Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

I have heard people say that it took them a while to get into this book but I was hooked by the prelude. This was epic and intimate. The characters were funny and well fleshed out. I loved the concept of it being scribed as a story to the “author”. This book also has a ton of unique representation with an over arching theme of acceptance. I would absolutely recommend this to everyone. My only complaint is some of the first half of the book was paced weirdly and I wished the time jumps were less jarring. Otherwise a really great story.

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inlibrisveritas's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This did everything I needed it to, to bring me out of a reading slump. We get a badass middle-aged pirate captain who is as foul-mouthed as she is impressive, a wonderfully diverse cast of characters with a range of backgrounds, myths, and monsters, and the high seas adventures that I don't get enough of in modern fantasy. I admit to being hesitant to commit to this at first bc I found City of Brass to be very average for me, but Chakraborty really proved me wrong and gave me something that I was completely engrossed in.

I honestly can't wait for book two bc this was so much fun.

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this adventure a lot! I loved having an older and more experienced fantasy protagonist, I loved the diverse cast of characters, and I had fun being immersed in cultures and locations that aren't as familiar to me as typical fantasy settings. I think this book delivered solidly on its premise and my expectations were definitely met. I am not sure why, but despite all that, I had a slow time reading this. I found myself having to force a little to pick it up, and it wasn't until I felt like I was nearing the end that I began to read with more momentum. I am not sure why this was, since the book is fairly action packed throughout. It may be that I got lost a little in the unfamiliar terms and creatures? I'm not sure. This is more of a personal issue that I have with some romance books as well, but I found

Amina's horniness and ogling of the males around her to be off-putting. I was mildly disgusted that she had sex with her "demon" husband again towards the end of the book after everything we know he has done.

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jamie_reads_stuff's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I ADORED this pirate tale. This was such a fun book and I really really enjoyed the characters, plot, and storytelling. It was way funnier than I expected to be, and I’m excited for the sequel to come out!

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heartbrekker's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

"For this scribe has read a great many of these accounts and taken away another lesson: that to be a woman is to have your story misremembered. Discarded. Twisted. In courtyard tales, women are the adulterous wives whose treachery begins a husband's descent into murderous madness or the long-suffering mothers who give birth to proper heroes. Biographers polish away the jagged edges of capable, ruthless queens so they may be remembered as saints, and geographers warn believing men away from such and such a place with scandalous tales of lewd local females who cavort in the sea and ravish the foreign interlopers. Women are the forgotten spouses and unnamed daughters. Wet nurses and handmaidens; thieves and harlots. Witches. A titillating anecdote to tell your friends back home or a warning."

All I can visualize from this line above is Shannon pounding it out on the keys with her entire heart and soul.

Shannon Chakraborty has truly done it again with creating an enriching world, centuries in the past, that delves into the folklore and cultures in the regions of SWANA. The Daevabad trilogy will always hold a special place in my heart, but it was beyond refreshing to see Shannon take on a different time period with a new cast of characters. She's pushing the boundaries of fantasy by spearheading this new trilogy with a middle aged mother, something that brings pure joy to my heart. I can see myself in ten to twenty years rereading this book, if I choose to have children or even not, merely because I'll be the same age as Amina al-Sirafi. We like to say that women are more than just motherhood, but a lot of time that sentiment doesn't hold out in fantasy books. Well, Shannon proves that 110% wrong.

"You may be a pirate now, nakhudha, but it is neither crime nor gold that makes your heart beat. You are an explorer."

Amina al-Sirafi is a prickly, protective, thrice married mother who is currently retired from her old life on the seas as a famous explorer/ pirate, but she's forced to return to her old ways when a forceful client, a grandmother, threatens Amina into searching for the client's kidnapped granddaughter. And to be perfectly honest, all hell breaks lose from then on. From prison breaks to magical islands, Amina is pulled through the ringer trying to finish this job and return to her daughter. While this book is very much adventurous and epic in scope, the heart of it lies with the relationship between a mother and daughter. Their connection underscores so much of this book that in many ways nobody could fault Amina for any of her antics because they all come back to getting back home. This(!) was my favorite aspect to the book. Although, the humor and wit were an extremely close second! It wouldn't be a Shannon Chakraborty book without some chaotic sass/ jokes.

