Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

This book might be part of the Amina al-Sirafi series.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates, she's survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she's tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she's offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade's kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family's future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God's will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there's more to this job, and the girl's disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there's always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power...and the price might be your very soul.

5 editions

Paperback, 480 pages

english language

Published by Harper Voyager.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-296351-2
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Reviews

Lazy_Cat reviewed The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

One of the Best Pirate Stories Possibly

5 stars

Pirate Amina al-Sirafi finds her and her crew on 'one last adventure' whether she wants it or not, and winds up quickly in over her head.

I preface this review with that I generally do not like pirate stories. If I did, this would be a solid 5/5, no notes sort of deal. But since I don't, it had a higher bar to clear, and clear it did. The narrative structure is interesting at the start, the characters are almost immediately compelling, and it was enough to keep me turning the pages despite being ready to dismiss it. I'd say the book really hits its stride about 40% in at which point I couldn't really put it down.

Extra bonus points for LGBTQ+ representation.

Machinedreamread@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Enjoyable!

4 stars

This was a good book! I loved that it was set in Medieval Islamic lands and the Indian Ocean, gave this fantasy a unique setting. I enjoyed it.

Flauschbuch reviewed The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Very entertaining

4 stars

This was a great, captivating read. Truly an adventure book. I don't think there are many fantasy novels set in this region and it was an additional treat to read about places we mostly know from wars and crises, like Aden and Mogadishu, when they were in their prime. The characters are great and have interesting backstories. The main villain was perhaps a bit too one-sidedly evil. The others had more nuance. And I could have done with one or two fewer action scenes. But those are small criticisms. It was very enjoyable to read this book and I recommend it. I hope we'll see Amina and her crew again.

Julie R reviewed The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Once it got going, it was great

4 stars

It warms up slowly, but then it barrels along. This was fun. There aren't enough middle-aged women doing cool shit books, so that was a pleasure. Great rep. Wonderful to read a book that makes me miss evenings at the masjid. And the small twist for Dunya was also welcome and done well, imo. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.