The backlist: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi 

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi book details

• Title: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
• Author:Shannon Chakraborty
• Narrators: Lameece Issaq and Amin El Gamal
• Genre: Historical fiction, fantasy, romantasy
• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Publication date: February 2013
• Page count: 496 pages
• Audiobook length: 1019 minutes

The Harper Voyager pitch for The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi 

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.

My pitch for The Adventures of Amina al-Serafi

Whatever rumors you may have heard about Amina al-Sirafi, I can assure you they are all lies. I’m not saying Amina is a liar. No no no. It’s just that many of the legends about her range from somewhat unlikely to downright unbelievable. And God knows that medieval chroniclers have a reputation for, let us say, hyperbole. 

Her last—and perhaps greatest—adventure sends her across the Indian Ocean far from the daughter she loves in search of a kidnapped child and the promise of unimaginable wealth. 

But soon, Amina’s past catches up with her, and the search takes her on a voyage that will challenge Amina’s wits and risk her very soul. 

The truth is far stranger than anything her enemies (or even her friends) could imagine. But you should let Amina tell you the story herself. 

My thoughts on The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

What I loved about Amina’s adventures

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is my first book by Shannon Chakraborty, who also writes as SA Chakraborty or S Ali. Set in the 12th century, this book is a swashbuckling adventure across the Indian Ocean and through time. 

As someone who also studied medieval history in grad school but dropped out, I enjoyed stretching my historical fiction muscles again. I have never been too picky about historical accuracy in fiction. I am a Monty Python and the Holy Grail fan, after all. 

The fantasy element enables Chakraborty flexibility with the historical details. Instead, she focuses on compelling storytelling while giving readers a glimpse into the complexities of medieval life. 

I loved that Amina was having adventures over the age of 40. Too often, publishers target younger readers for these adventure tales. And while I understand that the YA audience is a core sales target, women over 40 deserve stories about us, for us, and by us. 

I also loved the narration by Lameece Issaq and Amin El Gamal. I enjoyed the sections that broke the fourth wall and gave us a behind-the-scenes look at what it may have been like to dictate to a medieval scribe. 

What I didn’t love about Amina’s adventures

But there were two things I did not love: the length and parts of the characterization of Raksh. 

First, let’s talk about the length. The audiobook is almost 17 hours long. “Almost” feels like cheating because it’s literally 16 hours and 59 minutes. I found it funny that the publisher did not add an extra minute in there just to give them a nice round number, but I suspect 17 hours would put the book in the too-long category for audiobooks. For me, it hit that limit anyway. Not that it wasn’t a rip-roaring good time. It was. But there were moments when I grew impatient for the story to move us forward. But, I also know this is a standard length for many fantasy books. YMMV. 

The trouble with Raksh

Now, let’s talk about Raksh. Spoilers ahead.

Raksh is a demon and Amina’s ex-husband. That’s where things get complicated for me. He is without a doubt my favorite character, but he’s also where I wanted more nuance. 

Raksh is meant to be a rakshasa. Rakshasas appear in many stories across Asia. They’re depicted in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Islamic epics. Ravan, Sita’s kidnapper and Ram’s enemy in the Ramayana, is perhaps the best known to American audiences. 

Raksh is consistently described as a demon. I understand that in some cultural contexts, that description may be fair. But that word lacks nuance in an American context, and Chakraborty, a convert to Islam, is a white American woman. Her readers are also mostly American and lack the cultural competency to understand the complexities of rakshasas. 

Interestingly, one bookstagrammer—who I immediately blocked and whose name I do not remember—very publicly DNFed this book because it contained a demon. And that is precisely the problem with this characterization. It reinforces white supremacist notions of good and evil. Notions that Raksh himself defies. Hence, my disappointment. Because he is more complicated than his outside appearance would lead us to believe. Amina herself loves him precisely because of that softer interior, which he hides too well. 

Also the sex. Amina is attracted to him for the sex. And that brings me to why I think Chakraborty uses the term. There’s an entire romantasy subgenre where women have sex with and often marry demons. That Time I Got Drunk and Married a Demon springs to mind. So, Chakraborty is aligning Raksh with that literary trope. I get it. I just wish there were more nuance and am hoping this will evolve over the subsequent books in the series. 

Having said all this, I do recommend this book and will certainly read any sequels. 

You should read the Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi if you:

• Think Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) was the true hero of Pirates of the Caribbean. 
• Observe Talk Like a Pirate Day every year. 
• Are a woman over 40 who craves adventure, especially if you’re a mom! 
• Love SA Chakraborty’s City of Brass and The Daevabad Trilogy (which I have not read, but I have it on good authority these fans would love this book).
• Love cozy vibes where a story with even the highest stakes (death and eternal damnation) is still lots of fun.

How to read the Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

Any way you want, obviously: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, 1000-year-old parchment that’s crumbling around the edges and feels a bit dodgy in places. I should link you to all the possible sites as that would be better for my SEO, but why do that when you can go to the HarperCollins website instead?