Review: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

This book took a while to warm up, but once it got there it was absolutely brilliant. It tells the story of the titular Amina al-Sirafi, once a famed pirate nakhuda (captain), now retired mother living in an isolated hut with her daughter and her own mother. When she’s approached by a wealthy woman asking for help retrieving her kidnapped granddaughter, Amina doesn’t feel like she can refuse one last job. But it turns out to be much more complicated and dangerous than she imagined, and her employer isn’t interested in letting her turn back. Amina partners with a delightful group of friends (and enemies), who honestly made the book for me.

One thing I loved about the Daevabad Trilogy was the way Chakraborty incorporated queer characters, and this book took that one step further. It’s the kind of queer representation that makes me feel like, despite the fact that the main character is straight, the book was still written with me and my community in mind. One particular element of the queer representation isn’t something I can discuss without big time spoilers, but I can say that it does a brilliant job of including queer characters who are fundamental to the course of the story instead of just a token side character, without being reduced to a caricature or whacking the reader over the head with queer trauma.

Overall I did love the whole book a bit less than the Daevabad Trilogy, just because the world-building felt a bit less focused to me. It seemed like it was trying to cram a whole lot of coverage into one book. And it did resonate a bit less with me, just because it’s about a middle-aged mother instead of young people fighting to change the world – but that’s very much a me thing, and I think anyone who feels that most fantasy is written for a younger audience that they can’t connect to will really appreciate this book’s approach to aging and motherhood. Just really, really good and powerful.