Amina Al-Sirafi - Review
Link to the author's (S. Chakraborty) personal website
Book 1: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Blurb: (From Book 1) Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s 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 tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.
Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.
Review: My god that was an enthralling adventurer that embodies the best aspects of fantasy. The writing is beautiful and the setting is handled immaculately. The blending of fantasy elements into the Islamic world in 1200 is so genuinely interesting. Amina might be one of the most captivating main characters I've ever read about too. This is a true adventurer novel, which does not hold back on showing the villainy of the world, nor restrict itself to a medieval Europe setting. I experienced an obscene amount of different emotions while reading this and believe it is a blanket recommend to any consumer of fantasy. I will be eagerly waiting on the next installment despite the beautiful stand-alone-consumable conclusion!