9 things I love about ‘The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi’ by Shannon Chakraborty
I’ve never read anything by Shannon (S.A.) Chakraborty before, even though I’ve only ever heard her books, writing and chaarcters showered with love, so I was a little apprehensive when I started this as with anything that has a lot of hype. I fell head over heels in love with it from the very first page.
Imagine my relief.
A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seven seas.
Amina al-Sirafi has 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 offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever.
Yet the deeper Amina dives the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.
Before I started writing this review I was running through what I wanted to say in my head and I just couldn’t get the words to come out properly. It was just a jumble of love and praise, no sense. So instead I’m just going to tell you all of the things I love about this magical, swashbuckling adventure across the Indian Ocean.
9 Things I Love About ‘The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi’ by Shannon Chakraborty
Amina al-Sirafi herself. Her voice shines throughout the novel. She’s strong and takes no shit, and yet she’s fully rounded and very human. She gets scared, makes mistakes, and loves so fiercely; it was wonderful to watch her start to learn that those are strengths too and what makes her someone that her crew will do anything for.
More mature, particularly mature female, main characters. Why is it so rare to have middle-aged characters in fiction, let alone leading a fantasy novel? The experience they have, the history and the potential for secrets and past mistakes are limited in younger characters, and it was wonderful to see that maximised in ‘The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi’. What’s even better is that the whole crew is older and they all brought those elements to the table.
The storytelling-style narration. Amina is telling us her story through a scribe, recording her own adventures and her journey to becoming a legend, in her own words - bad ones included. I listened to this on audio and I loved the way that Amina broke her story to comment to her scribe, Jamal, and how he interspersed explanations and legends that informed what they were seeing and doing.
“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.”
Interwoven Islamic myths and legends. These myths and legends were not just spoken by Jamal, but an integral part of the story. Religion and the way that Amina has been involved, or not involved, with her faith during her life is such an essential part of her character, the way she speaks and the choices she makes. These stories inform the culture of the places they visit on the Indian Ocean and the way Amina and her crew figure out how to defeat their enemies, and even figure out what they’re up against in the first place. I’m not even remotely religious, but the inclusion of Islam in Amina and her crew’s everything just brought this world to life and I loved it.
It’s the beginning of a series! I’m always wary of how authors wrap up a book one and set up for a second without cliffhangers or throwing something big in at last moment, but SA Chakraborty is a master at adding layers of story and plot and intrigue as she goes while also resolving other plotlines up too. I didn’t need a cliffhanger to keep me hanging on for the next book, and I’m glad there wasn’t one, but I also need it right this second.
The fact that I have 4 more SA Chakraborty books to discover. Did I already try and figure out a way to binge the entire Daevabad Trilogy this month instead of the other books and review copies I’m already committed to because I’m desperate for more of SA Chakraborty’s writing? Maybe… But alas, I can’t make it work just yet. You better believe that I’ll be devouring that whole series in 2023 though.
Feminism! There’s a really fine balance between historical accuracy and making the female characters feel relatable and aware of the unjust ways in which women were (are, let’s be honest) treated and fighting back against it. I think Chakraborty absolutely nailed it here. Amina and the women she meets along the way live in a world that oppresses and abuses women, but she has found a way to live outside of that society and challenge it.
It’s a glimpse at history in a time and part of the world that I’m shamefully unfamiliar with. It was a joy to learn about life around the Indian Ocean in the Mediaeval period. Most of the history of this time that I’ve come across is very much based in Western Europe and I can’t believe (well, I can) that so much of the richness and life of the Middle East, Asia and Africa has been ignored in the British education system when, quite frankly, it’s a whole lot more exciting than what was happening in England at the time.
Found family. The crew aboard the Marawati have a history, a connection and they would go to the ends of the Earth to protect each other. They are as much family as the wives, husbands, lovers and children that they have left behind on land, and I love them all.
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Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the review copy. This is no way influenced by review.
Written by Sophie
