Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

Pirate Amina al-Sirafi finds her and her crew on 'one last adventure' whether she wants it or not, and winds up quickly in over her head.

I preface this review with that I generally do not like pirate stories. If I did, this would be a solid 5/5, no notes sort of deal. But since I don't, it had a higher bar to clear, and clear it did. The narrative structure is interesting at the start, the characters are almost immediately compelling, and it was enough to keep me turning the pages despite being ready to dismiss it. I'd say the book really hits its stride about 40% in at which point I couldn't really put it down.

Extra bonus points for LGBTQ+ representation.

This was a good book! I loved that it was set in Medieval Islamic lands and the Indian Ocean, gave this fantasy a unique setting. I enjoyed it.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is a great historical fantasy adventure.

Amina Al-Sirafi is a middle-aged piratey sea captain who is persuaded out of retirement and away from her daughter. What she thinks will be a fact finding and rescue mission to recover the daughter of a former crewman turns into a full scale supernatural adventure.

This book had a lovely, satisfying ending. Open ended with room for more stories, but not in a cliffhanger way.

I got my book from Book of the Month Club and read it in hardcover, as well as listening to the audiobook for some of it.