Perhaps the cruelest and kindest thing a good book does is make you believe you live inside it for the space of a few hundred pages. That you are a part of something, part of its world, not just skating around the edges, too tied up in yourself to join in…and then it ends and the illusion winks out. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is one of those books that reminds you why adventure stories are fun in the first place. It’s confident, joyful, messy, magical, and so well put together that I couldn’t believe how quickly I became attached to everyone involved. I finished this book genuinely sad to leave the crew behind, and very relieved to know this is only the beginning of a series.

Amina herself is an absolute gift of a protagonist. Amina’s voice is flippant, sarcastic, and warm, and the framing of the story as her recounting events to a scribe adds charm. She’s a retired pirate in her forties, a mother, a former terror of the Indian Ocean, and a woman who is very tired of nonsense but not, unfortunately, immune to it. She’s loved deeply, lost painfully, survived battles both literal and emotional, and now just wants a quiet life with her daughter Marjana and a roof that doesn’t leak when the rains come. The fact that she’s battle-worn, sharp-tongued, and unapologetically experienced makes her such a refreshing lead, especially in fantasy, which so often centres youth as the default. Amina is fierce not because she’s reckless, but because she’s lived. I can't emphasize enough just how refreshing Amina is.

The crew dynamic is one of the strongest parts of the book. The banter is sharp and genuinely funny, the loyalty feels deserved, and even brief exchanges manage to convey years of shared history. These aren’t shiny heroic pirates.. they’re criminals who’ve bribed, stolen, smuggled, and survived. They’re also older, experienced life, trying (with varying success) to be better than they once were. And we can't forget the terrible cat who is bad at being a cat. The found family energy here is immaculate.

Chakraborty’s research really shines without ever feeling like homework. The ships, ports, trade routes, belief systems, and politics of the 12th-century Indian Ocean world are woven seamlessly into the story. You can feel how lived-in the setting is, from governance to religion to maritime life. Add in demons, marids, daevas, peris, cursed artifacts, legendary talismans, and a deeply unpleasant Frankish sorcerer, and the whole thing becomes an absolute feast. Somehow, despite how much is happening, it never feels overloaded, everything fits naturally into the narrative.

I had high hopes going in, and somehow this book exceeded them. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is a phenomenal start to a series, and I would happily read a dozen more books following Amina, her crew, her daughter, her ancestors.. honestly, give me all of it. Piracy + badass women + mythology? Perfect, perfect, perfect!