Becoming an author is a tricky business. After promoting my short story for a solid month, I can honestly say I’m exhausted talking about myself. Yet that’s what self-published authors have to do. They skip the grueling process of getting nit-picked and passed over by publishers only to venture down the painstaking process of making their book ready to print and promoting it endlessly. Not to mention making themselves known amidst the hundreds of thousands of books self-published on Amazon, most of which have amateur storytelling that make readers skeptical. I was one such reader until I came across Thief of Cahraman, an Aladdin-retelling with a Selection twist.
Trying to make myself relevant on social media, I met a lot of self-published authors. I also discovered the niche speculative genre “fairytale retelling” which is a writer taking a fairytale and adding their own spin (The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is an example). I joined a book club geared around this theme and read several self-published novels that were okay (thank the Lord of Amazon kindle free trials). The leader announced our next book to be Thief of Cahraman, a gender-swapped Aladdin with a plot similar to The Selection. I knew both stories, and walked in highly skeptical. After finishing the book, I read the next two in the trilogy and promptly bought the entire series to sit on my shelf.
What provoked such a response? That would be the characters.
Adelaide, Our Female Aladdin
In the small town of Aubenaire is a thief trying to find a home. Adelaide grew up without parents amongst people who didn’t look like her or necessarily like her. Her one friend dreams of traveling beyond the borders of Ericura to new lands. And while she’d like to help sweet Bonnie achieve this dream, she doesn’t want to go beyond Aubenaire.
That’s when fate tosses her into a desert at the feet of a great sorceress. She demands Adelaide use her one talent to retrieve a lamp from the nearby palace. If she doesn’t, her friend will die and she’ll never be sent home. To avoid spoilers, I’ll stop there, but I do want to touch on her general personality.
Whether Lucy Tempest (the writer) meant to or not, I found Adelaide to be a strong woman with a lot of walls. Between her and the world are a lot of barriers, protecting her secrets and her emotions from being revealed. If you’ve read The Selection, you know it’s similar to the Bachelor tv show, but the way it’s carried out here slowly works on Adelaide’s invulnerability. Eventually, the barriers begin to fall, and she has to learn how to trust else be stuck in Cahraman forever.
Cyrus, the Partner in Crime
As Adelaide attempts to fulfill the sorceress’ demand, she mets Cyrus, a servant in the palace with access to the vaults. He comes and goes as he pleases, but whenever it comes to the ladies filling the palace halls, he only speaks to Adelaide. Well, she’s the only one who recognizes his presence. In a kingdom teeming with princesses, duchesses, and ladies of the court, our heroine finds a common outsider in the serving boy. But not even he is allowed to know her scheme.
Cyrus is your general heart throb, but it’s not because of biceps and brooding expressions. His laid back personality puts off Adelaide on most occasions. Yet when she needs to count on someone or seeks a little wisdom, he’s got her covered. Rather than a puppet, he’s a human being with questions toward her thieving nature and general self-consciousness amongst the women in the castle. It’s so hard not to talk about him more, but Cyrus comes to life later in the trilogy.
The Royal Foreigners of Cahraman
I’d like to just generally speak about the women vying for the prince’s hand. The majority of the characters are functioning on a specific plot: marry the crown prince of Cahraman. Adelaide’s the only one with a side quest. This makes the interactions between her and the various royals so interesting.
Now, I’m going to give one spoiler because if I had known this, I’d be examining the story a lot deeper: many of the women mentioned are other fairytale characters. Lucy Tempest does a phenomenal job intertwining these characters and giving them unique stories and cultures we can dissect while being towed along Adelaide’s journey.
While some are more prominent than others, I’m grouping them all because their effect is the same. Pushing Adelaide. Great side characters force the main character to interact with different personalities, defend or change their position, and move the adventure forward with side quests and clues. Every royal, whether on Adelaide’s side or not, breaks down her barriers and solidifies what she values. Safe to say that this adventure would be bland without the many foreigners in Cahraman.