Books by Radiya Hafiza are amazing and always welcome in our libraries. She writes stories with familiar tropes that appeal to a wider audience and she puts Asian characters at the heart of these, intermingling traditional tales with modern twists,
Aya is a fantastic character and her story is wondrous and amazing,

Perfect for middle grade readers wanting mystery, adventure and heart in their stories.

There was lots to enjoy about this story. I particularly enjoyed the star magic aspect, but we didn’t get to see Aya really explore using them. You could tell this story was grounded in folklore and I loved those elements. The place and landscape were really clear and I thought the cultures of these fictional places was beautifully evoked.
I think this story might show why so often in children’s books, the main character is separated from the adult caregiver. Here I felt a lot of fun elements were missed because we had to follow her around with her mother being overprotective, taking away some of Aya’s narrative agency.

AYA AND THE STAR CHASER is another enjoyable novel from Radiya Hafiza that feels like a fairy tale for lower middle grade readers.

Unlike RUMAYSA, this tale is not based on any (western) traditional fairy tales, but has all the magic, undoubtedly evil villains, and royals of a fairy tale. It draws heavily on Bengali culture and folklore, with the monstrous bhoots as the terrifying creatures stalking Aya.

I really liked reading a middle grade fantasy where a parent was both alive and very active in her daughter's life. Aya gets into all sorts of trouble but her mother is around and trying to protect her, even if Aya doesn't always appreciate it. Aya gets to go on her journey with her mother, rather than having to go find her. I just really liked seeing a book about a parent and child facing danger together.

The book is illustrated by Kaley McKean. There are a few larger drawings of specific moments to help bring it to life as well as small details, like leaves, scattered throughout. Illustrations make a book more visually interesting as well as helping the imagination to picture what's going on.

Wow - cracking adventure from an author I’d not previously discovered. Love it when I find an author who immediately turns up trumps. This book will definitely make it onto the shelves of many libraries and classrooms.

3.75 stars

I absolutely loved Radiya Hafiza’s Rumaysa duology, so I had high hopes for this book – and overall I did enjoy it, even though I don’t think it quite lived up to the author’s earlier work!

This is a lovely little story about family and courage, and I love that the core of it is really Aya’s relationship with her mother. I think a lot of middle grade readers will relate to her frustrations at the secrets her mother is keeping, and the themes of beginning to wonder who you really are.

I would say this is the kind of middle grade that’s intended for children and may not necessarily work for adults – mainly because it’s extremely generic, in the sense that absolutely nothing that happened was a surprise to me. Honestly, I would expect an intelligent middle grade reader to be able to predict the ‘twist’ fairly easily too, but equally I don’t necessarily thing that’s a bad thing, and just because a book is predictable doesn’t negate the value in the themes and characters!

The main thing that didn’t work for me in this book was the pacing. We’re 50% through the book before the plot really gets going, and I felt Aya learned to use her powers far too easily! At one point, I felt certain there would need to be a sequel to allow enough time for everything that needed to happen, but there isn’t: we get to the final standoff and Aya suddenly has full control of her powers and is able to defeat the Big Bad almost instantly, despite having had no real training or practice. [This feels like Not a Spoiler because, again: entirely predictable!] Maybe I’ve just read too many books like this, but it just rang hollow to me to have everything wrapped up so easily!

Still, overall a very sweet and beautifully illustrated little tale, and I probably will be getting this for my sisters to read at some point.

What a beautiful tale of love, family and courage with gorgeous illustrations.

A must for middle grade fiction fans.

We loved this delightful book, there was something for us all to enjoy. My youngest Grandaughter loved the illustrations and said that they helped her to 'see the story in her head'. My older Grandaughter enjoyed the references to other books and stories comparing it to 'popular cultural references just like in the best movies'. Myself, I just enjoyed the plot, characters and the pace of the story.

I absolutely loved the Rumaysa duology by Radiya Hafiza so was incredibly excited to read Aya and the Star Chaser. This book was just as wonderful in terms of it's characters, world-building and evocation of the fairy tale kind of story. I absolutely loved Aya as a main character and the way she came to terms with her star powers - I think the way she came to use them and understand was paced perfectly for the story. I also absolutely loved how the Robin Hood story was briefly pulled in when Aya and Jannah were in Al Bahr (I also really enjoyed the little cameo that happened in the town too - so exciting to see when an author is having all their stories take place in one world). I just thought this was such a beautiful, wonderful book - exactly what I expect from Radiya Hafiza, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. I also adored the illustrations by Kaley McKean - they really added to the beautiful imagery the prose created.