4,5⭐ rounded up

I thought this was a usual adventure kind of fantasy where the MC was in their prime age, peak career, and I was surprised that Amina had already retired at the beginning of the book.

Yes, Amina was the greatest female nakhuda, but that’s in the past. Now she had a daughter and only wanted a quiet life. She did her best to hide her past because with a great name, came great enemies too.
But on one humid and sunny day, a wealthy woman wanted to hire her. Longing for her ship, the sea, and tempted by the payment, she agreed to the job.

First thing that I love about this book is that most of the characters are Muslims. I’ve read some fantasy books written by Muslim authors but their books usually didn’t bring up any religious aspect. Not this book, though. And being a Muslim myself I noticed that the narration is RICH with Islamic terms (of course most of them translated into English).

The cast of characters are RIVETING. They are old, even for an adult fantasy standard. A nice reminder that your life isn’t going to end by the age of 40, especially for women. I love their dynamics which consist of 50% hilarious banter, 25% arguing (affectionate), and 25% teasing their old body. Literally one of the best found families I’ve ever read. The humor in their dialogues are TOP TIER.

The plot is SO bizarre, far from my initial thought about regular sea adventure, maybe conquering some lands, etc. The story started off with some mysteries that slowly unpacked along the way, since Amina had a whole lotta adventures before her retirement. It involves magical beings, supernatural powers, a psychotic sorcerer, and a mythical object.

And the best thing is the perfect fucking loop. See, In this book, Amina was relaying her story to a scholar scribe, exactly in her voice, to keep record of her adventures. I didn’t even think about this narrative concept until I got to the closing chapter. I think my jaw dropped for at least a full minute. Utterly genius.

I don’t give this full 5 stars because the writing, beside the dialogues, wasn’t exactly my favorite. I noticed an excessive amount of -ly adverbs to emphasize things, and a lot of vocabs were unfamiliar to me (non-native). But overall, it was great. Can’t wait for Amina’s next adventure!!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

"The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi" by Shannon Chakraborty follows one of the Indian oceans renowned pirates when she returns from motherhood .

I would give "The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi" by Shannon Chakraborty a 2 star review because, 1; it was written well 2; I liked the premise of this novel 3; the characters were well done 4; there were parts that were really cool but 4; for me it just didn't fit for me and it took me so long to actually enjoy and read it I was just basically finishing it just because I started it.

Okay so I TOTALLY loved this one! It's my first book by this author and it is without a doubt an epic story! I can't rant and rave about this without giving too much away but this book is now in line for one of my faves of the year hands down

An absolutely delightful read, full of adventure, steeped in history and stunning prose that keeps you.rihht on the heart of the story. An absolute gem.

It takes an excellent storyteller to write using the language and the tone of a scribe that tells the story of a mystical character.
I fell in love with this novel when I read the prologue and was ready to travel to far away places, visiti again the world of Daevabad Trilogy, and discover more about an unusual woman and her crew.
It's a slow burning story but it never drags and always kept my attention alive.
The characters reminded me of those of the classic middle age Arabic stories.
The author did an excellent job and I can't wait to read the next story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Amina al-Sirafi is the perfect protagonist I didn’t know I was waiting for. She is strong, fierce, independent, and morally grey. Most importantly, she has life experience and uses them to deal with the problems instead of suddenly developing new skills and smarts. She knows what she is doing, weighs her stakes carefully, and her problems are relatable, some if not all.

Thanks to Shannon Chakraborty for giving us Amina along with all the other memorable characters. Diverse and representative, they give us insight into the beliefs and customs of so many cultures. These are mostly places and communities no one talks about. Dalila, Dunya, and of course the demon will be some of my favourite characters for a long time.

The book is also very well-researched. Based in medieval times and spread across countries in the Indian Ocean, they are very close to reality. I spend hours reading up on Socotra after it was mentioned and God, it is so beautiful. I spent hours dreaming about visiting it someday. Reading the acknowledgements and notes, one also finds that the ships and customs are also very historically accurate.

