Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

Somehow, I always start Chakraborty's books thinking that it's not my thing, and then by the end, it draws me in and I need to know everything right this second. This is such a rich world that she has created, but more than that, she fills it with characters full of life and joy and hope, and she has them overcome things they could never have imagined. I loved getting to know these new characters of hers and unraveling Amina and who she truly is inside.

I do think the book started very slowly, and it took me longer than normal to actually get into it and be invested. I loved once the fantastical elements really kicked in, and I wish that it had been a greater part of the book from the start. I did love Amina and the uniqueness of her being a mother who is just trying to retire from the life of a scoundrel.

Chakraborty definitely crafts such beautiful worlds and stunning characters. If you're a historical fantasy lover, get your hands on this new series!

I enjoyed the adventure and the characters. I love that the MC is a strong woman pirate that happens to be a mom also who comes out of retirement to save a girl. This adventure turns magical and I love the character development.

Shannon will never let me down. This was everything it promised to serve and more. I already cannot wait for the next book.

Honestly, it took me a couple hundred pages to get into this book. This is why I don't have a firm '#-page DNF limit.' If I stopped at 100 pages, I wouldn't have experienced the fun and absurdity (in a good way) of the rest of this book! It's lengthy, yes. There's a lot going on. But it was worth it in the end! Yay for middle-aged mom pirate captains!!

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Pirates
Found family
Magical creatures & demons (who aren’t demons)
Epic quest
With splashes of Muslim history throughout!

🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦
I received the ebook of this from NetGalley a while before this one came out last February, but ended up setting it aside when I tried reading it the first time. I finally decided to give this one a go again on audio and I FLEW through it then. This book does so well as an audio, so I highly suggest it if you’re an audiophile! The story is told by Jamal, a scribe, but is Amina telling Jamal of her adventures. What I had struggled with physically reading it was a few moments where Amina/Jamal break the fourth wall and start talking outside of the story she is telling him. It was difficult to understand this was happening in print, but is so clear and well done on audio. I ended up switching back and forth between the ebook and audio after I got used to that writing style and enjoyed it so much!

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi was such a fun book! I loved how it was led by a swashbuckling lady pirate coming out of retirement for one last adventure and to make a fortune that would provide for her family. The found family within her crew made up amazing side characters and overall just made a depth of engaging and fun personalities! It also makes me excited for future books in the series and to keep getting to know this cast! I loved how different they all were, but how much respect they showed for each others beliefs, religions, and life styles. It was so beautifully done.

The development of the plot was well paced, although it did get a tad slow at times. There was a LOT that happens so it does keep you engaged the whole time.

And I LOVED the little surprise we got at the end! It was such a perfect touch to have and put the biggest smile on my face. Bravo!

I loved this book. However, I forgot that I had read this book so long ago. Too much time has passed to write a good review.

This book was written for me, as a Muslim girl who loves fantasy and feels like I can relate. The way it portrays the religion perfectly and still sticks to the plot is amazing. Amina is my wife and mother, I love her sooo much and it’s refreshing seeing a single mom as a protagonist. Also, please this book is suchhhh a fun and easy time. it felt like pirates of the Caribbean meets atlantis vibes if that makes sense. I love it 10/10

This book is the pirate adventure of my dreams! We examine a woman in all of her facets, daughter, wife, mother, pirate, and warrior as she embarks on that one last job that will change the course of her life forever.

Very well written if paced a little more leisurely than other fantasy novels (which personally I love to be honest). So much to talk bout with this book, but just know that you should read it!

What an adventure this book was. From the cast of characters to the magic, this book was really good. Can't wait to read another book by this author.

What I loved: the author created a complicated, vast, rich world as she explored a version of the Indian ocean perhaps a thousand years ago. Her gift for setting is on full display in this book, and so is her sparkling imagination. Who wouldn't want to read an adventure about a lady pirate that features getting the band back together, lost archaeological treasures, sea monsters, djinni, shipwrecks, crusaders, and magic, magic, magic?

Chakraborty knows how to keep the plot moving and how to introduce characters and revelations at the right time. After ten years of living in hiding near Salalah, Amina more than makes up for lost time when she returns to the world to seek a missing young girl in return for the promise of riches beyond imagining. This woman is busy! She's also strong, sharp, loyal to her friends, and conflicted between her love for her daughter and her love of the sea and adventure. Torn between two identities, she's a person that women of today can identify with.

I didn't rate this book higher because I've read the author's other work. I had to think about what was different in this book and decided it is probably the complexity of the characters in her Daevabad trilogy. True, I've only known Amina for one book instead of three so this is something that might change. The strength of the Daevabad books was in their interpersonal conflict which then played out on a larger political scale. This book didn't have that. Amina banters with her friends and crew, but there's no real conflict there. The conflict is within Amina herself and of course with the insane European who wants to destroy the world. This book felt more episodic and less like a build to a larger story.

Of course, it does turn out that this book is probably part of a larger story because of a quest that Amina is set. I figure there are likely to be sequels! And I'll read them happily.

