themselves as a thief in a fantasy world. She is an orphan who has lived her life running from place to place, sometimes homeless, always having to lie to be able to survive. She just wants somewhere she can call home, somewhere where she can live her life without worry or stress (something many of us dream of). She would do anything to save the lives of those that she cares about (which is proven many times during this amazing novel). She is guarded, but also wears her heart on her sleeve. She is goal oriented but is willing to make time for those who need her. Overall, she is a strong female lead who also has a soft side.
The story is supposed to be reminiscent of Aladdin, which it is, but it also tells its own story in a fantastical new way. I have always been a fan of those books that are fairytale retellings, they give you new stories related to those that you loved before. Lucy Tempest easily has done this with this novel.
The Bad
There aren’t many things that I can say are bad about this novel. I know that I say this a lot in my reviews, but I feel like I am just getting so lucky with the ARC’s that I am receiving. At times it seemed like the plot was forgotten in lieu of descriptions of the scenery or the people. This could be a nod to the fact that Adelaide is a commoner who is having to deal with seeing all of these wasted riches, so I don’t know that I would fully consider this a bad thing. It did cause me to want to skip over the descriptions at times to get back to the action though. My biggest complaint about this book was THAT IT ENDED ON A CLIFFHANGER! I know that it says in the description that her story continues, but I need more now! I read this book in less than a day, and I wish I would have taken more time. The next book (which I am planning on preordering if I don’t get lucky again to get an ARC copy) isn’t due to be published until the end of October. My heart is devastated right now, I need to know what is going to happen. This is a bad thing, but also shows just how amazing Lucy Tempest is as a writer.
Final Thoughts
Please please please pick up this book. It is an amazing read, and this author is an amazing writer. If you are a fan of fantasy, strong female leads, story retellings, thieves, princes, princesses, or tests. If you aren’t a fan of any of these but need a new book to read. If you like to judge a book by the cover and saw how beautiful the cover of this one is. No matter why you pick this book up, pick it up! Read it! Support this amazing writer.

The two sides of me found this book to be quite an enjoyable reading experience. The grownup side of me loved the writing had been succinct and rather vivid. The storyline with its twists/turns and surprising remind me somewhat of the modern-day reality contest programs which are so prevalent where each of the contestants tries to be the last one standing and reap the big reward at the end, which is to become the bride of the mysterious Crown Prince and perhaps ultimately the Queen.

The inner-child of me didn’t care so much for the romantic aspect of the book; but loved that it didn’t have a lackluster storyline, instead of drawing its readers into imaginary world of Adelaide and her friends which the author, Lucy Tempest has created for them. My inner-child also loved the fascinating, page-turning reading experience caused by the all the turns and twists the story itself contains.

We both loved that the protagonist is this story, Aladdin, had not the traditional young boy but instead had been a young girl thief. For giving her readers and myself this innovative story of Aladdin, I’m giving Ms. Tempest the 5 STARS she deserves.

G-Rated, gender-bending retelling of Aladdin

Nineteen-year-old orphan, Adelaide (Ada) lives in a mysterious, magical, fairytale world. There are many different lands in this world, but they are separated by dangerous terrain such that, without magical intervention, travel between them is often difficult to the point of being impossible. Though Ada spent much of her early life as a thief, perilously wandering from town to town, and city to city, she did not enjoy her travels. She was often cold, hungry, and homeless. As a result, all she wants in life is to settle down in the small village where she has found a haven for the past two “seasons” and gained a family of affiliation in the form of her dear friend Bonnie Fairborn and Bonnie’s gentle, absentminded father. (Bonnie is the heroine of a future retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” by this author. We are also introduced to a character named Ella who will be the heroine of a future retelling of “Cinderella.”) The Fairborns have allowed Ada to live with them rent-free. Ada also has a stable job as a bartender working for a kind woman who owns the local tavern. But suddenly one day, Adelaide’s safe harbor is invaded by a witch with hypnotic, burning eyes, who transports Ada to the desert Kingdom of Cahraman and threatens dire harm to Bonnie and her father at the hands of a terrible beast if Ada does not, in a timely manner, retrieve a mysterious oil lamp for her from within a palace on the highest hill of a glitteringly beautiful, walled city. The witch instantly, through magic, dresses Ada as a wealthy princess and, also by magic, provides her with an invitation to a formal competition within the palace for the hand of the Crown Prince of this kingdom, Cyaxares of the House of Sharmash. What she doesn’t provide, unfortunately, is a full description of the lamp and directions for where, in the gigantic palace, it might be found.

This quaintly humorous retelling of the fairy tale, “Aladdin,” is written in a rather “campy” style. It is not as extreme in its campiness as the historical parodies, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and Mel Brooks’s, “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” but more in the realm of the comically surreal 1960’s TV show, “Gilligan’s Island.” The form that “campy” takes in this fantasy is that the author offers comic twists to the traditional milieu of the sword-and-sorcery, fantasy subgenre. S&S is set in a magical world which perpetually, across thousands of years, never evolves beyond the primitive technology, transportation, and misogynistic social mores that existed in the Middle Ages in Europe. The author cheekily tosses into this low-tech S&S world anachronistically advanced technology from various, later periods of Western civilization, including: flush toilets, bicycles, gaslights and trains. In addition, most of the dialogue is heavily larded with 21st Century American slang, and the story employs an extensive homage to the popular, long-running, recent-day reality show, “The Bachelor.”

Ada is a strong, active heroine. Her romantic interest, Cyrus, is a sweet guy, and there is enjoyable repartee between him and Ada. Ada also becomes close friends with two fellow, young, female contestants who are competing for the hand of the prince. Each is, in her own way, as whacky as Ada, adding to the comedic elements of the story. There are many comic moments within the various stages of the win-the-prince contest as well.

Note that this is Book 1 of a three-book series about Ada and, as such, it does not stand alone. To get the full benefit of Ada’s story, it is crucial to read all three books.

Overall, this is a fun, G-rated, magical adventure which is suitable for all ages.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 4 stars
Romantic Hero: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 4 stars
Aladdin Plot: 4 stars
Bachelor Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4 stars
Writing: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars