You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
manchefdad 's review for:
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
by S.A. Chakraborty
OK so this was freaking amazing. I'm not a crazy avid reader with 200 books read a year or anything, but I am a huge sucker for a great story. I'm also a huge sucker for pirates. And where Daughter of the Pirate King left me disappointed (check out my earlier review on that), this one was just non stop fun.
I don't even know where to start. It's a great pirate story, reminiscent of The Adventures of Sinbad. But it's not all about swashbuckling and plundering. Amina is a 40 something year old muslim mother who is a retired pirate, but gets pulled back into it. Like I said, I don't read a ton of books, but this perspective was refreshing AF. Not only is she a strong female lead that carries the entire story (with a great supporting cast of characters), she's middle aged and muslim?? That's a lot of representation and perspectives that you don't usually see and it was awesome.
But there was so much to love here - setting, characters, chemistry and banter - I seriously cannot pinpoint just one aspect I liked more. Everything flowed so beautifully and was so entertaining, it's all going to live rent free in my head for a long time. And the end! (no spoilers) The very end, something is revealed and my goodness, what a freaking bow on top that was!
I listened to the audiobook and if you had the option and if you can hang with such things, I definitely recommend going that route. It's read from Amina's point of view and Lameece Issaq did a stellar job narrating! But the catch is she's reading the story, as it was written by someone else. And there are a few times (too few, if you ask me) where the 4th wall breaks and Amina pauses the reading of her adventure and asks the author if this is really the way they want it to be written. It was so perfect to listen to because Amina's attitude and persona shined through so much, to hear the banter go from the story to the recording was so fun.
So far this year, Fourth Wing swopped in and placed itself on my best of the year. But I'd say it's going to be really hard for a dragon to stay on top with a nakhuda like Amina at the helm.
I don't even know where to start. It's a great pirate story, reminiscent of The Adventures of Sinbad. But it's not all about swashbuckling and plundering. Amina is a 40 something year old muslim mother who is a retired pirate, but gets pulled back into it. Like I said, I don't read a ton of books, but this perspective was refreshing AF. Not only is she a strong female lead that carries the entire story (with a great supporting cast of characters), she's middle aged and muslim?? That's a lot of representation and perspectives that you don't usually see and it was awesome.
But there was so much to love here - setting, characters, chemistry and banter - I seriously cannot pinpoint just one aspect I liked more. Everything flowed so beautifully and was so entertaining, it's all going to live rent free in my head for a long time. And the end! (no spoilers) The very end, something is revealed and my goodness, what a freaking bow on top that was!
I listened to the audiobook and if you had the option and if you can hang with such things, I definitely recommend going that route. It's read from Amina's point of view and Lameece Issaq did a stellar job narrating! But the catch is she's reading the story, as it was written by someone else. And there are a few times (too few, if you ask me) where the 4th wall breaks and Amina pauses the reading of her adventure and asks the author if this is really the way they want it to be written. It was so perfect to listen to because Amina's attitude and persona shined through so much, to hear the banter go from the story to the recording was so fun.
So far this year, Fourth Wing swopped in and placed itself on my best of the year. But I'd say it's going to be really hard for a dragon to stay on top with a nakhuda like Amina at the helm.