A creative adventure book with sea creatures, swordfights and a bright psychedelic treasure island. Yes, please!
The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi is a swashbuckling tale about a middle-aged, retired female pirate, who is given the opportunity of one final adventure. The story is set around the trade routes and towns on the coast of the Indian Ocean in the 12th century.
When the wealthy mother of a former crewman tracks Amina down with the task of locating her missing daughter, Amina quickly seizes the opportunity to head back to sea on her beloved ship, the Marawati. She assembles her old team—Dalila (The Mistress of Poisons), Tinbu (a sailor) and Majed (the navigator). Soon enough, Amina and her crew discover that their adventure will be more dangerous than they thought: the ‘Frank’ (Historically the Latin Christians of Western Europe), Falco, that they are up against is not only an infamous bandit, but also has magical powers that could lead to the end of the humankind. He is after The Moon of Saba, a magical artifact that, in the hands of the wrong person, could wreak havoc.
This was a fun, imaginative read with a unique premise. How often do you read about what happens after a character completes their hero’s journey and retires? Not to mention, the location of the story is also truly special. How refreshing to read a book that takes place in the Islamic East, instead of the average Western locations! And, while the book starts a bit slow, the ending is, truly, an adventure!
The other settings in the book were also amazing, and probably my favorite part of the book. Chakraborty pulled out the big guns with the wonderful treasure island of Socotra, an island in the Republic of Yemen really rumored to have flying snakes (you can read more about the real place HERE. It is a World Heritage Site now!). Other settings included exciting battles on the Marawati against a giant sea monster and a magical psychedelic island with humanoid birds.
I loved the main character, Amina. She had a daring personality with clear motives and flaws that both carried her through the plot, while also leading her into lots of trouble. Amina’s flaws are what make her such a compelling character; she’s not perfect and she knows it! At the same time, her morals guide her through difficult situations. There has been some critique from other reviewers that Amina was too ‘soft’ to be a pirate, but I felt her ideas made sense. She was willing to do what it takes to achieve her goals and stand up for what she believes in. She didn’t flinch to kill someone when she felt it was necessary or deserved. While she wasn’t cruel and her behavior wasn’t outright criminal most of the time, Amina was selfish and morally grey enough to fit her character goal to me.
The book was wonderfully humorous. There were some real laugh-out-loud bits, especially involving Payasam, the Marawati’s live-in cat. I enjoyed the light-hearted style of the writing. It made the book feel like the sort of fun adventure one might dream up as a child—perfect for this type of story.
Chakraborty managed to tackle some heavy topics while she was at it too…the author has a natural way of evoking empathy towards characters that are wronged throughout the book. Truly, she nearly made me cry over the poor tortured sea monster—can you believe that!
Some cons:
I wasn’t crazy about the ‘interview’ style of the story. While it was a nice surprise to find out who Jamal was, I’d have preferred to hear the story directly from Amina. The story would have been told just as well, without the fourth-wall disruptions that didn’t add much to the plot.
The way Raksh’s character was approached was confusing to me: everyone was so afraid of him at the start of the book, avoiding the mention of his name, but when he arrived in the story, he became the ‘comic-relief’ character. In general, everyone was mostly annoyed with him, but nobody was actually scared of him.
The book is also known to have too much ‘soapboxing’, causing it to deviate from ideas normal to 12th century society. And, while I do see why this is said, this is currently a trend in most media and besides, Amina and her crew were outcasts…who’s to say their ideas might not be a bit more progressive than your average 12th century person? But if this sort of thing annoys you as a reader, then this isn’t the book for you.
5 stars from me. This is the kind of book you can read without needing to take it too seriously. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series! If you enjoyed this book, you can also pick up Chakraborty’s other series, The Daevabad Trilogy.
Maan Atelier 