The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

by Shannon Chakraborty

First, a big thank you to Harper Voyager for the ARC! It’s been an absolute joy to not only have early access to this wonderful story, but to be able to hold this story in my hands, to turn the pages, to have the ability to flip back to previous parts!

Second, I don’t know if I just don’t realize I’m a fan of pirate stories, or if Amina’s story is just so wild that I’m a fan of her story.

As always, if you want to read the Goodreads summary, you can find it here.

Alright – onto the actual review!

Recommendation: If you like pirate or sea-based stories and you’re an adult action reader, definitely give this one a go! If you’re unsure if you are, this would be a good one to use to figure that out. If you’re on the fence, feel free to read more of my review to decide. I may help you lean one way or the other! But, if you aren’t a fan of pirate or sea-based stories or you’re leaning towards passing on this one, I would probably suggest you pass. It probably isn’t the book for you. This isn’t a “it doesn’t matter what you like to read, you need to read this!” kind of book. [Not to say it’s bad, it just isn’t that kind of book, if that makes sense? No knock to the quality of the story in any way. I enjoyed it!]

Amina is such a lovely and complex character. Just like the general assumptions made about female pirates, she’s not what society expects of her. She’s not a demure, subdued housewife; she’s not your usual mother [although she does have her “mama bear” moments]; and she defies [basically] all assumptions made to her face about what being a female pirate means about her and how she works.

Also, she’s kinda funny. There were several times she or another character [or their banter/exchange] made me laugh out loud.

As there are no more characters mentioned in the published summary, that’s all for the character-specific comments. For the story, though, I do have some spoiler-free comments. Mainly that the majority of the book felt like a standalone. Not in a bad way, mind you, but in a way. There were moments that it being a standalone felt right, and moments I wished it weren’t true, even if it still felt like a standalone. I enjoyed [most of] the characters [you’re not supposed to like them all, after all], I enjoyed the adventure, I enjoyed the format, so when the shift to, “Oh, this isn’t a standalone” came, I wasn’t upset about it. It did feel a little random/forced, I’ll admit, but, overall, it works, I think.

**SPOILER LINE – TURN BACK NOW OR READ ALL THE SPOILERS! AS ALWAYS, THIS REVIEW WILL REMAIN RIGHT WHERE IT IS, SO FEEL FREE TO JUST COME BACK IF YOU’D RATHER READ THE BOOK FIRST! I’LL BE WAITING.**

I’ll let you in on a little secret: while I enjoyed this book, I didn’t love it. So this spoiler section isn’t going to feel as gushy and fan-girly as some of my others are. That’s not to say my recommendation above is wrong or a lie, because it isn’t. This book just not only doesn’t make my favorites/reread list, it’ll be a book I only suggest to some people.

The “mother” angle was a fun twist, but, as someone who isn’t a mother, I can’t really speak to how well or poorly that was executed. All I can say is that it at least seems plausibly accurate, and it adds a unique character depth that most MCs don’t have.

I do find her godly run-in and new mission to be a little forced and random. That said, it does work with everything else, between the supernatural contents we see occur, and the entire character of Raksh. It’s just not the smoothest, most “logical” [?] progression to the story, in my opinion. Not badly done or bad, just a little forced. [I will say, though, I love that the number of her upcoming missions doesn’t match up with a trilogy, and now I’m curious to see how they’ll be split up, or if Amina ends up incidentally knocking out two in one mission and tries to argue that it counts as two, even though the other was sort of a bi-product. It seems like something Amina would do.]

Also, Dalila is a HOOT. I love her and her chaotic energy, her love of violent answers and solutions to every question and problem, and her absolute embrace of her crazy reputation. I’m hoping, in future books, we get more about her backstory, but I would also fully support that remaining a secret. Perhaps it ends up playing a direct role in a future installation? Perhaps they end up having to rely on her secretive people, have to convince them to help Amina and her cause? We’ll see!

Tinbu and his love of the ship cat are precious and should be protected at all costs. He’s not quite the cinnamon roll, but he’s the closest Amina’s story has, I think. His loyalty and [platonic/professional] devotion to Amina is lovely to read.

I’m a sucker, I think, for a good brother-figure [even if they aren’t blood], so of course I love Majed too. Even if they don’t start off on the best foot. I love that he thinks his wife doesn’t know, even though she does [and is curious about stories, to boot]! I love that Amina isn’t the only parent on this journey, and it’s so interesting to watch those “identities” impact their decisions and actions.

Raksh is something. I don’t know if I buy that he’s a demon [or, like he says, that he isn’t really one, exactly], but he’s definitely not human [aside from his powers, just the way he perceives the world and right and wrong is just so not-human, if that makes sense], and I’m intrigued to see how he impacts the story going forward, especially in regards to Marjana. [Speaking of Marjana, I’m intrigued to see if she and her past/blood plays directly into future stories, similar to how she indirectly impacted this book.]

No one feels like an overused or recycled character I’ve read before, though I could likely name other characters from other stories they remind me of. {Sort of like a, “Oh, you like [this character]? Try [this other character] in [this other book]!” kind of thing.} Which, I feel like, is high praise nowadays with everyone saying every character reads and feels the same as the last book they read [and the one before and the one before, apparently]. I feel badly that some people feel that way, and I hope they find books that stop feeling like that.

Moving on, though, I hope you enjoyed this [not gushy and fan-girly] review, and I have another couple up my sleeve, so stayed tuned for more!

[I also just got an ARC in the mail that I’m super excited to get to, so hopefully a review for that is coming soon, too!]

As always, stay safe, be kind, and read on!