The adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Book Information

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Book one in Amina al-Sirafi series

First published on the 28th of February 2023 by Harper Voyager

5 stars out of 5

Strong female lead in an industry dominated by men (almost as a parallel for the author!) pushed to the limits when her family is at risk. This is a story about pirates (but very little about the seas), a fascinating world building (with the Indian Ocean as the stage and a few countries of Africa and Middle East being the main territories we explore but not only) and a unique magic system (probably inspired by the author’s upbringing).

Some highlights

• Strong and vulnerable female lead

  • vulnerability is conveyed through introspection and it is one of my favorite ways to describe vulnerability;

  • her strength is in her leadership skills and in her crew. She is not overpowered, she depends on her mates to make a difference

    • it is a story of collaboration, a story that celebrates the values of diversity

      • Diversity of many different shapes and values, from gender diversity to celebrating the choice around gender identity

      • Magical beings (the Peri) are also essential to this story (and Raksh is an interesting character overall!)

• Magic system - if you read the author’s The Daevabad trilogy, the magic system feels familiar but it is not identical

  • The system also draws inspiration from classics like the One Thousand and One Night and it just gives a lot more depth to the entire series, makes it real, tangible

  • The world building also draws from historical events and it just makes the world more dimensional

• The map (by Virginia Allyn) is wonderful, some of the best that I have seen in a long time

Tropes/themes I enjoyed

• Family, and this story offers both family by blood ties and found family tropes

• African / Middle Eastern setting - while it is not uncommon to have this setting in fantasy, this is one of the best uses of this world and culture

• The book presents a few mysteries since the beginning; they also get organically answered and they are great answered!