A review by meant2breading
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty

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: 
  1. 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. 
  2. Amina Al-Sirafi is an absolute badass. She is one of my favorite book characters of all time. 
  3. Despite the book having dark twists throughout, there was great comic relief. I am here for the dark, magical twists though. 
  4. When I say comic relief, this book had me laughing out loud multiple times. Very few books can do that! 
  5. Diverse characters, many who are seriously awesome! 
  6. 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. 
  7. I sincerely LOVED the centrality of friendship in this book. 
  8. With this in mind, the side characters/her crew were incredibly enjoyable to read about and I was highly invested in their journeys too! 
  9. The way the author weaved elements of the history at that time into the world she built. Amazing! 
  10. 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.  
  11. 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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