This was really fun! Different then what I usually read but I still enjoyed it. I loved that the characters are older than the usual band of teens. Characters didn’t seem inaccessible in their emotions or experiences because of their age. I really enjoyed all of the the characters.

No cliffhanger. Idea for the continuing storyline was set up, but this had a complete portion of that story.

The first half of this took me longer to get through, but then that 50% marker hit and everything picked up. I was not expecting this kind of twist, but I really enjoyed all the magic and creatures. So fun.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this digital ARC.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is a promising start to a historical fantasy series that follows a notorious female captain and smuggler in the Middle East, now a middle-aged mother trying to protect her daughter. Infused with real historical details and featuring supernatural beings, an evil sorcerer, and magical artifacts, Amina is a great character who is brash and irreverent but also a mother doing her best to keep her daughter safe. This mini-trend of writing older women and mothers as main characters in fantasy novels is a welcome change, and the handling of the issue of gender identity is noteworthy. While the plot-driven storyline might not suit everyone's preferences, overall this is an entertaining adventure that fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree will enjoy.

As a mother I enjoyed this book, Amina has a fire in her belly that can’t be extinguished just redirected. I loved the crew and their family crazy family relationship. I will definitely be continuing with more of Shannon’s books.

I will talk about this on my podcast, Raise Your Words and if Shannon is ever available for a podcast episode I would love to interview her!! I absolutely adored Amina and seeing a Muslim pirate story.

This was such a fun adventure full of swashbuckling, strong women, and great humor! There was even some bread crumbs to follow for a touch of mystery in the plot. I am very excited for the next installments to come.
I thoroughly enjoyed the narration and Amina's voice. I loved her conflicts as a mother and wanting the best for her daughter and still being able to be a totally powerful, strong, and confident woman. Mothers are amazing. Women are amazing. I now need to read through Chakroborty's backlist while I wait.

A fascinating and fantastical swashbuckling adventure. This book is fun to read and full of exciting movement. It's a long read but definitely worth it, especially if you're looking for diversity in your fantasy adventure books.

“Amina; if you insist on going in alone, at least stop caressing your dagger.”

Okay, this book was FANTASTIC!! 5+ stars most definitely. I was so blown away by this book. Amina is a really well-rounded main character, and I absolutely LOVED seeing an older MC, especially one that's going on wild adventures. The side characters really made this book shine as well, and I felt really connected to everyone as we learned more about their backstory.

This book is on the longer side, but the pacing was excellent. I was never bored, always engaged, and ready to keep racing through this. Plus it set up the series very well for more books, while still producing a solid standalone novel. I listened to the audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend. The narrator was so fantastic, and I think really added to the listening experience!!

Plus that ending omg Jamal 😍

🏳️‍🌈 Queer rep: gay side characters, trans side character

I loved Amina al-Sirafi, both the book and the character. This was my first Shannon Chakraborty book and I loved her writing! Amina's voice is so strong and there are so many memorable moments in this story! It was nice to have an older main character with a past to explore as well. If you love a good pirate story and morally gray female characters, I'd highly recommend The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi!

This was so dense and dry that I fell into a book rut. The premise was enticing but in its stead were slow pacing (for an already very linear plot), long monologues and immature flat characters.

I loved idea of a middle aged woman pirate captain but the MC was a shell of her former glory. A lot of West Asian mythologies went under appreciated because I was so exhausted drudging through the bloated writing.

I really wanted to like this but just wasn’t for me. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an arc.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi follows the adventures of a 40-year-old pirate who is pulled out of retirement to find the missing daughter of her former crewmember. Amina must assemble the crew that she has not seen for 10 years and survive monsters, magic, and the general brutality of life at sea. I love books with adventures that span many countries and I was excited to read this one!

I absolutely loved this book! The characters were wonderful, the setting interesting, the premise great, and the writing beautiful. It was also hilarious, I laughed out loud several times. I enjoyed this book all the way through and was excited to see how it concluded. It kept me guessing and I didn't see many of the twists coming. This book is quite long but it kept my interest for the entirety of the book. I was very excited when I saw that this is a series and I cannot wait to read the next one!

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in adventure, found family, and, of course, pirates! A solid 5 stars from me. Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

Such a fun adventure story! It was a fast-paced, fun, swashbuckling good time, and with such a wonderful setting a protagonist. The only thing keeping it from being a full five stars is simply that the faster pace kept me from feeling as attached to the characters as I would've liked, but I still plan to pick up the sequel, and will likely find myself growing to care more and more for the cast throughout the series.

If you're in the mood for pirates, sea adventures, magical artifacts, and one badass woman with her ragtag crew, this one's for you. How many books have you read where the main character is a middle aged mother? This book centers on how far someone is willing to go to protect those she loves and it is one of my favourite books of the year. I love that this book works very well as a standalone while leaving enough room for future books. That being said I look forward to more books set in this world. 😍

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harpervoyagerus for the hardcopy. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

There are some stories that really stick with you and The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi will be like that for me.

Shannon Chakraborty, also author of The Daevabad series, is becoming a fave fantasy author & I love the thick & ingenious fantasies she’s crafting.

Framed as a memoir in the act of being written by a scribe, Amina is a fantastic storyteller, recounting her story of magic, danger, fear, & courage with compelling & sometimes visceral detail & the occasional irreverent & dry remark about whatever bit of nonsense / magical terror she has seen.

This is an epic: at the beginning Amina accepts a job to rescue a rich woman’s granddaughter & realizes that there are larger implications of the whole situation than she had initially assumed.

A road trip, an across the realms & back story with a fantastic heroine that odes *should be* written about, a story about what is right & wrong & guilt & love: this one packs a punch.

