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A review by katsbooks
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty
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? It's complicated
5.0
“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.”
“For the greatest crime of the poor in the eyes of the wealthy has always been to strike back. To fail to suffer in silence and instead disrupt their lives and their fantasies of a compassionate society that coincidentally set them on top. To say no.”
"And I hope . . . part of me hopes anyway that in seeing me do this, Marjana knows more is possible. I would not want her to believe that because she was born a girl, she cannot dream.”
I loved this book. I'm so happy that I buddy read it. At this point, I've buddy read all of Chakraborty's novels with the same group and I've enjoyed it immensely every time. Chakraborty is definitely an auto-buy author for me at this point. Her character and world-building are immaculate. Her research is fantastic. This novel was set in the Indian Ocean during the Middle Ages. There was reference to the Crusades! It made my World History teacher's heart happy. ❤️
And the writing. Oh, the writing was amazing. It was just as good as the Daevabad trilogy but the tone was so different! It was much more irreverent (despite the addition of more religion). It was genuinely funny. I saw a review call this book Ocean's Eleven meets Pirates of the Caribbean and that feels very apt! If I had to critique something, it would probably be that the beginning was a little slow. But, honestly, I think it had to be to really set up the story. Overall, I loved this book and I can't wait to see where the rest of the series takes us.
“For the greatest crime of the poor in the eyes of the wealthy has always been to strike back. To fail to suffer in silence and instead disrupt their lives and their fantasies of a compassionate society that coincidentally set them on top. To say no.”
"And I hope . . . part of me hopes anyway that in seeing me do this, Marjana knows more is possible. I would not want her to believe that because she was born a girl, she cannot dream.”
I loved this book. I'm so happy that I buddy read it. At this point, I've buddy read all of Chakraborty's novels with the same group and I've enjoyed it immensely every time. Chakraborty is definitely an auto-buy author for me at this point. Her character and world-building are immaculate. Her research is fantastic. This novel was set in the Indian Ocean during the Middle Ages. There was reference to the Crusades! It made my World History teacher's heart happy. ❤️
And the writing. Oh, the writing was amazing. It was just as good as the Daevabad trilogy but the tone was so different! It was much more irreverent (despite the addition of more religion). It was genuinely funny. I saw a review call this book Ocean's Eleven meets Pirates of the Caribbean and that feels very apt! If I had to critique something, it would probably be that the beginning was a little slow. But, honestly, I think it had to be to really set up the story. Overall, I loved this book and I can't wait to see where the rest of the series takes us.