The Adventures of Amina al Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty ARC Review

My most anticipated book of the year and it did not disappoint!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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. 

Amina al Sirafi has my heart. I loved her so much, from her grumblings about her bad knee to being annoyed by her demon ex to her feelings of guilt when it came to being a mother and a Muslim who wasn’t so practicing in their youth. The discussions on motherhood hit me hard, I related so much to how she felt. That constant pull in multiple directions and the yearning for what you had to sacrifice and trying to find the balance between being a mother and having separate ambitions. How society has certain expectations for women and none of them involve her being anything other than settling down and raising children and looking after the household regardless of what that woman herself wants for herself.  But also fiercely loving your child and wanting to do everything within your power to protect them. 

Men find it easier to believe they have been swindled by a witch than outwitted by a woman.

I loved how we see who Amina was and who she is now. How she feels the guilt of all the prayers missed and indulging in the haram and how that actually led to some very bad consequences *cough* demon ex *cough* but that she still tries and does her best to practice her faith as best she can because we can always turn back to Allah. 

This book is not like Daevabad in that it is a more chaotic fun adventure with a chaotic found family where anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It is fast paced and action packed and I loved the little hints to the djinn world we got throughout the book. I was determined not to like this demon ex but Shannon came in with the man bun and it all went downhill from there. This ex was so entertaining to read that he actually became one of my favourite characters and his banter with Amina is top tier. 

We are friends…And friends do not murder each other without warning.

The banter between all the characters is one of my favourite parts of the book in fact. I loved how they joked with each other and how well they knew each other despite not being together for several years. Tinbu is a cinnamon roll, Dalilah is absolutely chaotic and Majed is the mum of the group and then there’s Amina who runs first and thinks second. I love them all so much. Also my favourite, Payasam and her single brain cell and Amina’s constant irritation with her. I think we deserve more cat content in the sequel.

The world building as usual is incredible and we get to see the Muslim world during the time of the crusades as well as what the magical world was like at that time. As you can tell by the cover, we do in fact deal with terrifying Marids and more! I loved seeing that there is even more to the magical world than what we see in Daevabad and just how much more history is woven into the story and seeing the diverse cast of people that worked and lived together during that time. This book is also tied to the story of Prophet Sulayman though this time through his connection to Queen Bilqis of Saba and I loved seeing it so much especially because I love the story of Queen Bilqis. Just all the little details that are mentioned in passing but will mean so much to so many of us.

This story is told as though Amina is telling us a story about her adventures and it just gave me grandma tells her grandkids all the chaos she got up to in her youth and I just loved how it was told. I was completely hooked by the end of the first chapter and I just could not put this book down. I loved how we get those intermissions with the stories of the characters of lore and history told to us by the scribe who writes Amina’s story. I just loved everything about this book and I cannot wait to reread and I am dying for the sequel already.

I am going to make you a legend.

If you love chaotic adventures with a found family who go on a dangerous quest and heist for glory and all the money they could ever want, with morally grey characters and discussions of women and their place in society and just all the banter then you need to go preorder and read this book.

Top 5 Wednesday – Current Obsession

Hey booknerds! So I’ve been kind of absent on my blog lately but I want to start posting again so I thought I would start off with sharing my 2022 obsessions!

I have some absolutely incredible books this year and some of them have imprinted themselves onto my heart and soul. They truly live in my head rent free and I need you all to go read them!

1 The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah – This book has my whole heart and filled the void of no more Daevabad stories. I absolutely adore the characters and I am already dying for the sequel! You can read my full review here

2 My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth – This book completely took me by surprise and I finally read a book with a character that has my name, a STEM girl at that! You can read my full review here

3 Little Thieves by Margaret Owen – I absolutely adore these chaotic characters, especially the dynamic between Emeric and Vanja and I cannot wait to read the sequel!

4 The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper – This book is incredible. Set in ancient Pompeii and follows the story of a group of women who have been sold into slavery and their fight for a better life. Truly heart breaking and I adore the women and how smart and resourceful they are. I loved seeing how each of them deal with their trauma so differently and how they fight for a better tomorrow.

5 The River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty – Did you honestly think a Daevabad book wouldn’t make the list? I loved these stories so much and filled the void that nothing has been able to fill since the end of The Empire of Gold. The last story especially lives in my head rent free. You can read my full review here

So these are my 5! Share what books you’re currently obsessed with in the comments!

Top 10 Tuesday – Favourite Book Settings

Sharing some of my favourite book settings in this post. Some of the places I would absolutely love to visit!

Daevabad from The City of Brass – I mean duh! If Alizayd turned up and said lets go, I would drop everything and absolutely go!

Caraval from Caraval – It seems so magical to go see everything there just as long as I could definitely leave unscathed

Arawiya from We Hunt the Flame – Look let me just go hang out with Altair and eat good food.

Ketterdam from Six of Crows – Would I survive? Who knows? But it will be fun!

The Shire from Lord of the Rings – It just seems so peaceful, I just want to spend my time relaxing and reading there

Camp Half Blood from the Percy Jackson Series – I would love to go hang out with them all!

Lunar from The Lunar Chronicles – Obviously I would visit once Cinder is in charge

San Cristobal from Nocturna – I just want to visit Alfie, Finn and Luka and hang out

City of Noor from The Candle and the Flame – It seems so wonderful and I just want to spend a day walking the streets

L’Edan from The Gilded Wolves – I want to hang out with Laila and Zofia and them all and eat good food, maybe plan a heist or two

Where would you love to visit?

Friday Favourites – Bookish Siblings

So I haven’t really been posting regularly lately but I’m trying to get back into it so here’s a Friday Favourite post for you all!

This week, I’m sharing my favourite siblings!

