Reviews with content warning for Death - The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

I got stuck at 30% because I thought it was going to get spookier. Glad I followed my friend's advice and tried again because it was delightful and mystical. Nothing bad happens to the cat, and I'm excited for this to be a series!

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themis_biblos's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

"This man could manifest as a beam of celestial light, and he chose to use that power to spy on a naked woman?" - "Are you surprised?"

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catherinedsharp's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A fascinating blend of the real and fantastical with lots of adventure and emotion. Slow to read but it’s a pleasure not a drag, and the writing is always entertaining.

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meant2breading's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Yup. This is my new favorite book of all time. I do recognize in saying this that I read a lot and this could change as I get into more epic fantasy and sci-fi books, but there are AMPLE reasons why this has skyrocketed to the top. Here are some of my reasons why:

A fierce pirate captain who is sailing the 12th century Indian Ocean and is respected by her crew?! And is a single mom?! Heck yes.
Amina Al-Sirafi is an absolute badass. She is one of my favorite book characters of all time.
Despite the book having dark twists throughout, there was great comic relief. I am here for the dark, magical twists though.
When I say comic relief, this book had me laughing out loud multiple times. Very few books can do that!
Diverse characters, many who are seriously awesome!
The main characters are middle aged adults. It’s a nice change from reading many younger main characters and seeing their world through their eyes. Found this to also feel more relatable.
I sincerely LOVED the centrality of friendship in this book.
With this in mind, the side characters/her crew were incredibly enjoyable to read about and I was highly invested in their journeys too!
The way the author weaved elements of the history at that time into the world she built. Amazing!
To get the full pirate experience, I streamed Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack music as I read and it was immersive, really felt part of the adventure.
Yes, ok, the pacing in this book is slightly off. All of the other aspects of this story more than made up for that for me. Plot + characters = spectacular! I loved it all, beginning to end!!

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bzliz's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It took me altogether far too long to finish this book. It was first hampered by my borrowed copy being uncomfortable to hold. Those book of the month books are satisfyingly uniform on a shelf but annoying for my wrists when I want to read them. I switched to a digital copy and then had to contend with the slog as Amina pulls her crew together, which is the main reason I can’t give this five stars. Each small victory was interesting but it took so long I felt myself getting impatient to get to the meat of the story. It picked up for me after Amina’s second meeting with Salima and then I was fully bought in.

Having a main character who is an older woman, highly competent, and a parent who still has their own dreams and goals was such a nice reprieve from young, inexperienced narrators who are always five steps behind the Big Bad but somehow manage to prevail. Amina is a beautifully written character and her supporting cast is equally captivating. They are devoted to her yet not subservient like she’s their only reason for breathing. The villains and the morally ambiguous characters are just as developed and I’m thankful they received the same treatment rather than being caricatures of evil.

I was not ready for the trippy turn around the 70% mark but I loved it. It cemented for me how perfectly this would work if adapted to a TV series. It gave the much needed push to boost Amina to become someone worthy of the tales told about her. It’s also such an interesting juxtaposition of fantasy elements intermingled with historical bureaucracy and religious and political machinations.

Most of the characters ascribe to a faith and it is frequently discussed and referenced. In my opinion, it is never preachy or pushing any kind of agenda on anyone, it is merely as simple as believing. If any religious aspects of a book make you uncomfortable, this is not the book for you. Likewise, there is talk of genocidal crusades, horrific murders and threats of sexual violence. Skip this if you’re sensitive to those topics. For anyone else, I do recommend giving this a try.

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brittanylee0302's review

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adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This book was okay but I lost my interest in it about halfway through. The cover of this book has a kraken wrapped around a boat with 'adventures' being in the title which made me think this was going to be a fast pace adventure filled read & it really wasn't. Amina as a character is amazing, she's an older woman who is a bad ass mom & has been a little promiscuous through her life. However, when she goes to rescue people throughout the book she kind of loses some of her bad ass qualities. Magic is introduced in this book early on but it seems like the author kind of forgot they were writing a magical book until certain parts (minus Amina's husband). Overall, I had really high expectations for certain things in this book & felt consistently let down over them. I enjoyed the characters but the story just fell flat for me.

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julierambaeck's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I liked this. It was refreshing to see a main character who was in her forties and a mother. I enjoyed the found family and the characters. There was a lot of talk about religion, and every character was very religious - which I do not read a lot about, but I found that aspect quite interesting. I did find myself to be quite bored... and I am not gonna continue on in the series.

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gold_star_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What an epic story! Chakraborty said in her author's note that she was, "going to make it historically accurate, except for the plot" and did such an amazing job. The rich descriptions help set the scene so well, the monsters and creatures seemingly ready to step off the page! Amina is a fierce and powerful woman, yet still flawed and human. She has her many faults and disabilities but she was a lovable rogue. I can't wait to see where her adventures lead, interacting with the spirit world, breaking hearts (especially Raksh's), and letting her daughter grow into her own powers.

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