Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty

27 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-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

5.0

Amazingly perfect from the protagonist to the villain to the clever twist. So happy to see some nods to the Daevabad trilogy as well! Cannot wait for the second book!

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alisonvh's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book was so much fun and had everything I could ever want in a book: pirates, magic, a strong female protagonist, and a quest to defeat the bad guy.

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kurumipanda's review against another edition

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adventurous funny inspiring 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

5.0

Amina, an infamous smuggler/pirate, comes out of retirement and gets her crew back together for one last job. Plans go awry and both danger and hilarity ensue. Great adventure story with funny, distinct, and lively characters. Excellent as an audiobook; it has a frame narrative from a scribe who is relating Amina’s story as she told it to him, and Amina’s asides to him really come to life in audio. 

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temperamentalprotagonist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative 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? It's complicated

4.75


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sunnydale's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

what a delightful read. the world was so rich, i immediately wanted to learn more about the historical context, and fortunately the author provided a bibliography! the audiobook is very well-produced, with two voice actors, sound effects in the "present-day" chapters, and adjustments made to address listeners instead of readers. 

i love that the protagonist's faith is central to her character, and we're also able to see how it's developed throughout her life. her faith is sometimes messy, sometimes self-contradicting, but she also never doubts her core beliefs, and she's a more authentic character because of it.

irrelevant to the quality of the book, i noticed that "midnight" is the author's favorite adjective for anything dark. "midnight beach," "midnight ocean," "midnight fabric," etc. it felt like a scavenger hunt trying to find the word in each chapter, lol.

i would recommend this to fans of fantasy, especially those who are looking for non-western fantasy settings. i definitely recommend the audiobook, although you might want a print or ebook copy for the helpful bibliography.

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j_squaredd's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0


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hannahbailey's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review! Because this was an e-arc, I'm unable to share my kindle notes but here are a few highlights that stood out to me:

"For while the pious claim money doesn't buy happiness, I can attest from personal experience that poverty buys nothing."

"I pressed my knife where his legs met. 'The first offense costs a tooth. The second, something far dearer.'" what a legend

"People may call my kind sea rats, but let me tell you, rats know when to fucking run"

"This man could manifest as a beam of celestial light, and he chose to use that power to spy on a naked woman?"

"You plague of a woman, if you could just listen to reason!" I too would like to be referred to as a plague of a woman 😌

I really enjoyed this epic tale of a female pirate coming back from retirement for one last adventure -- the reward so high she couldn't turn it down. The blend of religion and magic was really well done, the sense of mystery and unanswered questions throughout was also really compelling. I liked that many of the magical creatures were humanoid in nature, meaning the MC could converse with them with her trademark wit and swearing!

Whilst the front cover (both US and UK) suggests a world of magic, high seas and adventure, be prepared for graphic scenes of violence, injury and death. There's also blackmailing, demons and a queen of poisons too so definitely not for the faint-hearted. I always love characters exploring motherhood, sisterhood and the found family trope. The novel has all this and more with a diverse cast of characters and exploration of gender identity (although MC is cis-hetero-female). Lots of action and battle scenes as well as more tender moments of powerful friendship. Fans of Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows would enjoy this. I love learning through fiction, and with this novel I learned more about Islam, Arab culture and the pre-colonial world of the Indian ocean. Read the Author's note for further reading on these subjects!

As a 500-page book, I really struggled at the beginning to stay interested as it felt a lot of pages had passed before the adventure really got going. However, it's worth pushing through as the plot quickly ramps up.

TW: violence, blood/gore/injury, death, threat of sexual violence, torture, body horror, kidnapping, alcoholism, misogyny, slavery

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boglord's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

5.0


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itisnatal's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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? Yes

4.75


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anxiouspurpleelephant's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I love this book!!! It’s amazing historical fiction and it’s also fantasy I love it so much!!!

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