To Steal the Sun

The Jeweled Lands, Book 1

By: S.M. Carter

Narrated by: Ulka Simone Mohanty

Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Three dangerous rogues. Two nations at war. One impossible heist. Ocean's 11 meets Game of Thrones. From one of the creators of Warframe!

The Kickstarter sensation that was over 700 percent funded.

When Raik, the most cunning smuggler this side of the desert, finds where the Ivory King vaults his magical runes—he builds a crew to execute an elaborate heist.

Among them is Kahli Mahanta, a religious assassin with blind ambition. A young rogue, Kirin, with wit sharper than his arrows ought to be. And Amara, the so-called Nightspirit, whose raven-hair conceals even darker secrets.

It won't be easy. They’re opposed by the curved blades of the magic-deranged, watched by a paranoid king, and hunted by gaunt beasts that click in the cold desert night.... All the while discovering that trusting each other might be the most dangerous mission of all.

To Steal the Sun is a tale of unlikely heroes thrust together in a new refreshing fantasy. One cast in vibrant silks, fragrant spice, and the relentless glare of a radiant sun.

©2022 Sheldon Carter (P)2022 Sheldon Carter

Wonderful

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I have not found a heist book that I have enjoyed until now, and trust me I have tried. Honestly, when this tour was announced the first time I did not even consider reading the book, I saw the word heist and was like nope those are not for me. But there was just something about the synopsis that made me keep coming back to it. I am so glad that I listened to that little voice, that said give it a chance.

As a character-driven reader, I really enjoyed our main cast of characters. The characters have depth and I loved how we learned more about them through flashbacks. They are a very unlikely bunch, and you would not expect them to be able to work well together. I can not think of one thing I would change about the characters.

The world-building was great, I could picture The Jeweled Lands without an issue. The story did not seem to lag at any point. The only complaint is that it was not longer or there is not another book planned that I am aware of.

I listened to the audiobook for this one, and it was great. I really enjoyed Ulka Simone Mohanty as the narrator. She did an amazing job.

I honestly do not know if there is going to be a sequel, but the author left room for one if they decide to continue on. I really hope they do! I enjoyed this book so much, I have considered trying to track down a physical copy of it for my shelves.

Wonderful

Great story with exciting twists all though out. Wonderful narration with outstanding performance. Great listen for anyone who enjoys fantasy genre

Enjoyable Heist Story

I personally am not a fan of books starting off with POVs that each have their own unrelated beginning point. I prefer a “trunk and branch” method where one POV character introduces you to another POV character and so on. However, each of the POVs in the book do meet up quickly, so it wasn’t a big hurdle to overcome.

Once everyone meets up, this becomes a nice heist story, featuring a fond family, but where everyone has conflicting motives behind why they’re doing it. This story just kept getting better as it went.

This is definitely a self published book I would recommend to others.

Look elsewhere for your next book

An okay story with predictable twists and inconsistent, unnecessary, and poorly executed adult thematic elements (language/sexuality) that did not add to the story. Character development and motivations were not strong which is too bad because the characters had a lot of potential.