The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi follows a retired, middle-aged pirate who is hiding from an old enemy to protect her young daughter. Her quiet life unravels when a wealthy woman tracks her down and coerces her into taking on one last job: finding the woman’s kidnapped granddaughter. Amina reunites with her old crew and sets off on what should be a simple recovery mission. Instead, she uncovers layers of duplicity and conspiracy that pull her into storms, sorcery, and a series of escalating dangers on land and sea. The first fifty pages left me wondering if I should mark this as DNF. The characters and plot were strong, but the heavy proselytizing and sermonizing were a real turnoff. I am glad I stayed with it, because the religious elements eventually settled into the background and became more thematic than preachy. Once the story gained momentum, I found myself fully invested. One of my favorite aspects is that the main character is a woman my age. Amina’s adventurous spirit blends naturally with the realities of being a middle-aged mother who carries old wounds, lingering regrets, and a stubborn sense of responsibility. The framing device of Amina dictating her story to a scribe named Jamal adds humor and texture. Their banter interrupts the narrative at just the right moments, reminding the reader that this is a tale being shaped and recorded, not simply lived. It also creates an intriguing tension: we know Amina survives, but we do not yet know what she has survived. I also appreciated that several other major characters are women, especially Dalila and Dunya, who wield enormous magical power. While the men are important, the women dominate the narrative in ways that feel deliberate and refreshing. Each one pushes against the limits of a society that prefers them silent and obedient. Fast-paced, original, and consistently entertaining. I want more of Amina al-Sirafi!

A great female pirate adventure story that touched into the supernatural. A descriptively beautiful world was created from the story and I liked how it was done as a recounting of her tales to a scribe. I loved finding out who the scribe was at the end of the story. My biggest complaint with the story had nothing to do with the story itself, but rather with the narration on the audible copy. There were parts where the scribe interrupts the story and then Amina turns to talk to the scribe directly. These parts are so quiet and muffled on the audio that I missed what was being said. Even turning my volume up to full blast, wasn't enough to fully understand it. I ended up checking out the hardcover version from the library so that I could go back and read the missed parts, which distracted me from the story. I likely would have enjoyed the story even more without the interruption parts. My fave character of the tale was Recsh (sp?) as he was truly a diverse and unique character, who while painted to be the villain in the story, was actually more helpful than not. He was selfish for sure, but he must have cared for Amina as well as he does end up helping and saving her quite a few times. I would love to read more stories set in this world, as long as the cast of characters remained the same, as they are what made the story enjoyable. They were all such a mish-mash of people who didn't belong together, but when together made such a harmonious crew. Glad that my book club finally voted this story in and that I actually read it. I'd have been bummed if I'd skipped it and then got to hear others raving about how good of an adventure story it was.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi is a swashbuckling tale about a middle-aged, retired female pirate, who is given the opportunity of one final adventure. The story is set around the trade routes and towns on the coast of the Indian Ocean in the 12th century. When the wealthy mother of a former crewman tracks Amina down with the task of locating her missing daughter, Amina quickly seizes the opportunity to head back to sea on her beloved ship, the Marawati. She assembles her old team—Dalila (The Mistress of Poisons), Tinbu (a sailor) and Majed (the navigator). Soon enough, Amina and her crew discover that their adventure will be more dangerous than they thought: the ‘Frank’ (Historically the Latin Christians of Western Europe), Falco, that they are up against is not only an infamous bandit, but also has magical powers that could lead to the end of the humankind. He is after The Moon of Saba, a magical artifact that, in the hands of the wrong person, could wreak havoc. This was a fun, imaginative read with a unique premise. How often do you read about what happens after a character completes their hero's journey and retires? Not to mention, the location of the story is also truly special. How refreshing to read a book that takes place in the Islamic East, instead of the average Western locations! And, while the book starts a bit slow, the ending is, truly, an adventure! The other settings in the book were also amazing, and probably my favorite part of the book. Chakraborty pulled out the big guns with the wonderful treasure island of Socotra, an island in the Republic of Yemen really rumored to have flying snakes. (It is a World Heritage Site now!). Other settings included exciting battles on the Marawati against a giant sea monster and a magical psychedelic island with humanoid birds. I loved the main character, Amina. She had a daring personality with clear motives and flaws that both carried her through the plot, while also leading her into lots of trouble. Amina’s flaws are what make her such a compelling character; she’s not perfect and she knows it! At the same time, her morals guide her through difficult situations. There has been some critique from other reviewers that Amina was too ‘soft’ to be a pirate, but I felt her ideas made sense. She was willing to do what it takes to achieve her goals and stand up for what she believes in. She didn’t flinch to kill someone when she felt it was necessary or deserved. While she wasn’t cruel and her behavior wasn’t outright criminal most of the time, Amina was selfish and morally grey enough to fit her character goal to me. The book was wonderfully humorous. There were some real laugh-out-loud bits, especially involving Payasam, the Marawati’s live-in cat. I enjoyed the light-hearted style of the writing. It made the book feel like the sort of fun adventure one might dream up as a child—perfect for this type of story. Chakraborty managed to tackle some heavy topics while she was at it too…the author has a natural way of evoking empathy towards characters that are wronged throughout the book. Truly, she nearly made me cry over the poor tortured sea monster—can you believe that! Some cons: I wasn’t crazy about the ‘interview’ style of the story. While it was a nice surprise to find out who Jamal was, I’d have preferred to hear the story directly from Amina. The story would have been told just as well, without the fourth-wall disruptions that didn’t add much to the plot. The way Raksh’s character was approached was confusing to me: everyone was so afraid of him at the start of the book, avoiding the mention of his name, but when he arrived in the story, he became the ‘comic-relief’ character. In general, everyone was mostly annoyed with him, but nobody was actually scared of him. The book is also known to have too much ‘soapboxing’, causing it to deviate from ideas normal to 12th century society. And, while I do see why this is said, this is currently a trend in most media and besides, Amina and her crew were outcasts…who’s to say their ideas might not be a bit more progressive than your average 12th century person? But if this sort of thing annoys you as a reader, then this isn’t the book for you. 5 stars from me. This is the kind of book you can read without needing to take it too seriously. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series! If you enjoyed this book, you can also pick up Chakraborty’s other series, The Daevabad Trilogy.

