Stealing Thunder

By: Alina Boyden

Narrated by: Deepti Gupta, Alina Boyden

Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Protecting her identity means life or death in this immersive epic fantasy inspired by the Mughal Empire.

In a different life, under a different name, Razia Khan was raised to be the crown prince of Nizam, the most powerful kingdom in Daryastan. Born with the soul of a woman, she ran away at a young age to escape her father’s hatred and live life true to herself.

Among the hijras of Bikampur, Razia finds sisterhood and discovers a new purpose in life. By day she’s one of her dera’s finest dancers and by night its most profitable thief. But when her latest target leads her to cross paths with Arjun Agnivansha, prince of Bikampur, it is she who has something stolen.

An immediate connection with the prince changes Razia’s life forever, and she finds herself embroiled in a dangerous political war. The stakes are greater than any heist she’s ever performed. When the battle brings her face-to-face with her father, Razia has the chance to reclaim everything she lost...and save her prince.

©2020 Alina Boyden (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Stealing Thunder was immersive from the very first page. Razia is everything you want in a protagonist." (Peter V. Brett, New York Times best-selling author)

"This is an epic fantasy for our time, beautifully written, considerately composed, and very important in many ways. Highly recommended." (Seanan McGuire, New York Times best-selling author)

"Stealing Thunder draws you in with its richly-detailed worldbuilding and hooks you with gripping action and suspense, but the biggest appeal is the book’s themes of politics, family, and identity. This is the kind of book you’ll want to share with people, so buy multiple copies." (Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse)

Relatable

As a Trans Women with a un accepting family i felt this so much. Also, the way Razzah explains climbing was such a nice suprise as i am a rock climber IRL and it just made her so much more relateable to me.

fabulous!

This book does an excellent job of conveying a trans woman's experience. Also, it has dragons!

A thrilling and beautiful tale

A tad long-winded at times, but ultimately a delightful and riveting story fraught with anxiety and courage in equal measure. A splendid fantasy world encompasses (and insightfully depicts) deeper real-world issues in a powerful and poignant way. I'll definitely be recommending this book to friends and family.
Ultimately, it does exactly what all great stories do - puts you into the shoes of another person and allows you to experience the world through their eyes and with their thoughts and feelings. And in this case in particular, it's an experience more people in the world today would benefit from having. Thankfully, it's an immensely enjoyable experience.

Very colorful world

Instantly loved the MC. Pretty brilliant and humble for someone born rich. Some of the parts of the book were darker then I care for. I suppose it’s unavoidable given the subject and the culture the book is based in. Liked the ending a lot and hope this isn’t the last on the subject by this author.

Enjoyable read

I got this book to honor Pride Month and glad I did. Not sure how this was a historical fiction, not much history and very fairy tale like. I could not remember if the author ever said what era it was suppose to be. I know some of the Royal names were real but not the people. Still the narrator was excellent and the story enjoyable.

One of my new favorites

I absolutely loved this story, to the point after reading it I decided to enjoy it again. I can't wait to read the sequel once I'm done again.

I love Razia as a protagonist and seeing all of her different talents from over her life come into play in order to carve a life for her. I also loved her relationship with Arjun which honestly I wish we spent a little more time with.

Which I think is my only real complaint, that I wanted more. Would've liked more glimpses into her upbringing, more time seeing this deep love Arjun & her have, more of seeing her spend time in court. But, these are things I can look past.

Over all, I really did enjoy this book. And the fact I want to read again right after finishing, is what elevates this for me.

Amazing story performed by a wonderful narrator

Stealing Thunder is an amazing novel, but before I get into that I have to make a special mention of the fantastic narration performed by Deepti Gupta. Her performance brought Razia, Arjun, and the rest of the cast to life. Listening to her tell me this beautiful story is an experience I'll not soon forget.

The story itself is similar amazing. Told from the perspective of Razia, the protagonist, hero, and a trans woman like myself, this tale captivated me from beginning to end. Fantastical elements aside, there were so many moments throughout that were relatable to my experience of transness on an almost visceral level.

Razia's story is my own, a story of constantly striving to prove herself and her identity to the world in the face of relentless doubt and insults, of sparing no thought to anything but giving all of herself to care for and protect her loved ones, of finally being able to grow beyond the internalized trauma of having spent your whole life being told you are worthless and a freak just for the way you were born (that everyone else always mischaracterizes as a choice).

It's really an incredible journey.

Incredible

I'm downloading the sequel now, and will jump on anything else Alina Boyden writes!

Full of girl power and makes a statement!

I really loved the author's note at the beginning; I didn't realize this was the the first adult fantasy novel with a trans woman main character, written by a trans woman author, ever to be published by a mainstream press in the US. So cool to see a diverse, confident heroine in fiction/fantasy!

Amazing

Amazing book. Just buy it and listen. Good day! and I still need to hit the fifteen word minimum.