Throw in pirates, monsters, magic, wayward gods, old legends, and djinns, and you have the recipe for a perfect fantasy. Each line evokes images and feelings that transport you right into this world. It is well-paced but can get a tad bit slower at moments. But no frivolous details are added. Even the flashbacks help knit the story together. There are places where it feels that the thread is left midway, such as the time when the black door is first seen, but they are all picked up and connected later on.

Another thing that enamoured me about the book was the whole mother v/s pirate dilemma Amina faces. It is a very common feeling women face and it was great to see it voiced. And the fact that Amina, even at her age, realized the importance of letting people make their own decisions.

For me, it was also a trip down memory lane to all the evenings spent watching Alif Laila(an Indian adaptation of the Arabian nights), especially Sinbad’s stories. I loved this book through and through. It was my most anticipated release of 2023, given that I love the Daevabad trilogy, and it did not disappoint at all.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to enjoy. This book lacks depth, the characters wooden and I am still trying to find the deep discussions of motherhood and faith. I was expecting more complexity from an "adult" sff but was met with mere nothing. I don't want to talk about my disappointments anymore but I am sure a lot of readers would find this book immensely enjoyable.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
by Shannon Chakraborty

Pub Date 2 Mar 2023
Publisher :HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction, HarperVoyager
Genre: Sci-Fi and Fantasy


The prologue already got me hooked. Though slow paced at 1st it built up momentum through the book. The first couple of chapters were a little slow for me because there's a lot of character introduction and world building, but things picked up about a third of the way in and I couldn't put the book down.

#Ad #dejavu #gifted#arc #NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview #goodreads #booktok #bookclub #booklover #storygraph #arcreader #silkybookloverfun #letsread #tiktokviral #readersoftiktok#dejavu #booklover #booktok #bookclub #bookreview #tiktokviral #readersoftiktok #arcreader #silkybookloverfun #letsread #scifictionandfantasy

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi for an honest review.

The story follows Amina al-Sirafi one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates. After a long scandalous career, several husbands and a demon she has retired to a life of motherhood.

That is until she is tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of one of her former crewman. She offers her a large sum of money to rescue her old crewmans kidnapped daughter. The money will secure her family's future forever.

Unfortunately there is more to this job and the girl's disappearance than meets the eye.

I was unsure at first if this story was going to be my thing but I was pleasantly surprised.

This story was unlike any other fiction I have previously read and felt an incredibly original premise. A female pirate in her forties, monsters, magical artifacts, demons, an evil sorceror, sea creatures from the depths. You name it this story probably ticked it off.

I loved Amina as a character strong resourceful and brash but with a deeper caring side for her crew and it was fascinating seeing her connect more and more to her Muslim faith.

I felt the characters in her crew were all well established with distinct personalities and it would be good to have them devolped further in future books.

I also felt the book handled an issue of gender identity well.

While the start may have dragged slightly once I got into the plot it was a fantastic tale with many twists and turns.

I am looking forward to the next book in the series and will definitely be reading it.

This is my first time reading anything by Shannon Chakraborty and definitely not the last. This was easily my favourite read of the month and a solid 5 stars⭐️. I found the first couple of chapters to be a little bit on the slow side as there's alot of character introduction and world building but things quickly picked up a 1/3 of the way in and couldn't put the book down.

This was a swashbuckling high seas adventure with a retired badass female pirate in her 40s🙌 who is also a mother juggling motherhood and her dream of being at sea, demon estranged husband, fantasy , magical creatures, a supporting cast of loveable characters and lgbtq rep, honestly what more could you want! Everybody needs to read this book! The wait for book two is going to be hard but cannot wait to devour Chakrabortys other books in the meantime.

Thank you to @instabooktours @sachakrabooks @harpervoyager_uk and also @netgalley for my arc copy.

