Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

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

93 reviews

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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: Gore, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Transphobia, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Body horror, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Animal death, Slavery, Confinement, Death of parent, Vomit, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Torture, Classism, and Cursing

chrisb913's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious 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

This was an incredibly fun read. The humor and wit of Amina and The supporting cast had me laughing the majority of the story. The incredibly unique narration of the book also boosted my enjoyment.

The way that Chakraborty wrote into the story breaks in the narration as if Amina was being interrupted while telling you the adventure was pure gold

. I also highly recommend listening to the audiobook because the voice for the characters was perfect. I really would like to reread this when the next book comes out. I wish I had tandem read the audio and physical together, as just listening to the audio, I feel like I missed out on worldbuilding and story plots. At the end of the day, highly recommend this books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Transphobia, and Rape

kesreads13's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Torture and Colonisation

Minor: Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, Trafficking, Islamophobia, and Slavery

julian7's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-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

4.0

This was a great book! I loved the characters, especially Dalila, Raksh, Jamal, and ofc Amina. I really loved  the island of the peris because it was so weird in a fantastic way. It reminded me of the Abarat series a bit. I loved the bit about the spooky cave as well, because for some reason mysterious doors always scratch a very specific itch in my brain. I also enjoyed the humor and political commentary. Franco was an interesting villain and it was so funny how Amina couldn’t pronounce his name. 
I only have two complaints about the book. First, I wish we had gotten more of the side characters! I feel like there was so much focus on them in the first part of the story, when Amina was “getting the band back together,” only for them to disappear into the background once Raksh showed up. I enjoyed Raksh, don’t get me wrong, but I would have loved to learn more about the other characters, like Tinbu and Majed, who seemed so interesting. 
My other complaint is that the first third of the book went by very slowly, and the last two thirds felt much more fast-paced and a little too busy. A medium pacing throughout the whole book would have felt more cohesive. 
I’ll probably read the sequels, and I hope we get to learn more about the side characters and Raksh returns eventually. 🤭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Torture, and Body horror

Minor: Rape, Slavery, Transphobia, and War

singingshooter's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.5

Loved the audio book! Feels like this book was made for it 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Slavery, Transphobia, Hate crime, and Kidnapping

meggiemeggie52's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.25

I'm not usually a fantasy girlie, but I really enjoyed this! It was so descriptive and well-written, and I quickly grew to love the characters. Some parts got a little gory for my taste, but it really wasn't that often compared to the size of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Gaslighting, Slavery, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Emotional abuse

There's not a LOT of the really graphic stuff until the last third of the book, I'd say, but even that isn't as high in quantity as one might expect from a pirate fantasy. But it does get quite descriptive and gave me the heebie jeebies a few times.

barda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery

Minor: Rape and Sexual harassment

keelirae113's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

5.0

The story has a slow start, but once I got past the world building I was hooked! A fantastic read for anyone who has ever been told there is a “respectable” life they need to fit themselves into. You aren’t too much and anyone who thinks you are can go find less. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Slavery, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Body horror, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Murder, Racism, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Torture, Addiction, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

cleo_reads's review against another edition

adventurous

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars. Completely enjoyed this immersive fantasy about a retired pirate captain / smuggler who brings her crew back together for one last job. Set in the world surrounding the Indian Ocean in the 12th C, but with magic.

I love fantasy adventures with middle aged protagonists and Amina is delightful. This is a rollicking pirate fantasy that is also a meditation on motherhood and sacrifice, regrets and middle age.

There’s no romance and unlike 98% of the fiction I read, the protagonist is cis and straight. There are queer supporting characters though and found family. Be warned, there’s a fair bit of violence and descriptions of atrocities. And some body horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Gore and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Rape and Slavery