Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for giving me a digital copy of the audiobook version of "The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi" by Shannon Chakraborty in exchange for an honest review.

Ten years ago, Amina al-Sirafi left behind a life of piracy and adventure. Her reasons were two-fold; the horrifying death of a crewmember at the hands of Amina's demon husband, and her discovery that she's become pregnant. She buries her husband in a chest (as one does) and leaves the sea behind to raise her daughter in safety and obscurity.

Unfortunately, her past catches up with her. She's extorted into a quest to rescue her deceased crew member's scholarly daughter Dunya from the hands of a Frankish magician, a man obsessed with both Amina and a legendary magical artifact. So off she goes, collecting her ship, her most trusted crewmates, and much to her chagrin, her demon husband.

I loved the middle-aged, mother as the primary heroine. I loved how she is bold, but tempered with age and experience. I especially loved how Dunya's story developed. The setting was fascinating and I plan to thoroughly investigate the links provided by HarperCollins in the companion pdf (available at https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/theadventuresofaminaalsirafi).

I do plan to read future books in the series and I recommend this book for anyone looking for a rollicking good time.

I listened to the audiobook version, as performed by Lameece Issaq and Amin El Gamal. Ms. Issaq has a lovely, speaking voice and I appreciated her accent work. While I didn't always quite believe her performance, I appreciated how well she moved between characters during dialogue.

The best pirate story I have ever read! I was blown away by this read. It was intriguing, entertaining, and adventurous!! It was full of history and magic. It was very unique. The characters each brought something special. The narrators did an incredible job. I had so much fun listening. I can’t wait for the next in the series!! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read in exchange for a review.

Shannon Chakraborty is a truly talented author. All of her previous novels have gotten either a 4.5 or 5 star rating from me. This was BOUND to be a new favorite.

The magic system, colorful characters, and writing continued to be STUNNING. I don't know quite how it happened, but the plot lost me a bit in the middle. I would say it was the length, but her other novels were just as long. Some parts had me thinking 'yes, another favorite' and some parts were... slower...

Part of me really wants to give this another try, so maybe eventually I will. But overall it fell middle of the road for me.

Narration: I am not good at recognizing narrators, but I have heard and enjoyed this one before! Calm, enjoyable voice.

I loved this one. Loved the older female lead who was a pirate. Loved the quest. Overall Five stars.

This was a fun adventure book -- this author is incredible at building worlds and believable, strong characters. I also thought the narration of this was exceptional!

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The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
Written by Shannon Chakraborty
Read by Lameece Issaq and Amin El Gamal
Book 55/200
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Format: E-Book/Audiobook
Pages: 496
Published: 2023
Rating: 9.5/10

"For this scribe has read a great many of these accounts and taken away another lesson: that to be a woman is to have your story misremembered. Discarded. Twisted."

This ARC (E-Book and Audio) was provided by NetGalley and Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is a fun swashbuckling adventure that definitely fits into my love of pirate fantasy and heists. Amina is a former pirate, called back to the sea when she's presented an offer too tantalizing to turn down. TAoAS is exciting, humorous, and engrossing in no small part to Chakraborty's great characters. Amina in particular is impossible not to love, especially with her narrating her story. The asides and comments throughout are pretty funny and really add to the tale. It is clear that Chakraborty had a lot of fun writing this character.

This book concern's itself mostly with a women's part in history. Chakraborty discusses this in the intro, saying that the stories of women are often changed by those (mostly men) who write history, and often come to an end to fit whatever narrative. By putting this in an older Amina's voice, Chakraborty wonderfully subverts this and makes a very empowering book.

Issaq and El Gamal do a fantastic job reading this book. Their voice acting makes the characters sine and humor jump off the page. I felt immersed in this world throughout. A thoroughly great performance.

I am very excited to read more of this series and I definitely need to read the The Daevabad Trilogy.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Shannon Chakraborty for the ARC.

This story was fantastic!! Amina al-Sirafi is a notorious pirate that has retired to raise her daughter and have a quiet life. That is until she is asked, or rather guilted into searching for the kidnapped daughter of a former member of her crew. Amina searches out her old crew to help her in her latest endeavor. She promises them a big payout that they will be able to live comfortably on for the rest of their lives. The crew has aged some-sore knees and all, but decide to come together for one last epic adventure. It turns out there is much more to this adventure than meets the eye as Amina and her crew of pirates face many dangers that include supernatural forces.

This was such a fun audiobook. Amina’s character is depicted perfectly with her curses and feistiness! The setting is inspired by historical facts that enhance the story. What an amazing storyteller Chakraborty is. What an amazing start to the series. I cannot wait to read more!!

5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #TheAdventuresofAminaal-Sirafi #ShannonChakraborty

Plot: .5
Writing: 1
World building: 1
Characters: .5
Themes: 1
4/5

First of all, I listened to the audiobook and it was so good! Seriously, listen to the audiobook if you can. They do such a great job with the narration.

