The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi, #1) by Shannon Chakraborty
Published by Harper
Publication date: February 28, 2023
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Vacation Reading

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Sometimes all you need in your reading is a raucous tale of adventure and fun and I found it in Shannon Chakraborty‘s novel, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. Amina is a middle-aged woman, a mother, a former pirate who once captained the ship that terrorized merchants and the wealthy alike throughout the Indian Ocean. After a catastrophic trek she retired to her home village where she’s been quietly living with her family and her young daughter, Marjana. However, nostalgia for her old life and identity as well as the promise of more money than she’s ever seen before leads her to accept a highly dangerous mission. One that will take her away from her beloved Marjana for many months.

But first she must assemble or reassemble her crew and so goes in search of old friends and colleagues that she hasn’t seen in decades. Chakraborty shines at this type of world building. Amina’s crew are laugh out loud funny with their irreverence and their worldview. They’re a diverse lot from an innocuous looking woman who is the queen of poisons and likes explosives to an African man who can feel the tides and chart the seas like no other.

An initial covert foray to gather much needed information goes woefully awry, leaving Amina and her crew to set off on their mission without everything they need—a loss that increases their misfortunes exponentially as the weeks pass. By this point, the fantasy elements of The Adventures of Amina begin to make themselves known and they are as wild and fantastical as expected from a writer of Chakraborty’s imagination.

I was pulled into The Adventures from its first pages when a scribe, hired to document Amina’s exploits for posterity, makes their apologies. From that point onward this is straight-through reading, a thrilling amusement park literary experience.  Written in a contemporary tone the characters, even those not human, are relatable and funny. A piece of Amina’s past is resurrected intruding on her present life and situation, adding another layer of drama to the story. This is also just one of several seeds cleverly planted to lay the groundwork for the next book in the series.

I’ve become an enthusiastic fantasy reader in the past year, but for those who have never tried the genre this is a great starting option. Amina is a middle-aged woman with all the issues and experiences of one, including a bad knee that goes out at the most inopportune times. She’s a self-confident, world-weary woman who doesn’t take grief from anyone. What’s not to love?! Yes, there are unheard of creatures, demons, and sorcerers, but they’re all wreathed in enough humanity that they’re recognizable. It all comes together to make The Adventures of Amina al-Serafi outstanding, fun, escapist reading at its best.

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