The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi was absolutely fantastic! I loved every single thing about this book and immensely enjoyed reading it. Chakraborty does an amazing job of bringing all her characters to life and making you feel very strongly about them. I cannot express how much I loved them all. I hope to reading more about al-Sirafi and her adventures.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was an incredibly exciting and action filled book. I haven't been reading as much this year so I rushed to finish this before the archive date. As a result, there are still some parts of the book I have to come back to in order to call it fully finished. However, I did overall really enjoy this! I think if I'd read it at a more reasonable pace I probably would have enjoyed it slightly more but overall I really enjoyed the characters, the storyline, and the potential for more stories in this world. I also really loved the minor plot twist at the very end I found that to be really fun :)
I was personally not expecting anywhere near the amount of fantasy that ended up being in this book as I originally thought it was mostly just a pirate book, but I wasn't mad about discovering that just not what I originally expected.
Overall would definitely recommend! 4.5 stars

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is unlike any pirate story I’ve read, and I think that’s largely due to the amazing voice that Chakraborty gives her characters. Amina’s position as a mother who still seeks adventures is a voice I haven’t read before but one I found so compelling. Combining that with found family, lots of adventure, lgbtq+ rep, and a very interesting and magical story. I can’t wait to read more in this series and will absolutely be recommending.

A big thanks to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before the release date and for free in exchange for an honest review. This review is generally spoiler free.

I will start this off by saying that I wasn't the biggest fan of the Daevabad Trilogy. I felt that I wasn't quite the target audience as it landed more in the YA category for me. But this book lands right in my wheelhouse. This adult adventure fantasy with nautical themes centers primarily on the characters. And I love diverse characters with depth.

Things to love about this story... Characters, as I previously mentioned. They are unique and varied as much as they are memorable. There is a decent amount of comic relief which was nice to have along the way. The story itself is easily followed despite having plenty of twists, turns, and surprises along the way. I found myself wanting to keep going to see what new events would befall the crew. This book was a great read, as if you mixed Pirates of the Caribbean with Arabian Nights... and a little bit of Kings of the Wyld.

Things that may hit or miss... The story is presented as if told first hand by Amina al-Sirafi and written word-for-word by a scribe named Jamal. This can be a little jarring at times, but the author uses it often to foreshadow events to come. The book does talk about various degrees of sexual based abuse and/or violence. Nothing described on page, but there are mentions of events, and the threat of it is present at times.

Overall, I was a little hesitant about this book after Daevabad was a miss, but this book exceeded my expectations. I am looking forward to more of Amina!

The Adventures of a Amin al Sirafi will take readers on a journey that involves uncovering one mystery after another. This book manages to find the often tricky balance between solid character development and a well paced plot. With her colorful personality, at times pious and other irreverent, Amina completely won me over as a protagonist. Her words often get Amina into tight spots, but are just as lightly to be her weapons as she fights her way out of them.

While I loved Amina as a protagonist, I also felt that I got to know her crew almost as well and, if the story were to continue, I look forward to seeing more of their adventures.

Another aspect of the story that I appreciated was the fact that most of the characters were older, which meant they would tackle a host of problems that the typically youthful fantasy protagonists do not such as being an aging warrior, a mother or having to juggle family obligations with a desire for adventure.

One important thing to keep in mind when picking up this book is that it is pretty light on fantasy and the magic system is not fully developed. I personally did not find that it took anything away from the story though.

Fans of found family, pirates, adventure, LGBTQ+ rep and Shannon Chakraborty’s previous books should’ve consider picking this one up.

Chakraborty had me at pirate adventure, then guaranteed my loyalty by building the story on the relationship Amina has with her daughter and her desire to protect the ones she loves. One of my favorite books of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed the immersive world, the highly flawed loveable characters and the fantastical elements threaded through the narrative. Billed as the first of a new series, I am here for all future installments. I enjoyed the rich cultural fabric, the gathering together again of the old team members and the relationships forged, broken and rebuilt. A spectacular, adventurous.

This feels like an absolute breath of fresh air. Unique narrative style, misfit (and older!) main characters, hilarious commentary, and swashbuckling magical adventures at sea… it has it all. I’ll be recommending this to everyone.

Shannon Chakraborty is a favorite author of mine, so I’ve been looking forward to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi ever since it was announced. A pirate fantasy featuring a middle-aged woman main character? Say less!! And y’all, it does NOT disappoint.