"What a wondrous experience to go anywhere you wish with only the wind."

I remember hearing somewhere, possibly on Shannon's social media pages, that this book would have a distant connection to the Daevabad trilogy, but I never thought it would be in this manner. Amina is as human as they come, besides her accidental demonic husband, who so happens to be the father of her daughter. She's not used to magic or even the idea of magical creatures/ beings. So when she washes up on an island of pure magic and sees daevas for the first time, I quite frankly howled with laughter as said daevas dashed back into the sea to possibly return back home to Daevabad. It was just such a wonderful cameo even if the individuals weren't anyone we knew. Albeit, there is a character from The City of Brass within this book, and I'm very intrigued to see if they continue to be a driving force of this trilogy. In many ways, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi did a lot of set up for the next two books in the trilogy, which is one of my only real gripes because it muddled the pacing and focus, kinda whiplashing us back and forth. I believe, once the second book releases, I'm simply going to perish because Amina has such a deeper connection to the magical side of this world than ever before. Plus, Shannon has a particular talent for writing iconic second books in trilogies because The Kingdom of Copper is pure perfection/ still my favorite book by her. I'm actually hoping the crew can make some journeys further out into the Indian Ocean like eastern Asia, for example, because my whole heart wants Majed to check off his bucket list dream of visiting it. I have a feeling we'll definitely explore more, so my fingers are crossed in excitement.

"You do realize that if you want to be a proper storyteller, your words need to flow like warm honey, not choke like the stones of a dry academic."

Anyway, I loved the crew with my whole heart. I'm so happy that Shannon continues to write such diverse casts of characters with the best dynamics and chemistry. But the standout diversity of this book, for me, was honestly religion. Religion is a very complicated reality for books with historical settings. Most authors would merely brush the entire conversation under the rug, thinking it too complicated, but Shannon puts the pedal to the medal by having a multi-faith crew. She doesn't shy away. While I cannot speak on the Muslim representation, Dalila is a Christian, my culture, and I found her conversation with Amina after stumbling upon an island town to be one of the more profound scenes within the novel. It may even be my favorite scene because of the honesty and friendship that bubbles between them by the end. Dalila needed peace in that moment, and she wanted to be heard by Amina, and she was. It's one of the reasons why Amina is such a phenomenal captain. She listens when it counts!! It just made me happy to see these crew members respect one another's faith, especially when religion is such a testy point of conversation in our reality right now. If only our world could talk maturely about religion and RESPECT all religions like the example set in this book. I'm not asking for perfection; no one is, but it would be great.

"People do not take to the seas if the land offers better, and the kind of men lured to a life of smuggling and raiding are not gentle."

Overall, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is definitely worth a read through, and I'm super excited to see people see the mini cameos and slight connections to her debut series. These adventures are only gonna get more chaotic and rough as the series progresses, but I think Amina has a good foundational support system with her found family on the sea as well as her blood family back on land.

"...are not all mothers capable of being monsters when it comes to their children?"

Thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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ezwolf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Amina Al-Sirafi is a retired pirate trying to live out her retirement in peace with her daughter and family. When the mother of one of Amina's long dead crewmates comes to hire her to retrieve her kidnapped granddaughter, Amina brings her crew together for one last adventure. As you may have guessed, this adventure does not go as planned.

I loved this book SO much! Amina's devotion to her daughter, her sense of humor, and her crew being more than her crew but being her family were what I enjoyed most. The end of the book had me crying, but and not for the reasons you might think. I can't wait to read about more of Amina's adventures!

I listened to the audiobook version and I thought it was done in a clever way, where at points the narrator, Amina, would turn away from the recorder and speak to the scribe detailing her adventures.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for making this available in exchange for an honest review.

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