The Stolen Kingdom Book Review

Hey Guardians!

To be honest, I had no idea what to post today. I had initially planned to read and review Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer, but I’ve yet to read that one! I don’t want to rush it, so I’m going to wait a while, but I will review it! I promise.

Anyway, I still kinda wanted to write a book review. But I hadn’t read anything lately that I was just like, obssessed with.

Until…

I recently finished The Stolen Kingdom by Bethany Atazadeh. Recently as in…earlier today. And, I’m in love! This book was great. I’m going to be going in depth to review this book. Seeing as I loved this, I’m probably a bit bias. But, I’m trying to be objective. I think that as readers we can recognize problems in our favorite books, even if we love the books. Also, this review will be spoiler-free.

About the Book

How can she protect her kingdom, if she can’t protect herself?

Princess Arie never expected to manifest a Jinni’s Gift. When she begins to hear the thoughts of those around her, she hides it to the best of her ability. But to her dismay, the forbidden Gift is growing out of control.

When a neighboring king tries to force her hand in marriage and steal her kingdom, discovery becomes imminent. Just one slip could cost her throne. And her life.

A lamp, a heist, and a Jinni hunter’s crew of thieves are her only hope for removing this Gift – and she must remove it before she’s exposed. Or die trying.

BUY THE STOLEN KINGDOM

Doesn’t that sound incredible? Basically, you follow Princess Arie trying to save her kingdom, while navigating being able to read people’s thoughts. This is technically an Aladdin retelling, but it wavers from the original tale enough to be original.

Value

Okay, so I bought the paperback of this book and I also got a free eBook. The paperback was $14, which is admittedly more than I typically pay for books. However, look at that cover!

I personally think that this book was worth it. The printing is really good quality. I toted this book around a lot of places and the book is still in pristine condition. Also, this was a self-published book, so I felt good about supporting an indie author.

The spine

The back

Maps

There are also a lot of cool details in the paperback.

Writing/Plot

Setting

If there is one flaw in this book, there isn’t much world-building. It’s set in fictional kingdoms in the middle East. There aren’t a lot of details about the setting except for the occassional reference to a desert. But to me, it didn’t need an atmospheric setting. The story was compelling enough on its own.

Plot

I mentioned the plot already in the synopsis. I thought the plot was gripping, and I honestly couldn’t put this book down..

Characters

I absolutely loved the character of Arie! She’s tough, but not in the usual way. Like, she isn’t tough in the classic powerful YA main character way. I don’t know if that makes sense, but my point is that she’s strong and weak at the same time.

However, I’ll admit that the other characters weren’t super developed. The book is dual perspective, and I sometimes couldn’t tell the difference between the two perspectives. That being said, I’m definitely intrigued by Gideon and I want to learn more about him.

Content

There wasn’t anything in this book that would be innapropriate. I mean, it is YA, so I wouldn’t recommend this for a 6 year old. But it’s very clean.

Writing

I absolutely loved the writing in this book! Bethany Atazadeh is a strong writer. I personally found her writing style gripping, and I think she’s one of my favorite authors now. (Despite only having read the one book by her…)

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There’s the first line. Doesn’t that just hook you?

Okay, so now I just need to give you all my rating! It’s probably not going to surprise anyone but,

I rate this book 5 stars!

I hope you go check out The Stolen Kingdom! I really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be continuing in this series.

Tell me about a book you recently read.