At the heart of this story, of course, we have Amina al-Sirafi, a sexually liberated Muslim retired pirate in her 40s currently focused on raising her daughter. But when the head of a powerful and wealthy family tracks her down and offers Amina a life-changing sum to rescue her kidnapped granddaughter, Amina can’t refuse. She gathers her crew — including Dalila, poison master and Christian refugee; Tinbu, her first mate who really loves his cat; Majed, master navigator who worked with Amina’s father before her — and sets out. Oh, and did I mention that Amina was married to a super-hot demon?

This book is the start of a new series, but it could read like a standalone. Needless to say, I loved it. As you can tell, it stands out on its incredible cast of lovable characters alone. But it was also a very fun read; it’s definitely adventurous, but it’s also not as episodic as I expected from the title. There’s plenty of time to get to know these characters as they prepare to set off. And a super heartwarming revelation at the end that just sealed the deal of me loving it.

Also of note, this one was fab on audio! It kept me company as I peeled wallpaper in my house for hours, lol. Can’t wait for more books with these characters in this world!!



CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Violence, death; Body horror; Transphobia; Threat of sexual assault

Genuinely, how am I supposed to write a review for such a perfect book?? This was f*cking brilliant. Go, go read it now. I'm going to try and articulate how I feel about it, but I just know I could never come close to doing it justice.

This is one of my favorite books of the year, and I already can't wait to see where this series goes next. The story is so beautifully written, and the characters and the world are luxuriously described. It's so immersive. I can't get over the use of the varying POVs, or rather, the way the narrative shifts throughout to tell you the story in the best way possible. I also listened to this on audiobook, and I can't get over how incredibly well-produced it is. It's wonderfully diverse and culturally rich, and it made me want to read and learn more. I couldn't get enough of this world! The pacing and plotting are a masterclass in how fantasy should be done, and seriously, it's just perfect. I could clearly gush about this for hours!

I loved Amina and all of her friends so much. Amina was so strong; she loves her daughter and her family as fiercely as she loves the sea, and SAC didn't hold back on her complexity. She can be a mother and also be a nukhudha, and she can embrace all of these facets of her life and the things that make her, her. Add in the fact that we actually get a mature heroine?? It felt like reading what happened to our favorite fantasy heroines after the adventure was over. Amina and all of her friends were all perfectly flawed in a way that made the story relatable, even as fantastical as it was. They aren't perfect, the things that happen to them aren't perfect, and yet they stick together and always keep going even when it's hard and seems impossible or when there would be an easier path to take. And listen, I'm a predictable girl and knew I would even love Amina's [redacted] husband from the first moment he was mentioned.

This is the kind of story I want a children's book version of. It's a story that makes you want to tell more stories, to pass these narratives along to others. And if that's not a marker of a fantastic book, I don't know what is!

This book was such an amazing adventure. I loved the rich culture and the witty banter from all of the characters! The story was well planned and well thought out. I enjoyed the ending a lot, not leaving a cliff hanger but definitely leaving it open for further development in the series. The love al-Sirafi has for her daughter and the “momma bear” instincts are REAL!! I loved Amina so much as a character and being the age of this character makes her very relatable. This was such a good book. I give it 4.5 stars. Thank you to Harper-Collins and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book!

Chakraborty takes a pirate out of retirement and reminds the world why middle-aged women are badasses. Packed with incredible characters, fantastic worldbuilding, witty banter, and genuine diversity, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi takes you on an epic adventure you won't forget.

Amina al-Sirafi, a notorious pirate, has been living a seemingly quiet life raising her daughter in the countryside. Now, forced to come out of retirement to save her family, she turns to her old crew for help to complete a dangerous quest.

I had so much fun with this story. It is an epic adventure, and Chakraborty has such a way with words. I was immersed in the world immediately. However, what I loved most was Amina. Her narrative voice is so good. It is so refreshing to see an older and battle-scarred protagonist.

Another thing that stood out to me was the diversity. There is cultural and religious diversity, plus LGBTQIA+ representation. It never feels forced.

If I had any issues, it was with the pacing. A few places in the story dragged a little for me, but they didn't last long.

I highly recommend this one. I read the book along with the audio. The audio narrator is so good.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Avon and Harper Voyager for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Between Chakraborty’s classic witty and poetic writing style & the deliciously diverse (and hilarious) cast, this book is already one of my more memorable reads of the year!

I LOVED Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy, it’s one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. So I was more than down for a new adventure spring from her brilliant mind. Amina is a totally different story with a completely different pace. I liked it. But for me it was missing the charm of the characters and multiple POVs that Daevabad had. Now, I know you should never review a novel based on your feelings for another novel, but for me I probably wouldn’t have pushed through with Amina if not for my love of Daevabad. I enjoyed the first quarter but somewhere in the middle the pace lagged for me. As Amina collected her old ship and her old shipmates and faced her initial foe, I found myself a little bored and a little lost at times. I forged through and I’m glad I did, once we hit mythological territory again, I was back on board. But it took me (a girl who finishes most books in 2-3 days) 20 days to finish because of those sections where I found myself struggling. I’m glad I forged through and will likely read the next one but might try audio to help me with the uneven pacing.