Now, I had a hard time getting into the story and staying in it. It was reallllly long and the pacing was slower. Even with the audiobook I had to hype myself up to listen to it. I don't think it needed to be this long. Maybe I just didn't care enough about the story or characters to be invested. I think the premise is interesting: Single mother, ex-pirate goes back out on the water to find the missing daughter of her own daughter's father. For me, it really took until around 75-80% for me to be interested in the story.

I absolutely loved the world building and sprinkle of magic. This was a good start to the story. I thought it was going to be a stand-alone but the ending made me want to continue with the series. I think this first book is really just laying out the nitty-gritty stuff before the adventure and search for the other 4 objects.

I'd recommend this if you enjoy high fantasy and don't mind the meandering pace. It is still a very good story with some cool characters. Will this book be for everyone? No. You gotta have some patience.

Thank you to Netgalley for the audiobook. This is my honest review.

What a swashbuckling adventure!
This book had a great cast of characters, a great setting, pirates, and all other sorts of mythical creatures and demons.
Amina was a great main character. She was strong and opinionated and also a mother who cared deeply for her daughter. Every danger she put herself through was (mostly) for her daughter, and I think the tiniest bit for the thrill of it. I loved that she had had several husbands and had decided that her daughter was who most needed her attention, not a man. The crew she finds was so much fun.
I loved the seaworthy, piratey setting. It was different from a lot of YA pirate books I have read. There was just so much there.
There was a lot to the plot. It really was The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi. When I think of "the adventures" of something I get a specific mental image and feeling and this book really gave it to me. What starts out as Amina looking for a kidnapped granddaughter for A LOT of money, turns into literal adventures for the whole bag of marbles.
The ending was very satisfying, no cliffhanger but I really do want to see what the future holds for Amina and crew.

I was curious about this book because many people I follow were talking about it as one of their most anticipated books of the year. I found the writing and the world building to be lush and I could really be transported in the story. Yet I found I never really connected with any of the characters. While this was fun, I'm not sure I will keep up with the series.

I want to start by giving thanks to Harper Collins for being able to listen to this audiobook! As someone who enjoys fantasy and a great adventure, this book delivered on all counts, and then some. Beyond the adventures of Amina and her crew, the history and culture I was able to experience in this book were rich and deeply interesting. The characters were well-rounded and fantastic, especially that of Amina herself. I found her to be strong, wonderfully flawed, and...well...legendary! I cannot wait to recommend this to everyone I know, and hopefully there will be more Amina al-Sirafi adventures to come!

It isn't an exaggeration to say this was one of the most fun reading experiences I've had in forever -- and I read a ton of enjoyable things. There is just a special level of joy and wonder to this one. It takes me back to this Sinbad movie I used to love as a kid with all these claymation creatures and such, filling me with the awe and wonder it evoked. Of course, as a modern novel, this has a much more respectful and accurate reimagining of the time and folklore, as well as a diverse and accepting approach to characters. It's an utterly perfect read.

Amina Al-Sirafi is a retired pirate trying to live out her retirement in peace with her daughter and family. When the mother of one of Amina's long dead crewmates comes to hire her to retrieve her kidnapped granddaughter, Amina brings her crew together for one last adventure. As you may have guessed, this adventure does not go as planned.

I loved this book SO much! Amina's devotion to her daughter, her sense of humor, and her crew being more than her crew but being her family were what I enjoyed most. The end of the book had me crying, but and not for the reasons you might think. I can't wait to read about more of Amina's adventures!

I listened to the audiobook version and I thought it was done in a clever way, where at points the narrator, Amina, would turn away from the recorder and speak to the scribe detailing her adventures.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for making this available in exchange for an honest review.

This has easily become my new favorite book. I assumed it would be great because Chakraborty is a fantastic author, but it exceeded my expectations. The story is so engaging I wasn't able to put it down. This was one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to.

I was surprised by the humor and couldn't help laughing out loud while I was reading. This had everything I wanted in a pirate adventure and some things I didn't even know I wanted!

An absolutely fantastic read. I'm already looking forward to the next installment in the series!

3.5 stars I think.

I believe a lot of people are going to really love this book. It's definitely one that has very broad appeal. I will say for me, it was good, but not a favorite. I absolutely adored her daevabad trilogy, and I don't want to compare them to each other exactly, except for to say what it is that I love so much about that series that wasn't there for me in this one.

The adventures of Amina Al Sarafi is a whimsically horrific adventure about a middle-aged, female pirate who has to encounter all sorts of extraordinary characters on her forced quest to recover a person who was kidnapped by a power-hungry psychopath. I thought the story in and of itself was really entertaining, and I enjoyed Amina's voice as well as the cast of characters that she interacts with.

