Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

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

23 reviews

arantzazureads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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

I’ll have to write more later, but suffice it to say this was the best book I’ve read in a long-ass time. Funny and witty and smart and fascinating, this reading experience felt like I was on an empowering D&D adventure. I loved that the colonizer was the bad guy and the research that went into the culture and lore and history and geography. It all felt so vividly real and rich without being purple prose or world building info dumps. I loved loved loved it. I hope we get more Amina! Maybe with Marjana in tow…! And OMG JAMAL!!!!! Seriously. New favorite author unlocked. 

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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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sarasreading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

4.5

4.5 stars but may bump it up. Easily one of the best reads of the year so far for me! Full of memorable characters, humor, heart, swashbuckling adventure, mysteries, magic, honestly what's not to love? I'm guessing there will be more, and I cannot wait! 

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madamenovelist's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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


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stormeno'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? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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victoriousbookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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unboxedjack's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5


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purplepenning's review against another edition

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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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shaipanda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.5

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 
This was an incredibly exciting and action filled book. I haven't been reading as much this year so I rushed to finish this before the archive date. As a result, there are still some parts of the book I have to come back to in order to call it fully finished. However, I did overall really enjoy this! I think if I'd read it at a more reasonable pace I probably would have enjoyed it slightly more but overall I really enjoyed the characters, the storyline, and the potential for more stories in this world. I also really loved the minor plot twist at the very end I found that to be really fun :)
I was personally not expecting anywhere near the amount of fantasy that ended up being in this book as I originally thought it was mostly just a pirate book, but I wasn't mad about discovering that just not what I originally expected. 
Overall would definitely recommend! 4.5 stars

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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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