Thanks to Harper Voyager for the gifted copy. All opinions above are my own.

I was so lucky to have received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley!

Somewhere in this book something was described as a nautical mystery and I found that to be very on point for this book. Although I might replace the word mystery with adventure. The world building and characters were so rich, the twists and turns so exciting, the character relationships so well thought out, I enjoyed the danger, the emotional connection, and the magical elements. This book took pirates and made them even better! What a wild ride! I really enjoyed this read, as always, because Shannon is a freaking gem, and an amazing storyteller. I’ve loved everything she has written and she is an auto but author for me.

I've been looking for a good pirate story for the longest time and I finally found it in The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. This book was gripping and thrilling from beginning to end. I adored these characters and the adventure and the writing style was perfect. I truly loved every second of this. I will now be reading everything this author releases.

Holy smokes can Shannon write. I loved this book. I want more. I want to display it on my bookshelf. I am so glad I got it as my BOTM pick! No surprise at all that it was a pick this month. Loved the pirate setting and the historical aspect. I loved our main character. She was incredible. I wish more books were about ladies like her! Hot dang I loved this book. And the cover!! I am so glad there are 4 more books to go in this series. This is a female empowering story, and one for all ages of females.

This review was originally published on NetGalley.com. I was given an ebook freely by NetGalley and the book’s publisher in return for a voluntary and honest review..

S.A. Chakraborty has brought something I haven’t experienced in a long time, wonder and surprise. I don’t want to say this is a totally unique style but it’s definitely rare. The playful narrative throughout the book is great. The Scribe of the tale/narrator argues with the protagonist throughout the book. There’s two layers to the story as these two argue over how to tell the story.

The actual story takes place in an alternate Earth timeline set in the Middle East. The protagonist is a retired female pirate asked to rescue a grandchild. After getting her crew and ship back together they set off for adventure.

There’s a lot going on in this book with religion, sexual liberation and familial relationships. However to me the real truth of the book is to remind us why we love pirates, fantasy and adventure.

This would be the perfect Ray Harryhausen film. If you need a book to remind you why reading is a joy this is it.

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. I am a big fan of Shannon Chakraborty from her Daevabad Trilogy so I had high expectations for this book. The writing was beautiful, the character development was great and the length was perfect. I also really loved that the main character was over the age of thirty. Fantasy books have a tendency of only highlighting you adults so I loved the premise of a retired pirate. Overall, such a good read!

This was one of my most anticipated books as I’m sure it was a lot of your guys as well and I came out of it surprised with a certain comparison for another book and that is Kings of the Wyld. This gave me major kings of the wyld vibes which is one of my all time favorite books

This is the story of a woman who is probably in her like 30’s or 40’s and she used to be a legendary pirate captain and something really bad happened so she put her piracy ways behind her. She’s given her ship into the care of someone else who is a trusted confidant and she is living in hiding with daughter, mother and brother. And because they are in hiding, they are struggling for money. One day a woman who is the mother of a former crewmate offers them an unbelieveable amount of money to find her missing granddaughter who she believes was kidnapped. If Amina is able to find her whereabouts she gets paid or if she gets her back safely, she’s offered this huge treasure trove pretty much. So as the reader, the whole your reading, you’re just rooting for these characters because this money would guarantee stability and comfort for not only Amina but also her family and her future family forever and you know, it’s also the promise of one last grand adventure so she has to get her old crew back together and go on this quest.

So that’s the little tease for the plot and I had a really fun time with this. This is my first book by this author, I never picked up city of brass no matter how many times I said I was going to read it, it still sits on my shelf unread but this gave me an idea and I am impressed. I loved the writing, the way characters were written and even dialogue. it was so fluid and easy, the story itself was fun. It definitely had it’s slower moments but I know to appreciate that sorts of stuff as a fantasy reader, I love build up. And the way Chakraborty wrote atmosphere here really set the scene with such a light hand. Nothing ever felt heavy like some adult fantasies can. I could picture things so vividly and the setting came to life perfectly. I gave this 5 out of 5 stars and I highly recommend if you are new to this author or you love this author and just haven’t picked this up yet, then for you I definitely recommend.

Im obsessed. Completely and totally obsessed. I yearned for more after completing the Daevabad series and this filled that gap and left me longing for more. I need book two right away. This book is going straight to my “must reread” shelf.