What do we love? FEMALE PIRATES! This book promised me high stakes and an adventure packed tale, what did I get? That and a WHOLE world of more.

I loved the inclusivity, how everyone had a part to play and in Amina's crew's eyes, it didn't matter where you came from or who you were if you were part of the crew, you were part of the family. (Nods to the cat)

The world building was brilliant, the writing was so descriptive and colourful. I loved our friend R, who I will say no more about. I loved the people and places we met on the way. I loved the scribe's jest and the innuendos throughout the story.

I'm excited for the next instalment, I'm so happy that this is a series.

Overall, I thought there are some good elements to it..but so very simple in my opinion. The storytelling is linear and it reads very young!
I was expecting the writing to be more lush.
It’s like the author tried an off-hand, nonchalant tone, you know, but it just doesn’t work.
I was also expecting most of the adventures to happen at sea. Most of them are on the islands or places they go to. One great scene happens at sea but I wanted to know more of the pirate life on the ship..

Overall – the writing, the linear plot (from place A to place B to place C) – it was too simple for me. Too simple for historical adult fantasy! Here I said it!
Ok they’re 40 and she’s a mother but that aspect is written so stereotypically that it didn’t even feel relatable! Thinking about her daughter and only thinking "my sweet sweet girl" or something along those lines wasn’t really deep! Amina doesn’t have much depth to be honest and the side characters were very one-dimensional. I really really liked the assassin! She was the funniest one, more complex and the one I really wanted to know more about the sort-of demon, he was also interesting and his dialogues were the best.

The magical aspect is a bit all over the place, maybe too many things at once and not really introduced. It’s one thing after the other all the time.

I’m reaching the end of my review and I should now warn you that there is no romance in this book! On one hand, I didn’t miss it. On the other, I think the author is kind of baiting us with one but not providing satisfying and proper romance which can be frustrating and kind of in poor taste to taunt us with it but not deliver.
So yeah it was not bad but it wasn’t great either.

I thank netgalley for providing an e-arc of this anticipated release for an honest review.

Wow!

As soon as I started this I knew I'd love it! The writing, the characters and the banter was done to perfection! Amina is such a strong and powerful character, and I wanted to BE her. I can't believe how short this was, because I wanted more and more. The writing is rich, luscious, and so vivid that I was totally immersed into this world set on the seas. This is how a pirate book should be done!

Thanks so much to the publishers and NetGalley for an e-arc!

One of my most anticipated novels of the year but this was just an okay read to me. I read the first in the Daevabad trilogy and while I liked it, it hasn’t stuck in my memory and I’ve never felt compelled to continue the series. The synopsis for The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi was so compelling that I was so excited to pick it up. The story just never grabbed me, and I think Chakraborty’s writing just keeps me at arm’s length though she is obviously very talented. None of the characters jumped out at me and I thought it was at times too detailed.

Not a bad read but not a series I will continue with either.

I really wanted to love this book as I have a special edition coming from Fairyloot and the description sounded like nothing I had read previously. Which is definitely the case. On reflection I think a pirate fantasy is too far out of my usual reading genre and while it was entertaining and well written I did manage to read to the end but it definitely took me longer to read than anything else I've recently read. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing an eARC to review!

This book just sadly is not for me. After trying The City of Brass earlier this year and not being able to get into it, I was hoping I would enjoy this as it seems to lean more adventure than fantasy/romance. At this point, though, I feel maybe Chakraborty just isn't the author for me.

As someone who doesn't tend to enjoy funny books or books where motherhood is a central theme, I probably should have known better than to pick this up. I did think it was cool to see a book like this showing that fantasy heroines can be older (and mothers), and that their adventure does not have to end with domesticity. Amina is driven by wanting to protect her daughter and give her a better life, but also by wanting to prove to herself that she can still be the great captain she once was. She's also reuniting with other members of her crew who have also moved on with their lives, so it's a bit of a ragtag team story too which is fun. I also liked the setting of this rich Muslim world that shows the diversity of ethnicity, language, and religion.