The Qahtani Siblings from The City of Brass

The Kaul Siblings from Jade City

Nasir & Altair from We Hunt the Flame

The Kane Siblings from The Kane Chronicles

The Alif sisters from The Candle and the Flame

I love these siblings so much and their dynamics! I highly recommend reading all of these books! Tell me who your favourite siblings are!

Why Alizayd al-Qahtani from The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty Means So Much To Me – Part 2

Do I need to tell any of you why Ali means so much to me? He has wormed his way into my heart and made himself at home. I have never loved a character as much as I love him and honestly I will never truly be able to express it properly no matter how many essays I write.

I know I have previously written an essay which you can read here but you know what here is another one because I have now read The Empire of Gold and the extra scenes Shannon included on her website and I now have a lot more to say.

Alizayd grows so much throughout the trilogy. From a young age he is motivated to help the poor and oppressed because one of the core beliefs in Islam is social justice. He may not always do it in the best way but that is what makes him fight against even his own family to do what is right. It’s one of the things I love most about him. Every time he fought for justice my heart swelled with love for him. In The City of Brass he is more idealistic but by the time we see him in The Empire of Gold, he has grown wiser and while still idealistic he is also more realistic in what he can achieve and what can be accomplished and it was incredible to see how he told Nahri that this may be something that they don’t even get to see the fruits of but they still need to build a city that is just to all.

One of my favourite scenes is his very first chapter where we see him wake up to find himself in the apothecary and realise all that he has lost and that he cannot help anyone at that moment. The despair he feels was so raw and it left me a mess. This was one of the lowest points for him and in his moment of need and despair he turned to Allah to ask Him for help and guidance. He sat in prayer all day in prostration to Allah turning to the only one who can help him with everything he is feeling. This is a scene that means so much to me. A scene where I truly related and saw myself and how I felt in some of my most difficult times in life. Shannon wrote it beautifully and it left me in tears to see this in a fantasy book. The type of rep I had been too scared to even hope to see in books.

When he is in Egypt we see him completely fall in love with being able to experience the human world like he’s always wanted to and that wonder and excitement was contagious. I really loved seeing him nerd out and completely lose it over toy chickens because when we see characters who are devout, they are often shown in their stereotypes of broody, strict and not really having a personality beyond being the haram police and so to see him be fully fleshed and complex and that he is your average guy even though he is doing his best to practice his religion. It humanised him and even though we shouldn’t have to bear the burden of that it was truly wonderful to see how much he loved seeing everything and his giddy excitement.

Another of my favourite scenes in The Empire of Gold is when he is in Ta Nytry and Hatset tells him to establish himself as king there instead of going to fight Manizheh. He tells them that this isn’t the answer. They need to help those trapped in Daevabad and that him being king isn’t right. There needs to be a democracy where everyone’s voice is heard. That Islam stands for justice and we need to stand up for what is right and be a witness to this. They cannot stand by and watch people being murdered and enslaved.

In this book we see him and Nahri also having to navigate their growing feelings for each other and I know that people have mixed feelings but I personally really loved seeing him try to navigate this as it felt real. Muslims aren’t perfect and so to see a “perfect” Muslim character wouldn’t really work in this trilogy. We see him battle his desires and his conviction to his faith and what we are all taught when it comes to relationships. That a relationship outside of marriage isn’t allowed. This was something that he tries his best to adhere to, we see him literally fight himself when he starts thinking about Nahri and reminding himself that he cannot do anything.

We see him kiss Nahri in a moment of utter despair and longing and neither of them knowing whether they will survive after this. And then he realises that he cannot do this and stops himself and it felt so realistic. We have feelings, we have emotions and you know what we will make mistakes, we will slip and I actually liked seeing that he slipped but that he stops himself and draws a line saying to Nahri that this cannot happen again. And we see that he doesn’t cross that line again. I feel like a lot people can relate to this moment and how easy it can be to give in to those feelings even for a moment.

He spends a lot of this book learning about his own family history and coming to terms with realising that those he looked up to may not be as incredible as he thought they were and that there is a lot in this world he still does not know and it made him a better person and leader. He doesn’t make as many rash decisions like he used to and thinks about the consequences and how it can affect others. I just loved seeing him grow into an incredible leader and pillar of the community.

Later in the book he also leads prayer and again finds solace and comfort in praying and turning to Allah for help. We see how he stays there talking to everyone and making sure everyone is heard and tries to help as many as he can while he is in Ta Nytry. It shows how much he has grown instead of doing what he thinks is the right way to help the people he listens to them and what they want.

The scene when he goes to meet Tiamat and the other marid and he realises he may die here but he won’t go down without a fight and will do whatever he can to protect all those he loves. I feel like this was such a pivotal moment for him. When he realises the price of being able to save his loved ones and Daevabad is to give up the thing that he loves, his jinn magic, his fire magic, and he will even lose the one connection he shared with his father, his grey eyes, I truly felt for him and it shows what a huge sacrifice it is for him to have to give this all up. But he does it, he does it because his love for Daevabad and his family and friends is more than how much he cherishes his magic. He knows that this may make him an outsider to his own people but he still does it. It made me love him even more.

It’s safe to say that I have never loved a character more than I love Alizayd and honestly I have no idea how to move on from these books because of him. His character arc was incredible and I loved seeing all the small details from him being a total nerd, completely hopeless when trying to talk to girls and how he hold on to his faith throughout everything. His activism in fighting for social justice and his strong moral character and just doing whatever it took to save his people even sacrificing his jinn magic made me fall in love with him again and again.

It also helps that he is…well formed and endearing. I will leave you with one of my favourite Alizayd quotes:

Our faith prioritises justice. It tells us to stand for justice no matter what. We are to be a community that calls for what is right, that stands as a witness.

Please everyone go read this incredible trilogy!