& did I mention that Amina is “middle-aged” & a mother & still longs for the sea & her ship & can conduct a heck of a rescue when necessary?

“To be a woman is to have your story misremembered,” Amina says at the beginning of the book & those words stayed with me. I loved hearing Amina’s voice.

4.5⭐️. Out now!

Many CWs, including murder, violence, references to slavery, including witnessing a child being purchased by someone.

[ID: Jess’ white hand holds the book in front of a mural on the side of a building that says “this girl can” next to the image of a girl with multicolored hair.]

I will start by saying the audio version was well done and thank you Netgalley for advancing me the copy. I love this author’s previous series, but this book from the start was a struggle. Fantasy with strong Middle eastern women who write their own stories are a plus, but this storyline dragged for me. This could be due to the development of the characters and the slow build up of the adventure, but I was three quarters through it before my interest was piqued. I will strongly consider reading the next adventure as in the last series the middle book was the best.

What I liked
While listening to this book I felt like I was missing something, or that something was wrong with me because so many of my friends are loving this book. Now that I've finished it and am thinking of writing my review I'm having an even better time thinking of the story and all the adventures. I think this will be a fantastic book to reread because now that I've had time to reflect I realized how much I loved it.

All of our character are lovable and have their own appropriate amount of backstory. You want to hear about everybody that is speaking and having an outside Scribe narrator was a really fun way to give us the lore on our characters and the world around them. This was unique and hilarious. The entire book was original, unique, and genuinely hilarious. You feel like you are apart of the banter with the group, and the internal thoughts and jokes are great. There are a lot of serious big challenges but they're all done in so much style it was a delight.

Having a main character who is a mother and is actively sacrificing her time away from her child was a really interesting perspective. Its not one we often get in fantasy books so seeing how this changed the characters decisions was interesting. We also got to see how having a child has changed her in so many ways but no matter what at the end of the day she is still to her core the same person she has always been with just more room inside of her for love and desires.

If you're looking for a book with adventure and strong momma who knows that no matter what happens she will get through it because she has to, for her daughter. Truly an epic book with fantastic descriptions, and lovable characters.

Thank you so much to the publisher for an advance reader copy of this book!

4.5 ⭐️

Absolutely loved this book! The characters, the world building, the setting. Pirates, an older MC, action, adventure, daeva lore and everything in between!!

I was super nervous to get to this book. I thought that as I was reading it, I would just be comparing it to Shannon's daevabad trilogy the entire time. BOY WAS I WRONG. I had such a great time with this book learning about every character and finding the easter eggs and nods to a world that takes place 1,000 years before Daevabad. AND THERE WAS A SPRINKLING OF ROMANCE!!!

I cannot wait to see where this story goes. I feel like this was exactly the pirate itch I needed scratched and the narrator reveal was everything!! Thank you so much to netgalley for this ARC. I LOVED IT. Highly recommend for Chakraborty fans. You won't be disappointed.

xx
-Christine

A fast paced, action packed Indian Ocean pirate adventure set during the medieval era? Sold. Amina is a great lead and the setting makes for a fascinating backdrop to the events that unfold (think mystical treaures, sword fights, gods, demons, sea beasts). The book has a lot going for it and sets up what hopefully will be a fantastic historical fiction/fantasy series.

While I flew through the book, the pacing is problematic. Key plot moments don't always feel earned and most of the main cast don't feel particularly developed outside implied relationships and empty banter. Major events can fly by in a paragraph or a whole chapter. I'd like to see more time to sit with the characters and learn more about the world in future books. It's a strong starting point regardless. 4 stars.

Easiest five star I’ve given out in a long time! This book captivated me from start to finish and I already want to read it again!! This is one of those reads that leaves you feeling like you went on the perfect reading journey. There's not a single thing I didn't love.

I loved the characters - from Amina, a refreshingly unconventional protagonist compared to what we see in most fantasy novels, to her entire endearing crew of longtime bffs. The found family vibes are strong with Amina and her crew. I could read about them as they adventure and bicker and care for one another for the rest of forever and never bore.

I loved the plot - from the piratey adventures aboard Amina's trusty vessel, to the explorations into island jungles and mysterious caves, to the deep dives into mythology and hidden magic. It's a romp the entire time and I never wanted it to end. The plot also drives a lot of really strong character development, which felt so rewarding as a reader who was so invested in this story. And by "so invested" I literally mean that I cried tears of joy through the entire last chapter so yeah.

Also very worth mentioning that this is one of the best audiobooks I've ever had the pleasure to experience. The decision to do audio was a last minute one for me and I'm so, so happy that I did. While both narrators do an absolutely phenomenal job, Lameece Issaq's narration as Amina was literal perfection. Her tone, her cadence, her sass - everything. She would even do these little asides where the mic was a bit muffled, as if she were turning to another character in the room. Masterful.

Cannot recommend highly enough. I need the sequel right this minute, but feel very confident I will be rereading this again before too long. Seven kajillion stars.

Very special thanks to Harper Voyager for an ARC in exchange for review.

Once again, Shannon Chakraborty has killed it with the world building and characters. Once I picked this book up I didn't want to put it down. I loved returning to this world but in an all new way and it was truly magical. Amina is everything I could look for in an MC. She's tough, sassy, caring, and smart.

This was such a fun adventure and I will definitely be returning to it again and again. It has a little of something for everyone and when you put it together you get a top read of the year for me.

Shannon Chakraborty can't write a bad book. I love the way she weaves worldbuilding, plot, and character development beautifully. It's as if you're truly entering the worlds she writes, and I wouldn't have it any other way.