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.

Why Ali and Nahri From the Daevabad Trilogy Mean So Much To Me

I think it’s a well established fact that I adore The Daevabad Trilogy and I could truly talk about all the different things I love about it. I do, in fact, have a whole section on my blog dedicated to the trilogy, which you can find here. Today I want to talk about specifically why I love Ali and Nahri and why their relationship means so much to me.

As a reader I have of course many ships like all of us do, characters who’s relationships we love because of the way they develop and the angst and the romance so much more. But Ali and Nahri came along and completely took my breath away at just how real and relatable they were to me. I haven’t read another book with a couple quite like there’s and how much of myself and my husband and out relationship I saw in them. I have said it before but one of the reasons why I fell so completely in love with Ali is because he reminds me of my husband in so many ways.

Nahri is someone I saw myself in a lot. She has lived a life where trusting people is difficult, she can only truly rely on herself to get through and I felt that. So opening up and trusting someone is incredibly difficult for her and when she finally does, he breaks her trust so spectacularly that she completely closes herself up to prevent the hurt and betrayal she felt happening again. That hurt and betrayal was so real to me, it takes a long time to overcome and does it ever truly go away? How do you overcome a lifetime of not being able to trust anyone and being hurt again and again.

I also find it hard to trust people and truly I related to Nahri so much in this especially, how she was so hesitant to build anything between her and Ali because she had been hurt so many times. Keeping him at a distance was safer for her heart, she can’t be hurt again if she doesn’t build an attachment to him beyond him. But he was something so wholly unexpected that despite herself she ended up becoming attached anyways. He was the one real friend who accepted her completely and entirely for who she was, human appearance and all. So much so that despite not being able to see him for 5 years her feelings had not diminished in the slightest.

Nahri is a pragmatic person so to have suddenly developed these feelings for someone who could hurt her in so many ways would have been terrifying. Admitting these feelings even more so. When I finally admitted I maybe had some feelings for my now husband I shook so hard and trembled for ages after. I can see why Nahri took so long even admitting these feelings to herself let alone anyone else, especially to Ali. Ali who could hurt and betray her because of who his family is. Ali, who’s family don’t like Nahri for the most part and who’s father uses her for political gain. Admitting to someone like that, that you have feelings for them is no small thing.

Alizayd al Qahtani is a character who I truly thought had leaped out of the pages in the form of my husband. Like Ali he is oblivious when it comes to speaking to women, social skills aren’t his greatest asset and he has no filter when he speaks. He also is someone who tries to follow and practice Islam to the best of his ability while also sometimes having tunnel vision and not always seeing that things aren’t as black and white as he assumes. Younger husband was exactly like Ali when it came to being uncompromising in his beliefs, he has now realised there is more to Islam than just a list of yes and no answers.

When I met my husband my immediate thought was that he is very tall and bless his heart for the sort of almost there beard that he is clearly desperately trying to grow. And then almost 10 years later reading Nahri’s first impression of Ali to be so similar to mine?!

It was however his complete inability to speak to girls that first endeared him to me. How excitedly he would talk about things he loved and how completely flustered he became when a girl did try to flirt with him. It has actually been over 6 years since we’ve been married and he still gets flustered when I, his wife, flirts with him. I love that about him though because when he does say something, I know he isn’t sugar coating or before we were married just trying to sound good. That was just him being him saying exactly what he felt. Can you see how he is so like Ali in so many ways? And why Ali would mean so much to me? He is my husband with pointy ears and water magic!

Oh lets not forget how just like Ali my husband has no clue how to dress up, he is most happy in his thobe and dressing up nice requires outside assistance from his wife. But when he does well lets just say I feel Nahri when she thinks about how well formed Ali is. Ali may not be the best with his words when it comes to expressing how he feels but he does show it through the things he does for Nahri. From getting her favourite Egyptian food made to building her office to look like Cairo and just supporting her in what she does and truly, completely accepting her for who she is. My husband may not know how to express himself but he does it through bringing me tea in bed at the weekends and holding me up so I can walk to the bathroom when my pain is at its worst to the forehead kisses. When we got married the day after the walima I was in tears because I missed my family and he drove me home to see them because he literally cannot see me upset. He is still like this now too.

Their tentative friendship which became something more and that neither of them saw that coming was something so completely relatable. When I met my husband I was not at all in any way interested in meeting a guy, I wanted to get my degree and work on my career as a Physiotherapist and yet Allah had other plans when He sent my husband into the same class as mine and had me sit in front of him in that Monday morning lecture.

We were friends for a while before we realised that maybe there was something more (also friends telling us that we did in fact like each other which we vehemently denied). I was the one who decided to take the risk and say something and we also had to deal with our families who did not like each other when they met and were against us marrying (it took 5 years for us to actually get married after we told our families) and now we have been married for 6 and a half years and have our own little shedu called Sherlock. Seeing Ali and Nahri and reading their journey and how their relationship progressed through the years and how so insanely similar it was to ours probably made me love them even more than I do for any other characters.

