The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi: The epic first book in a swashbuckling new fantasy series from the bestselling author of THE CITY OF BRASS (Amina al-Sirafi, 1)

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A thrilling, transportative adventure that is everything promised–Chakraborty's storytelling is fantasy at its best. Unfortunately, the woman really leaves her without much of a choice and when riches beyond Amina's wildest imaginations are dangled in front of her, she agrees. After all, we build our homes upon the ruins of lost cities and sail our ships over the drowned palaces of forgotten kings. Amina Al Sarafi, one of the most notorious pirates to ever live, is retired and living tucked away with her young daughter in a remote mountainside but when her old life and reputation catches up to her, she finds herself back in action and surrounded by dangerous enemies and even more dangerous friends!

In contrast to many fantasy stories, in which the heroine may start as a young woman who goes on a journey of self-discovery, the novel starts in the middle of Amina's life. 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. Her granddaughter being only sixteen, it seems to hit home with Amina, having a young girl of her own to care for. Something I both enjoyed and disliked about it was that it was set up as Amina telling her story to a scribe. My quibbles here are that I wish we'd had a little more character development and the pacing dragged a bit at times, but otherwise, I loved the authorial voice, the world building, and the romping plot.

I am very intrigued about how Amina talks of Marjana’s birth… Dalila was there to do what Amina couldn’t if her fears came true? Dunya admits that she was not kidnapped; she went with Falco willingly because she has been questioning her gender identity and is fleeing an arranged marriage. Although I enjoyed reading this book, that and one other issue are why I cannot give this book a higher rating than 3.

As clues about Dunya’s disappearance take Amina farther afield from her home, she begins bringing her previous gang back together.I think to deal with the past of Dunya’s father she will have to rescue Dunya to learn more about the life he left behind.