The thing that was missing for me personally was the emotional attachment that I felt to the characters in the daevabad trilogy. When I think of a favorite book, it's a book that pulls on my emotions because of the character relationships. It's a book where the stakes are high and believable, and when things finally do work out, if they do work out, the relief is palpable. This book never made me feel like the stakes were very high. It was so whimsical that even if something bad happened it seemed almost silly. There were some really horrible things that happened in the book, but if it weren't for that, I would almost characterize this as a cozy fantasy. I would almost relate it to something like Pirates of the Caribbean. Bad things happen, but I'm not too fussed about it. There was even a character in the book that gave me very much Jack Sparrow vibes in that he did some pretty awful things, and was completely self consumed, but you still end up kind of having a soft spot for him.

If you're looking for romance, if you're looking for a deep emotional connection with the characters, if you're looking for high stakes, that feel like I stakes, you will not find that in this book. If you're looking for a fun romp with middle aged pirates, some obnoxious magical creatures, and campfire style storytelling in a creative setting, you will love Amina.

I thought the audiobook narrator did a good job. I did feel somewhat like I was being read to, instead of feeling like I was immersed in the story. I don't know how to describe it other than it was like I was at story time at the library. There are just some narrators that become the characters and other narrators who read the characters and I felt like this was the latter. But the production was creative and overall I did enjoy it.

I can’t think of a single pirate or sea faring adventure story that centers a female pirate in her 40s. And not only is Amina revered, she is feared. And for good reason. The rumors surrounding her and her crew are infamous, and she refuses to back down.

Amina finds herself coming out of retirement for the ultimate heist, which will ensure that she can provide her daughter Marjana with everything that she needs in life…BUT the stakes are sky high and of course nothing is as it seems once Amina sets sail.

I loved every minute of this book. There’s so many wild adventures and utter shenanigans, but watching Amina with her old trusted friends (Dalila, Tinbu, and Majed) was a reminder that no matter how old you are and what you’ve been through, your day ones will stick by your side.

There’s also some really incredible magic and creatures in this book. They took me by surprise, and I found myself utterly enchanted by this immersive tale! I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Lastly, I listened to the audio while reading along, which I HIGHLY recommend because the narrator is amazing!

This was everything I had hoped it would be! Shannon Chakraborty’s first series, The Daevabad Trilogy, is one of my absolute favorites.

Thoughts:
- Amina is a middle-aged mother, a retired pirate, and an absolute badass. Her voice as a narrator is so cheeky and delightful
- Pace was good - lots of action/adventure - it was nice having a mostly single POV, with a few short insertions from an additional character who is chronicling Amina’s story.
- I was able to pair the audiobook and ebook, which was amazing because we know I really like to listen to books instead of reading them with my eyes…but fantasy gets a little complicated. It was nice to be able to reference the ebook, especially if I wanted to spell character names
- You do not have to have read The Daevabad Trilogy in order to enjoy or understand this book. It is set centuries later with a whole new cast of characters!
- I love that Chakraborty includes diverse characters in all of her books. Characters in this story practice different religions, are different ages, and includes LGBTQ+ characters.

Thank you to @netgalley @harper @harperaudio for my review copies! All thoughts are my own.

Really amazing adventure. Long book...but worth the read. Historically very interesting as well. I really hope the author considers writing another book in this series. The main character was amazing, a well many of the sub-characters in the book. I loved the addition of magical realism.

Is there anything better than a fantasy set at sea?

Oh, wait... it’s a Medieval Middle Eastern Fantasy set on the Indian Ocean. Yeah, that’s better.

Shannon Chakraborty did it again, this is going to be an amazing series. We follow our titular character Amina Al-Sirafi who is dragged out of retirement with the promise of riches if she finds a noblewoman’s missing granddaughter.

There is so much action, so much lore, and so much humour. This is right up there with the Daevabad Trilogy. The way Chakraborty weaves these tales feels like something from a fairy tale but at the same time so rooted in reality. Her characters are wonderfully fleshed out and the relationships feel complicated and real.

I really loved the aspect of Amina’s internal fight of her passion for adventure vs her desire to be with her family. I feel like that’s a very universal feeling for a lot of women and hell yeah it’s ok to want both.

Also as a sidenote, loved the representation in this book for the LGBT+ community! It's always nice to see LGBT+ characters as a norm and automatically welcomed. Warms your heart, it does.

Anyway I’m officially a fan girl. Sign me up for anything Shannon Chakraborty writes in the future!!

Aging pirates, mysterious magic and page turning adventure. Chakraborty did not let down in her follow up Novel to the Daevabad trilogy. I loved to protagonists and cannot get enough of the storytelling. A five star from me easily!

The narrators of the audiobook certainly did it justice as well, so easy to listen to and the delivery of the humor was spot on. I’ll definitely recommend.