(4 / 5) The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi – Shannon Chakraborty
You know how sometimes you just want a fun and engaging book to snuggle up with? Well, if you’re anything like me, this is your book!! This book has strong and intelligent female protagonists, pirates and Middle Eastern mythology, and the magical elements are perfectly placed to develop intrigue while helping to move the story along.
Amina al-Sirafi is a retired pirate who had her time in the sun. She made a name for herself in her previous pirating life and now lives quietly with her daughter and mother until an opportunity arises that she cannot refuse. Chakraborty does an excellent job of making Amina a ‘real person’ in the sense that she suffers from common ailments of middle-aged people, she struggles with her loyalties and where they should lie (friends, family, spouse, crew), and Amina is continually walking the line between risk, safety, and profit.
Chakraborty utilizes Middle Eastern mythology as well as historical information from the time period to create her pirating world. I love the mix of mythology with history as I feel that it brings an authenticity to fiction writing in the sense that the characters are believable and relatable because we all find ourselves living somewhere between our mythological understanding of the world around us and our very real and inescapable historical context.
I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next book in the series!
Read on my friends!
-Haddi
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