3.5
Overall I really enjoyed this, and loved the main character and all her flaws and strengths. I had a pretty disjointed reading experience, constantly stopping and starting. I blame that for any lack on enjoyment.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book!! Amina Al-Sirafi is a (somewhat) famous (retired) pirate who's more than happy to live the rest of her life in her small humble abode with her wonderful daughter, Marjana. But no. A wealthy grandmother arrives at her home offering a ridiculous amount of money for Amina to locate and return her missing granddaughter. Said ridiculous sum of money would mean that Amina could retire comfortably for the rest of her days, and that her daughter would want for nothing. She accepts the job. And then all hell (including but not limited to demon husbands, giant scorpion squids, possessed henchmen, evil sorcerers, enchanted wash tubs, and godlike bird people) breaks loose.

Oh my LORD I loved this book and immediately checked the internet for any hints and inklings of a sequel because I need one right this minute. This book is WEIRD, it's OUT THERE, and it's AMAZING. I loved Amina, her personality, her gosh dang bum knee, and everything about her. She was a fantastic main character and the voice created for her throughout the novel was wonderful. I loved Jamal's little interludes in the storytelling process (and sidenote, I loved the full-circleness of the whole Jamal thing. No spoilers, just read it). The magic in this book starts subtle, and then it's REALLY not subtle at all. Like, we start with humble pirate living in a leaky dwelling and get all the way to evil sorcerer commanding a legion of demonic henchmen and scorpion squids. This is a must-read fantasy adventure book that is going to make you want a sequel immediately (I'm speaking that into existence).

Loved this book! It felt fresh and different. It started off a little slow but quickly sped up and I really enjoyed it. Curious if this is going to be a series. I hope so!

Giving this three stars because it was pretty average, and unfortunately I ended up DNFing abou 75% of the way through because I wasn’t super into the book. I think I will go back to it at some point to finish it but it wasn’t for me at the time I was reading it. I liked the main character, but I didn’t like how she maneuvered through the world or her motivations. Always love a strong woman though!

Quite simply this is one of the best books I've read in 2023. The aspect that captured my full interest right off the start was the fact that this book isn't about some 20-something year old woman having adventures in the prime of her life. This is a grown 40 year old woman who has lived and has had adventures and sets off to have another. It's refreshing to read about a character who is a bit older.

The book was funny, witty, and adventurous; all the things I was promised and looked forward to in reading. It was paced well, the plot was interesting, and the scenes the author painted made it feel like I was standing in the world with our characters.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is the swashbuckling tale of a middle-aged pirate who comes out of retirement for one last quest at the promise of unimaginable riches. This book has everything you want in a pirate adventure: fantastical monsters, magical treasures, and a delightful rag-tag crew. I had an absolute blast reading it and can’t wait for the next one!

I am still in the midst of reading this book and am currently 63% into it. I will update my review when I finish this book, but the thoughts and ratings I am giving it now are for the chunk I have read so far.

Amina is very hyped, and I was excited to jump onto the hype train with this book. I have previously read City of Brass by Shannon Chakraborty and I did struggle with it for the most part and put it down for years, but about a year ago, I picked it up again on audio and found that I enjoyed it. When seeing The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi on NetGalley, I decided to request it to see how this book may differ from her other books.

Amina has an amazing premise, and the character (Amina) is very mysterious and makes the reader want to know more about her. However, I felt like it was hard connecting with Amina and with how Amina narrates the story, it makes it hard to connect with the world since the writing feels more like telling than showing. It makes the writing feel really dry and makes it hard for one to become immersed with the story.

I found myself lacking a connection with Amina was because she is a one-dimensional character with bare minimum character development. This could be just because it is her telling the events of our story.

The books pacing was odd with it starting off slow, then picking up, and slowing down again. I feel like if the pacing did not lag a lot and it not being Amina telling the events of her story, then the stakes would be way higher and exciting.

Shannon Chakraborty writes very well and has a great pose, but due to the issues listed above it just made me feel indifferent to this book and making me not being super excited to pick up my book to finish it.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is well written and has a great premise, but it falls flat. In the words of Taylor Swift: "it isn't love, it isn't hate, it's just indifference."

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. The main star is, of course, the protagonist Amina. Reading a fantasy story through the eyes of a middle-aged Muslim pirate, who is also a mother, was a very unique and enjoyable experience. Amina was a great, well-fleshed out character who was exciting to follow and felt incredibly real.

I have never read Chakraborty's other fantasy series, so I have nothing to compare this book to. However, The first half of this book was mainly set-up, and it felt a little boring until around the 45% mark where the actual adventure finally gets underway. An overall enjoyable read, but I feel like it could've been shorter and told at a faster pace to keep the reader's interest.

An absolute delight from start to finish. Yet another tale of a GROWN WOMAN doing cool shit; I am so here for it. The only fly in my champagne was that aside from a mention of the time period at the beginning, it could have taken place at any time in the “distant past.” As a Middle Eastern textiles historian, I kept looking for specifics about the 12th c., and didn’t find any. Eliminating that one reference would make this a perfect book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2023! I read the Daevabad trilogy last year and it quickly became one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. So it made me very happy to know that Chakraborty was writing another book plus within this book, there were small Easter eggs for the Daevabad trilogy.

This book had everything; pirates, an evil sorcerer, a strong female character, LGBTQ characters, adventure, magical creatures, found family, and the lore that I have come to expect for Chakraborty. Amina was very different from the Daevabad trilogy but no less enjoyable.

I will always recommend this authors books to people. You will not be disappointed.