The humour and banter between the characters, though, just was not up my alley and I couldn't really find myself connecting to any of them. This seems to fall into what I feel books like The Thursday Murder Club and Killers of a Certain Age would be like where the humour is that the characters are old and find themselves in situations where old people wouldn't ordinarily be? Maybe in the future this would work for me but I felt it was getting quite repetitive when in almost every conversation we had to bring up the characters' age or ailments.

Like City of Brass there is also a bit of a slower pace for the adventure to get going - there are some action scenes but the journey only really officially starts at the halfway mark and everything up to this point has been preparation. I'm sure this works for some people, but when I don't really find myself interested in the characters, the slow pacing is not really keeping me invested.

Sadly I just don't think Chakraborty's style is for me, but I'm so glad that people find so much joy in her Arab/Muslim centred stories and worlds. It's important representation to have, and it was cool in this novel to see Amina's take on her faith despite doing some pretty horrible things as a pirate. I just kind of wish this book was her in her pirate peak :/

This had some really, really cool elements. Muslim rep, pirates, a strong female leader/MC in her forties who accidentally married a demon?! It was certainly pretty awesome. I also enjoyed the way this was told, you can feel the love for storytelling from this author. The research that would have been involved in writing this must have been hefty, also.

Unfortunately, I just didn’t gel with it that well. I thought it was a challenge to get through as the writing felt dense and it was a lot of information compacted. I’ll be re-reading it again in future when my brain isn’t as burnt out and tired to see if I can be a little more engaged, because this book definitely deserves a second chance.

I would still recommend it though!

This was a fascinating story about a retired lady pirate, Amina, who is lured out of retirement by threats and by the promise of a million dinars reward. Sexually liberated, this female is amazing, and her adventures are fantastic too, as she battles creatures both supernatural and human in order to carry out her mission. And does her mission succeed? The reader will have to find that out for themselves. Highly recommended.

no matter what this woman writes it's a masterpiece no questions asked.

This was such an amazing book and i cannot wait to own the physical copy as well

To start with, all I have to say is: what an absolutely brilliant whirlwind of a story. It honestly had everything - pirates, magic, deep-rooted and vibrant settings and a whole cast of incredible characters. Unlike a lot of reviewers nowadays, I am yet to read any of S.A. Chakraborty's works, and honestly, to start here felt like a brilliant place to delve in.

Of course, I must begin by touching upon the incredible Amina Al-Sirafi. Her character was astoundingly written, enveloping the reader into the duality of the warm, caring mother and leader to the absolutely badass and rebellious nakhudha (pirate captain). I never once felt like I lost connection with her character - her antics are the perfect combination of funny and adventurous. You'll feel so invested in her actions that you won't stop rooting for her the entire way through the book.

Raksh. The impressively wimpy demon. Yet another character that provides an absolute flair to this storyline. No matter how frustrated you are at Amina's circumstances, he comes along to provide a witty spinelessness to everything. But the real brilliance of his character is that this cowardice constantly follows the reader alongside the knowledge that aside from his cowering, he could easily be one of the strongest characters present. Chakraborty has managed to interweave the supernatural elements of the book while maintaining an original and fresh concept to their integrations. Gone are the days when an automatically supernatural hero would come along and solve everything instantly!

The world of this book is rich and lively, and the world-building itself is exceptional. Layers upon layers of seamless setting description and references to the wider world allow for this novel to truly become wider than the action that we see - Amina's dreams to travel the world become echoed in the reader through their portrayals.

Overall, this is honestly an incredible book. I haven't read a book this good in a while and I strongly urge everyone to pick it up and enjoy the amusement and adventure of Amina's tales.

Thanks to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an early release copy of the book! A review will be posted on my TikTok (@thebookishkat) after the release date.