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

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

Thank you to NetGalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review! Because this was an e-arc, I'm unable to share my kindle notes but here are a few highlights that stood out to me:

"For while the pious claim money doesn't buy happiness, I can attest from personal experience that poverty buys nothing."

"I pressed my knife where his legs met. 'The first offense costs a tooth. The second, something far dearer.'" what a legend

"People may call my kind sea rats, but let me tell you, rats know when to fucking run"

"This man could manifest as a beam of celestial light, and he chose to use that power to spy on a naked woman?"

"You plague of a woman, if you could just listen to reason!" I too would like to be referred to as a plague of a woman 😌

I really enjoyed this epic tale of a female pirate coming back from retirement for one last adventure -- the reward so high she couldn't turn it down. The blend of religion and magic was really well done, the sense of mystery and unanswered questions throughout was also really compelling. I liked that many of the magical creatures were humanoid in nature, meaning the MC could converse with them with her trademark wit and swearing!

Whilst the front cover (both US and UK) suggests a world of magic, high seas and adventure, be prepared for graphic scenes of violence, injury and death. There's also blackmailing, demons and a queen of poisons too so definitely not for the faint-hearted. I always love characters exploring motherhood, sisterhood and the found family trope. The novel has all this and more with a diverse cast of characters and exploration of gender identity (although MC is cis-hetero-female). Lots of action and battle scenes as well as more tender moments of powerful friendship. Fans of Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows would enjoy this. I love learning through fiction, and with this novel I learned more about Islam, Arab culture and the pre-colonial world of the Indian ocean. Read the Author's note for further reading on these subjects!

As a 500-page book, I really struggled at the beginning to stay interested as it felt a lot of pages had passed before the adventure really got going. However, it's worth pushing through as the plot quickly ramps up.

TW: violence, blood/gore/injury, death, threat of sexual violence, torture, body horror, kidnapping, alcoholism, misogyny, slavery

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