Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

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

21 reviews

cameronreads's review against another edition

4.0

There is a lot to like about this book. If you like pirate stories, you’ll love this; if you’re looking for an adventure with a middle-aged protagonist, you’ll love this; if you want a story with a rich magic and vibrant setting, you’ll love this.  Chakraborty has the most wonderful way of writing setting. It really made this book for me. You can tell the amount of careful research that went into this book, but also the care that went into bringing the research to life. It feels so vibrant and magical.  

I really liked Amina as a protagonist. It felt like such a rich perspective to follow a middle-aged mother who very much feels like her adventures are over into this magical adventure. However it was very clear that she was the centre of this book, and whilst I liked the moments of the other characters we get and the established found family they formed years ago, I wanted a bit more out of the side characters. 

For some reason it took me a while to get into this book. I think it’s partially due to the first person perceptive - whilst the writing in this book is truly wonderful, I do tend not o struggle with first person regardless, especially when there’s only one POV. It makes the story feel very linear to me, which is fine but struggles to hold my personal short attention span. It also definitely picked up nearer the end - the beginning feels more historical, and it slowly morphs into a fantasy nearer the end, which I personally prefer more, so that might be another reason. 

Still, I really enjoyed this book, and it will become a go-to recommendation for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Alcoholism

Minor: Addiction, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Rape

karatics's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Classism, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Deadnaming, Rape, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Infidelity

sunnydale's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Cannibalism, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent

Violence and sexual content are at a PG-13 rating. There is a lot of swearing. The cat is fine.

miraileah's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious slow-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

5.0

5.0. I loved The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. It was adventurous, thoughtful, and fun to read. The beginning did drag a touch, but I didn’t mind that at all listening to the audiobook. The performance of the audio was fantastic, and I found myself tearing up when I know I would not have just reading, due to the excellent vocal performances. The characters are absolutely where this book shines. I adored Amina, her crew, Jamal, and Marjana. Once I got to about the 40-50% mark, this book was captivating and I was thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

kappafrog's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

The historical setting was 10/10. I loved how rich the details were and how immersed I felt in the world of the 12th century Indian Ocean. Amina was also a great protagonist, very complex and easy to root for. The choice of setting and characters was exciting and refreshing.

The book got too violent for my tastes at times. Some of the plot armour the main characters had got pretty convoluted. Still, I look forward to seeing more in this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Gore, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Classism, Violence, Alcohol, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Grief, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Vomit, and War

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

dnpatterson2's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Cursing, Body shaming, Pregnancy, and Sexism

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

I loved this!!! What a vivid and gripping display of storytelling. The characters were so strong, and the plot was exciting! 

I selfishly wished that Raksh would find out about his daughter and be redeemed in the end. Even though he was a scoundrel, I still found his character strangely endearing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Re-read for book club and loved it just as much the second time. Retired lady pirate gets the crew back together for one last job — shenanigans and legends ensue.  Perfection. No notes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Cannibalism, Torture, Colonisation, Blood, Xenophobia, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Abandonment, Rape, Alcoholism, and Animal death

faduma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense slow-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Violence, Alcohol, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Physical abuse

blewballoon's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Cursing, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Genocide, Transphobia, Vomit, War, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault