I've heard all the good things about her Daevabad trilogy - maybe I should have read that instead of this one. I expected something else.

There's so much potential in the plot but the only thing I felt was annoyance. The author wanted everything all at one, and the outcome is a book that is just too much for me.
It's an autobiography told in first person by Amina, but then again, it's told by someone else. There are occasional letters between some chapters but I have no clue who wrote them to whom. There's a lot of historical and cultural reference, tons of foreign words (and a not so helpful glossary at the end of the book with 6 that is six items), so most of the time I felt like an outsider who has no idea what the main character is talking about. If you need to google places, events, historical figures and expressions used in sailing twice in each sentence, you can say goodbye to the joy of reading.

I didn't give up though, and read it to the end, and for this, I deserve a pat on the back from myself. I appreciate the effort the author has put into this book, and it may be a literary gem to some readers, but I couldn't enjoy it unfortunately.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an Advance Review Copy.

Great story! I absolutely love an adventure book especially with fantasy tied in and this one did not disappoint.
This book was really magical and I truly enjoy Shannon’s writing style and she has fast become another go to author for me.

The world building is flawless and truly felt immersive. The plot was great but unfortunately towards the end felt a little messy but it did not take away from the story at all.

The characters were amazing and the main characters Aminia is great. I felt she was well rounded and I loved her loyalty and I enjoyed seeing characters who have flaws too!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.VHF

What a great story. I loved everything about this one. It has all my friends tropes. I also really enjoyed the dialouge, the humor and the plot. It was literally perfection and I highly recommend all this authors work as she is just masterful at making you feel connected and a part of the story. I cannot wait for the next installment.

Wow! An adventure, fantasy, not only for adults, but with a heroine that's my age!

Love this; pirates, magic, danger, adventure and loyalty - all in a book aimed at adults, so it's not played down, but is gritty and exciting.

This book is an incredible start to Shannon Chakraborty’s new series. At this point, Chakraborty has cemented herself as one of my top authors, no-one quite creates magical worlds and draws upon and explores historical elements like her.

I adored the characters, the world and I was utterly absorbed from the first page. If you’re looking for an immersive tale, this is it. This is a warm fun but incredible witty and clever novel, with an adventure that will draw you in and have you rooting for Amina and her crew.

Whilst the pirates definitely drew me in, this is so much more than just a fun pirate novel, Chakraborty explores motherhood and the way in which female stories are often told, twisted and misremembered. Surely when a women becomes a mother, her rebellious nature should diminish, what mother would want to sail the seas and go on adventures? Surely for a woman to be the captain of a pirate ship she must be a sorcerer, for no women could truly captain a ship without magic.

The characters in this tale truly shone. Amina is a 40 year old no nonsense retired pirate, drawn back into her old life in order to provide for her daughter. The stakes quickly rise, and nothing is what it seems.

Combined with heists, magic, sea-farying and the perfect found family crew. AND THE BEST CROSS OVER to her previous City of Brass trilogy I strongly believe this will be one of my top reads of the year.

THIS IS BY FAR MY FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR. Amina is a character who will stay with me forever -- from her faith to her loyalty to her flaws, I love everything about this woman and truly cannot stand to wait for the next book to come out.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for this ARC! Honestly I was kind of intimidated by this one and it took me a bit to get through.

This is a fantasy story set around in the Medieval era telling the story of Alina al-Sirafi, an infamous pirate ship captain, as she is sent on a quest to retrieve a kidnapped girl and stop a notorious villain from gaining the powers of a mysterious artefact.

This was obviously a well researched work. The author paints an incredibly immersive picture of the life and times of a pirate sailing to various destinations mainly around the Indian Ocean. I could almost feel the heat. This book also has a Muslim main character and I found it interesting to learn more about the religion. This was my first foray into pirate themed fantasy and overall I had a good time.

This was a four star read until I got to around the 70% mark and then the plot just kind of devolved into madness and it kind of reminded me of when I was a kid writing fantasy stories and making the plot up as I went along. Situations were solved too conveniently and characters were introduced really late into the book that really didn’t serve much of a purpose. I’m guessing they will appear in later books. The part that really made me drop my rating was the bird island. I won’t say anymore about that because of spoilers but yeah that was my turning point. There also wasn’t very much character development in my eyes. The only character I feel was really fleshed out and had a personality beyond what we were told was Dalila.

Shannon Chakraborty is still a talented author in my eyes. The writing was well done, settings described well and I would definitely read more of her work. I think this is a really solid set up for a fantasy series and I still recommend this book! It came out on 2nd March so you can read it now!

Literally the best book like i mean so good. Can't wait for book 2 ahhhhhh. The characters were amazing i love that they were more adult age too. The family dynamic was good. Just too good

Okay, where do I even start? It should be apparent to all of my regular readers and viewers that Shannon Chakraborty is one of my favourite authors. The Daevabad trilogy is probably my all time favourite series.

So while I trusted Shannon (yes, I am first-naming her here) to deliver something great, Amina had huge boots to fill in order to compete with my favourites from the Daevabad series.

I’m happy to report that she managed it, though!

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi takes everything you love from a classic heist story, throws it into the ocean, and spits back a load of magic and mythical sea creatures. And heart. Lots and lots of heart.

The story starts by introducing us to Amina, a retired pirate captain who is hiding from the world after experiencing some trauma in her past life. she is sent on a mission and has to gather a crew, while trying to figure out the disappearance of a missing girl and a mysterious man from another continent.

It’s all systems go as soon as Amina accepts the job, and we follow her gathering her old crewmates and slowly learn more about her past along the way.

I adore Amina and the love she has for her daughter. I also love the relationships she has with her crewmates. Everyone is close knit and accepting of one another, even of each other’s less positive traits. Watching the crew come together again was a joy.

I can’t talk too much about a certain crew member but would I really be stanning properly if I didn’t have a questionable ship? That’s all I’m going to say on that.

My favourite member of the crew was definitely Delila, the mistress of poisons. I thought she was brilliant and I kind of want to be her. I hope we can learn more about her past in the sequel.

While this wasn’t the case for me, readers may find the beginning of the story a little slow. I didn’t at all, but the story follows some of the same beats as The City of Brass in terms of pacing, and some people struggle with the first one hundred pages of set up in that one, and so that may be the case here.

Keep going though because you’re in for a treat as you discover and explore the different countries, islands, and the high seas.

I loved the tie ins with the Daevabad trilogy too, particularly in the first chapter that already had me shrieking. I’m really excited to see where this series goes because while although you could read Amina as a standalone, I think there is so much more here to explore.

As a fan of SA Chakraborty’s Daevabad series I admit I went into this with trepidation, I wanted it to be good so bad, what if it wasn’t, but I’m glad to say I worried for nothing at all. This is another fantastic story, one I will be recommending to all readers of fantasy fiction, I also think this is a book anyone could enjoy, not just fantasy fans, there is so much on offer here. For me, the characters were my favourite I quickly had firm favourites and Amina is such a fantastic heroine, so well rounded and as someone middle aged, it’s great to read about a middle-aged, retired bandit being dragged back into her old life. I can’t recommend this enough, if you love Daevabad you’ll love this

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins UK and Shannon Chakraborty for a Netgalley eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ultimately, I loved this! Perhaps not as deeply as I loved the Daevabad series (although admittedly I was also less invested in book one and grew to be obsessed, so there is lots of potential here).

The main character... whewwww where to start. Amina is a fantastic heroine. A beautifully rounded and fully rendered representation of a middle-aged, retired bandit dragged back into one final adventure. Seeing a protagonist that is not very young is unfortunately pretty rare nowadays, even for adult fiction, and I adored seeing her age and experience represented on the page. I also thought the representation of a realistic Muslim woman, who has a constantly adapting relationship with her faith, and who has made mistakes and struggled with adherence at times but ultimately wants to stay committed to Allah (swt) was fantastic. I am not a practicing Muslim myself, but have a close relationship with the religion and culture (personally and academically) and I loved to see even more inclusion of shahada, salah and hajj in the lives of the characters. I think this is perhaps the only fantasy book I've ever read, that has included such clear representation of Islam and I am living for it. I have seen some other reviewers comment that a lot of concepts in this book are not explained or translated, but as far as I'm concerned it is not Chakraborty's responsibility to do so. All of the religious concepts are sacred and untranslatable - Google is very much free and will help readers unfamiliar with Islam to understand the references. Besides this, I have found that in all of her novels, Chakraborty has tried to translate where possible (for example, 'peace be upon you' is always used instead of asalamu alaikum), which I find jars me from the story a bit, but I totally understand why this is done, and it only niggles me as I have more knowledge of Arabic culture than the average English language fantasy reader. I think she has done an amazing job of combining representation and accessibility, and I will forever praise her work.

The setting is also rich and gorgeous, and so beautifully built on the page. The Indian Ocean circa the 12th century, is not something I know a lot about and I was so fascinated to learn whilst I read.

But most importantly The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is a fun, adventure-filled story with complex and loveable characters, magical creatures, and decently high-stakes. I had a great time reading it, and cannot wait for the next instalment.

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.

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.

If you want to grab yourself a copy of this wonderful book (and why wouldn’t you?), you can use our bookshop.org affiliate link which helps support us and independent bookstores.

This will hands down be my favourite book of the year, I don't care that it's only March, it was so good!! I've been following the progress of this book since Shannon Chakraborty shared it as 'muslim pirate book' on her Instagram stories, so to say my expectations were high would be an understatement. Luckily, this book exceeded them.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi follows retired, middle-aged ex-pirate Amina, who has settled down in obscurity and is determined to live out a quiet life with her daughter. That changes when a noblewoman offers her a fortune to bring back her kidnapped granddaughter. So Amina has to get her crew back together for the job of a lifetime. Things only get more complicated however when it turns out the kidnapper is after the magical Moon of Saba and Amina's ex-husband appears on the scene.

First and foremost, this book was fun. It has all the pirate shenanigans you could wish for in a book, while putting it in a refreshing new perspective and setting. Having a middle-aged mother as the protagonist of your swash-buckling pirate book was such a stroke of genius it made me so happy!! We almost never see middle-aged women as protagonists in fantasy (or media in general) so this was an excellent choice on Chakraborty's part. In fact, the entire prologue laments why women's stories should have to be over after they give birth. Why shouldn't moms have big adventures?

The setting was also extremely interesting. You could tell Chakraborty has done a lot of research and it shows in the worldbuilding. The Indian Ocean in the middle ages is not a history period I knew much about but historical knowledge was not needed to understand what was happening in the story. I liked that we followed Medieval, Middle Eastern pirates here, since so much of the pirate media we see in pop culture is based on the Republic of Pirates and 18th century piracy in the Caribbean. This new setting also gave a new perspective on historical events such as the crusades from the people who's homeland was invaded by the crusaders. In fact, the main antagonist is a Frankish ex-crusader which was a smart move in my opinion.

The cast of characters was simply amazing - we have a Poisoner, Amina's first mate, a Cartographer, and a bedraggled ship-cat, respectively. Their messy found family was so heartwarming and the banter between them was seriously funny. There was also some great queer rep with several side charactes that was well-handled in my opinion.

The tone in this book is drastically different from the Daevabad trilogy which was far more high stakes political fantasy. I was surprised that one character from the first trilogy made an appearance and there was a very funny quip about daevas, but apart from that, the series have not much in common tonally. But I didn't mind the change in tone because Amina's voice worked so well with the story and its setting.

Amina might have been my favorite part of the story - she is such a strong (literally and metaphorically) character that I rooted for from the very first page. I also lived for the role-reversal of her being this great adventurer and having a string of ex-husbands as a woman living in the Middle Ages. Talking about husbands, her most recent one makes an appearance and I greatly enjoyed his addition to the crew. About him, I cannot say too much, however, because spoilers.

All in all, I devoured this book and can't wait for the sequel! 5/5 stars.

big thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for this arc!

5 stars.

this was just THAT good. the adventures of amina al-sirafi brought to the table exactly what it promised: an adventure. and it was just good in the way that it kept me excited, kept me on my toes and wanting to continue every moment of my free time. and i feel like it has been a good minute since i last read a book that i enjoyed this thoroughly.
as far as pirate books go, for me, this is it. the characters and worldbuilding and atmosphere; everything was so rich and cultured. the legend, the lore, the everything. chef's kiss.

this book is the first in a series (one that i am sure to continue once it publishes), but can be read as a standalone. i know that is a deal-breaker for some people, so there you go. :)

I am madly in love with this book. This is the kind of book I've been searching for as I entered my thirties and am now approaching 40 - stories about strong and incredible women my own age! What an incredible adventure this was!

He disfrutado muchísimo con The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi un libro repleto de sentido de la maravilla en un entorno fantástico bastante tradicional, en la línea de las aventuras de Sinbad el marino, pero con una perspectiva femenina y repleto de humor. Y eso que mi primera aproximación a la obra de Chakraborty fue un tanto decepcionante, lo cual debería enseñarme a dar más oportunidades a autores que quizá no fueron de mi agrado en un principio.


Amina es una famosa pirata retirada, que disfruta de su maternidad en un paraje remoto, protegida de los enemigos que hizo durante su carrera. Pero todo cambiará cuando recibe una visita inesperada que promete cubrirla de riquezas si recupera a una joven secuestrada. Obviamente, la misión no es nada fácil y aunque Amina recuperará su equipo de confianza de la época de sus correrías, también se verá envuelta en situaciones inesperadas.

Uno de los principales puntos por los que destaca esta novela es el humor. La presencia de dos narradores, la propia Amina y otro escriba del que iremos descubriendo más datos durante la lectura, dota a la narración de un ritmo estupendo, pero es que las burlas y pullas entre ellos, casi casi rompiendo la cuarta pared hacen que estés todo el rato con una sonrisa en los labios.

El escenario en el que transcurren las aventuras, el océano Índico, con su mezcla de culturas y tradiciones también se convierte en un personaje de la novela. Visitaremos las costas de Mogadiscio, el golfo Pérsico, encantadas islas remotas… geográficamente es una maravilla de libro, nos transporta mediante la prosa a estos lugares que todavía guardan algo de misterio en su interior.

La magia que va apareciendo por todo el libro es una basada en leyendas y en seres que son mágicos por su propio naturaleza, no teniendo que estar constreñidos por un decálogo de normas. Y seremos testigos de todo un desfile de monstruos, demonios y seres mágicos en general que hará las delicias de cualquier aficionado a la fantasía.

Además, aunque el libro es el primero de una serie, se trata de una novela completa en sí misma, pero como la he disfrutado tantísimo me he quedado con más ganas de seguir a Amina en sus viajes.

The story is a seafaring adventure in the vein of Sindbad, with a retired female Nakhuhda who is reuniting her crew to find the kidnapped daughter of a former crew mate. Amina makes for an unusual protagonist in that she's woman over forty who has a bad knee and a pre-teen daughter - both not attributes of the run-of-the-mill fantasy heroine. Despite her apparent love for her daughter, Amina craves the adventure captaining her ship brings.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi has an action-packed plot, with Amina and her crew were orchestrating a prison break, facing off against a sorcerer and fighting monsters that overlapped with the Daevabad universe. I loved Amina's distinct storytelling voice and all characters of her ship crew: Dalila, Tinbu and Majed, her found family, and even her estranged husband, who was a prime source of entertainment.

While the book leaves the story at a point that won't have you sitting on the edge of your seat, I was delighted to spot a planned further two titles in this world on Goodreads! I

AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING! This has potential to be one of my favourite books of 2023 - I seriously loved everything about it. The characters were so well developed, the world building was INSANE, and I couldn't help flipping pages as we followed Amina on her quest. The book has a strong open that sets the tone straight away. We understand the stakes for Amina, the legend that surrounds her and it sows seeds that pay off later. I'm still in a spiral but just know, I can't recommend this enough.

4.5 stars

As much as I wanted to love it I just didn’t?
The premises sounded so interesting; badass ship captain mother, pirates, adventure, high stakes, middle eastern setting, and Muslim representation.

The story was very interesting in the beginning, but slowly it felt like it was dragging and I just couldn’t get myself to be invested enough. It took me over a month and a half to finish the book..
I absolutely loved her debut series, unfortunately this one wasn’t as interesting to me as I wished it would.

I would still recommend this if you love adventure books with diverse characters and setting, pirates, found family, and some very interesting demon-like love interest!

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi was nothing like what I expected! From reading the blurb and the comments online I had assumed that it is a fun light-hearted story about a badass pirate woman. For some reason, Amina was a teenager in my mind's eye, still not sure how I got this image.

The book turned out to be completely different! It was a deep and meaningful story about an inspirational woman, a mother, a leader, a hero. It was an ode to female strength, both physical and spiritual.

The book uses the story of Amina to touch upon important topics such as motherhood, religion and loyalty. The writing is exceptional, crafty and beautiful, full of character and incredibly engaging.

I think Amina could be a protagonist who inspires many women. She is a true hero. I absolutely loved her.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a chance to read this beautiful story.