An extremely well-written modern fairy tale, arguably one of Doman's best. She does manage to completely miss the point of the Internet and draw a standard "tech bad, real life good" moral from specious arguments, and there is some uncomfortable Big Bad Government plottery that's insufficiently subverted. But she's definitely pulled well away from the Brier/Denniston romances that seemed to entrap her for a while and moved on to creating new, interesting characters with their own lives; "40 Cyber Thieves" also marks a notable shift away from all-white central casts to match the shift away from Eurocentric fairy tales.

The book is especially compelling if one is familiar with the original "Ali Baba"; Doman's level of detail work is incredible, and I spent about fifty pages before the climax wondering how on earth she was going to make the obvious-to-me twist work. (Answer: brilliantly.) Highly recommended, with the caveat that readers active in Internet culture may find themselves refuting the story's moral in detail for the next few hours after finishing... or maybe that's just me.

From Book and Roses (sarah26rose.blogspot.com 11/17/10)

I finished this book some time ago and I was going to re-read it before posting a review. However, my state of mind is such, that is better to do anything productive than to do anything mindless.

I had been looking forward to reading Regina Doman's fifth book for some time. I enjoyed reading her previous four Fairy Tale novels and highly recommended them. This particular book is a fun and satisfying retelling of the tale of Ali and the 40 Thieves. There is romance, hi-tech computer stuff, ninjas, action, mystery, humor, Catholic values, and cats. All of which make a very exciting tale. While the book never takes itself to seriously Doman does weave in some good lessons about the role of technology in our lives, the importance of loyalty, and some insights into dating and marriage. That said, of her five books, this is the one that guys would probably like the most since one of the main characters is a guy with awesome martial art skills and it contains some light techno-thriller drama. All in all, highly recommended for everyone from teens on up.

My only gripe is that I finished it much too soon, but then I'm the sort who shows off by reading 1000 page medieval epics. I would also like to thank the public library for filling my request. At most I was expecting an inter-library loan, but I am pleased to say they dared buy a book from a relatively unknown author (who should be better known) who is unabashedly Catholic in her writing. It should be said then that the Catholicism integrates quite nicely with the story, so I think that anyone else could enjoy it too. ( )