The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seven seas.

Amina al-Sirafi has survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever.

Yet the deeper Amina dives the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power… and the price might be your very soul.

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I fell in love with the premise of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi when I came across it late last year.  A retired lady pirate, called upon for one last ostensibly simple job?  Yes please! 

The novel introduces us to Amina – retired from a life of piracy and derring-do upon the high seas for the last ten years, now raising her daughter and trying to keep her head down and live a quiet life.  She seems happy enough with the choices that she’s made, although there are hints that she misses the freedom of her previous life, despite the inherent dangers, and the sea constantly beckons to her.  What this family-orientated vignette fails to hide is that Amina is an absolute legend.  A female pirate captain of both formidable skill and renown, she as infamous as you’d expect with many stories told about her, some of which are even true. I adored her immediately and couldn’t wait for the action to get underway.

Amina is asked to investigate the kidnapping of a teenager – the child of a former crew member whose death remains a mystery until later in the novel – with a significant reward offered if she’s successful in returning the child to her family.  Amina is reluctant, but the reward offered would provide unimaginable freedom and security and she understandably wants the best for her own daughter.  And she can’t deny that the chance for one last adventure upon her beloved ship, the Marawati, is irresistible.  She doesn’t want to leave her daughter, who she dotes upon, and yet it doesn’t sound all that difficult a mission… Of course, it does become much more difficult than Amina anticipates, and even when she’s in too deep, she’s unable to walk away when the kidnapped child’s grandmother threatens Amina’s own family. 

While Amina is a strong and capable character, she’s going to need some help in her quest and she seeks out the key members of her former crew.  While secondary characters, they all bring something to both the novel and the team.  Dalila, Amina’s so-called Mistress of Poisons, was my personal favourite and I would absolutely love to read a standalone novel about her to understand more of her background and the society, the Banu Sasan, to which she belongs.  She has an incredibly sharp wit, and seems like the sort of individual that it would be all too easy to underestimate, until it’s too late. I adore her. 

Timbu and Majed make up the group, and while I liked them both, they can’t compete with Dalila.  I loved the interactions of these four – the sort that you only get between the closest of friends who will speak their minds, bicker, argue, and disagree, but ultimately know that there will always be someone who has their back.   They’re all older than when they last travelled together and there’s a slight world-weariness to each, but they are clearly all desirous of further adventure.  They are all, including Amina, flawed and morally grey (they are pirates, after all) and yet good people at heart who you’d want on your side. 

I absolutely love the world-building in this novel.  While many fantasy novels are set in fictional realms, this one explores the Indian Ocean and its lands which adds a uniqueness to the novel.  Chakraborty brings the land (sea?) scape to life successfully, capturing the diversity of the setting which, at the time the novel is set, was opening up as trade routes were explored and, more darkly, as belief systems and religions clashed.  While I’m sure some artistic licence was necessary for the story, Chakraborty remains true to the history of the time, weaving in the folklore, myths, and legends of the area to create an absolutely stunning backdrop to Amina’s adventures. 

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is a fantastic novel.  I love the diversity of the crew and the sense of found family between them despite their differences.  This is a sizeable novel running just short of 500 pages, but I was engaged throughout, entranced by the magic and mayhem they encounter on their mission.  I believe this is the first in a planned trilogy, with a second novel, as yet untitled, due later this year.  I can’t wait.