The Stardust Grail

At the heart of this, there's a a potential indiana jones sci-fi caper kinda thing going on. It's lost in a lot of generic space travel mega war mumbo jumbo. Would have been better to keep things smaller and focused on the main characters. I almost put it down halfway, but it juuuust changed enough in the second half.

The Stardust Grail is both simple and complex.

There is no subtlety, everything is spelled out, the world and characters are skin deep.

However, the lines between good and evil are blurred, and that is where it shines.

I consider this novel to be for a YA audience.

It was to blatant for me.

A delightful heist buddy crew against the odds space marines aliens in all configurations inscrutable galactic menace histories of oppression misunderstanding and hope. Also, a bit light and scattered.

A repatriating art thief turned grad student goes on one last job for her dear alien friend Auncle to save xyr species as well as all of humanity.

This was a fun adventure of a book. I really enjoyed Maya and Auncle's deep friendship across species boundaries; that Maya feels seen and connected, even by an alien she can't fully understand. I liked that all of the characters (and species) aren't perfect, and have done things that they regret but still felt like were for the right reasons. The heist sequences were fun, and there was also a dangerous ruins sequence that reminded me of Martha Wells's fantasy novels.

I wish the other crew members had a little bit more depth to them, but overall this was still solidly enjoyable.