Another great book by Shannon Chakraborty!

Bem escrito, narrativa dinâmica, história interessante. Amina é super carismática e pokas ideia, personagens de suporte também são bem definidos. A ambientação é impecável.

Eigentlich hat Aminal Al-Sirafi sich aus dem Dasein als Piratin zurückgezogen und zieht jetzt ihre Tochter groß. Doch dann bekommt sie einen Auftrag, den sie gleich aus mehreren Gründen nicht ablehnen kann. Sie trommelt (nicht ganz ohne Schwieriegkeiten) ihre ehemaligen Kameraden zusammen und sie machen sich auf in ein Abenteuer, das größer, aufregender und vielschichtiger ist, als sie es sich zunächst vorstellen können. Ich mochte, dass die Hauptcharaktere alle ein erwachsenes Leben führten, das zumindest bei Amina auch deutlich in ihre Queste hineinspielt. Das Abenteuer an sich enthält Stürme, Monster, fiese Bösewichte und nicht ganz so fiese Piraten, also alles, was zu einer Piratengeschichte gehört. Das Setting ist angeleht an das Leben der Menschen im Mittelalter um den Indischen Ozean, die fantastischen Wesen, die natürlich auch vorkommen, entstammen der islamischen Mythologie.

Gripping, mesmerizing, and beautifully written. I can't say much without spoilers, just that everything is chef kiss: the rich, well-rounded characters, the compelling story, the plot twists masterfully arranged, the world so realistic you feel like you could walk into it any time. Even if you don't know much of the myths of Arabic tradition, you won't be confused for long. I am looking forward to a sequel, I'm on the edge of my seat to know what happens to the characters next!

Amina är en väldigt bra start in i fantasy för er som precis som jag nyligen började läsa igen i vuxen ålder. Charaktärerna är trovärdiga och roliga att läsa, man vill veta mer och mer om dem ju mer man läser men den som tar showen är verkligen huvudkaraktären Amina som man följer i en fisrt person perspektiv. Om ni är intresserade av en crew av karaktärer som är mycket äldre och faktiskt visar sin ålder är boken perfekt. Att läsa om en moder och se hennes perspektiv på världen var något jag verkligen gillade och hur hbtq+ karaktärerna vävdes in utan problem var också ett stort plus. Boken utspelar sig i en intressant del av världen som man oftast inte läser om i fantasy vilket kändes väldigt fresh. För att summera så rekommenderar jag starkt denna boken till alla som vill läsa om en stark äldre kvinnlig karaktär i en bit av världen man ofta inte läser om i fantasy som får gå igen prövningar i både moderskap och sin tro.