I will forever be thankful to Shannon for bringing these characters to life in a way that I made me completely fall in love with them individually and together. Reading about their relationship and the way it grew slowly and hesitantly into something more was so deeply relatable and I saw me and my husband in them in a way that showed me things about us that I hadn’t even realised. From why it was so terrifying to putting my trust in him and more.

And if you haven’t read this trilogy I highly recommend reading it. You can also find more posts about the Daevabad trilogy on my blog here.

My Daevabad Playlist Of Acapella Covers

I don’t know if anyone even wants this but you’re going to get it. This is a playlist of acapella covers that I love that give me Daevabad vibes. I will share each song and who it reminds me of. I hope you enjoy!

Roar

Zaynab’s song because we see her go from Princess to resistance leader and I loved that she was able to keep everything going when Muntadhir was imprisoned and Ali wasn’t in Daevabad.

You Belong With Me

My Jamshid to Muntadhir song. Watching Muntadhir with Khanzada but he knows they belong together.

Who Knew

Duriya and Rustam’s song. Suffer with me! Duriya raising Nahri by herself and thinking about Rustam and everything they could have had.

Show Yourself

Obviously Nahri’s Empire of Gold song.

What A Man Gotta Do

Ali to Nahri because he’s absolutely smitten

At the Beginning

My Nahli song because they are starting a new beginning together

I See the Light

My other Nahli song because well just listen to the lyrics okay

Poor Unfortunate Soul/I Put A Spell on You

Manizheh trying to convince everyone she’s the good guy and also her “relationship” with Dara

Part of Your World

I mean this is Ali’s anthem, all he wants is to geek out in the human world just like Ariel.

Go the Distance/Journey to the Past

This is Ali and Nahri in the City of Brass at the beginning of their respective journeys.

I’ll Make A Man Out of You

Okay but this Dara training his archers and hyping them up

Friend Like Me

This is Lubayd and Ali! I loved how much Lubayd protected and supported Ali.

I Won’t Say I’m In Love/Kiss the Girl

This is Ali and Nahri’s internal monologue throughout Empire of Gold.

Be Prepared

This is Manizheh planning her invasion of Daevabad.

Everybody Wants To Be A Cat

This is Mishmish’s anthem. Admit you know it is.

Let me know any songs you relate to specific characters or books!

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!

My Favourite Quotes from The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

The Empire of Gold readalong is over and I hope everyone who took part enjoyed it! Today I will be sharing my favourite quotes from this book and let me tell you, there was A LOT.

I have also shared my favourite quotes from The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper

I loved this book and honestly it has some incredible quotes and scenes and here are some of my favourite:

1 Kan wa ma kan…It was and it wasn’t – This is such a beautiful way to describe the fantasy worlds and even this trilogy.

2 Nahri was a survivor and it was time to get to work. – This is Nahri in a sentence.

3 I do not believe ambitious men who say the only route to peace and prosperity lies in giving them more power – particularly when they do it with lands and people who are not theirs. – Yaqub just stating facts in this book.

4 “Birthmark,” Ali managed, his voice pitched. “Completely natural. Since birth.” – Every single interaction between Ali and Yaqub was pure gold and I wish we had gotten more of it.

5 All Ali wanted to do right now was pray, to cry out to God and beg Him to make this right. – I love how Ali always turns to Allah and asks for His guidance and help.

6 Ali…I thought I made very clear to you I never intended to let you out of my debt. – This was a whole theme in this trilogy and I am here for it. I love them two so much.

7 Not wanting to be destroyed by despair doesn’t make you a coward, Ali. It makes you a survivor. – I think this is something we should all remember especially this year.

8 People are often afraid of what they don’t understand. – This line is very apt considering what is happening all over the world right now.

9 Don’t you sound like quite the revolutionary? People would call me a fanatic of I said that. – My heart felt for Ali who was constantly made out to be an extremist by those wanting to discredit him because they did not want to relinquish power.

10 I think it a mistake to judge the Creator by the misdeeds of mortals – Shannon really voicing all the things I feel in this book about my faith

11 There’s no one else here, my friend. You don’t need to keep up this front. – The fact that Ali and Nahri can only feel truly comfortable and vulnerable with each other and show their true selves is one of my favourite things about their relationship.

12 We die and we bleed and it’s a debt the powerful never repay. – The people always pay for the crimes of the powerful. This book is full of parallels with the real world and it hit me hard.

13 That made it worse, this passing of barbed baton between women who, no matter how clever, how powerful, would always be known y the men to whom they were attached. – This is such a poignant quote and honestly so relatable.

14 I would rather make a mistake than have my choices stripped away – I related to this so much.

15 “Our faith prioritises justice,” Ali argued. 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 witness.” – I was so incredibly proud of Ali here and how no matter what he has gone through he has never compromised on his belief and this is what has pushed him throughout the trilogy.

16 It is not blasphemous to say this world is vast, that much of its history remains shrouded. There are things God set beyond our understanding. – This is something we should all remind ourselves because there is so much we don’t know.

17 It’s me Emir joon just me, no tricks – This scene had me so emotional

18 “May I confess something?” Ali gazed at her in open sorrow. “I never really wanted to be out of your debt” – Not me crying, nope.

There are so many more quotes I highlighted throughout the story but here are some of my favourites. Do share yours!