 | |
| Author | Shannon Chakraborty |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi |
Release number | 1 |
| Set in | 12th century; Indian Ocean; Socotra |
| Publisher | Harper Voyager |
Publication date | 7 Mar 2023 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 496 |
| ISBN | 9780062963505 |
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is a 2023 historical fantasy novel by Shannon Chakraborty. It is the first novel in a planned trilogy.
The novel was nominated for the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novel. [1]
In a frame story, pirate captain Amina al-Sirafi narrates her tale to the scribe Jamal.
After retiring, Amina lives a quiet life with her daughter Marjana. A woman named Salima tells Amina that her granddaughter Dunya is missing. Dunya’s father was Asif, one of Amina’s crew members who died under unclear circumstances. Dunya has disappeared after meeting with a Frankish mercenary and occultist named Falco Palamenestra. Amina recruits a team of her former crewmates to retrieve Dunya. These include Dalila, an expert poisoner; Tinbu, her first mate; and Majed, her navigator. They sail aboard the Marawati.
Amina learns that Dunya is leading Falco to the Moon of Saba, a pearl rumored to have magical powers. The pearl is said to have been given to Queen Bilqis by the moon manzil Al-Dabaran. The Marawati tracks Falco to Socotra. There, Amina is confronted by a demon named Raksh. Raksh is Amina’s husband, Marjana’s father, and the creature responsible for Asif’s death. He is still bound to Amina by their marriage contract and unbeknownst to Raksh, the existence of their daughter.
The Marawati rescues Dunya. She tells Amina that the Moon of Saba is not a pearl at all, but a wash basin that holds the spirit of Al-Dabaran. 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. Falco and his captive marid capture the Marawati. In exchange for Dunya’s cooperation, Falco agrees to let the Marawati’s crew live. He stabs Amina and throws her overboard.
Amina and Raksh wash ashore on a magical island. Amina drinks water from the island, which grants her magical powers. This violates the laws of the peri who rule the island; they believe in a strict separation between human and magical realms. Amina is granted permission to leave the island in exchange for hunting down five magical artifacts, including the Moon of Saba.
Amina has a flashback to the night that Asif died. Asif had died from a plague, but as a result of a contract with Raksh, his corpse rose from the dead and became violent. Amina was forced to burn the reanimated corpse, traumatizing herself and the rest of the crew.
Back on Socotra, Amina reaches Dunya and Falco just as they retrieve the Moon of Saba. Amina and Dunya destroy the Moon of Saba, free Al-Dabaran, and kill Falco. Amina and her crew agree to continue hunting down magical relics. Amina returned to her family. Dunya embraces the name Jamal and lives as a trans man. Amina refuses to return him to Salima. She begins to recount her adventures to Jamal and Marjana.
The story is narrated by Amina in first person narration as she speaks to a scribe. Throughout the book, interludes relate tales of the Moon of Saba. [2]
The novel is set in the same universe as Chakraborty's Daevabad Trilogy , though it is set several centuries earlier. [3]
In an interview with Kalyani Saxena, Chakraborty explains that she wrote the book during the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly between the hours of 4 A.M. and 6 A.M. before her daughter's online school began. This inspired the theme of motherhood which is explored in the novel. Chakraborty also stated that Amina's journey away from Islam and back to faith is "an intrinsic part of my religion and my journey ... I wanted to show that you can fail and you can do terrible things and you can still even struggle ... but that that’s okay." [4]
Bookpage gave the novel a starred review, calling it "a swashbuckling high seas quest that’s rousing, profound, and irresistible." The review praised the chemistry between the main characters as well as the "impressively researched history" underpinning the setting. [5] Kirkus gave the novel a starred review, writing that the novel has "swashbuckling that puts Sindbad to shame". The review praised Chakraborty's decision to use a middle-aged mother as a protagonist as opposed to the more common "young, inexperienced hero or ... grizzled loner veteran". Amina "exists in a society where women are expected to stay home and tend to family", and must balance her love for her daughter and her love for adventure. [3]
Writing for the New York Times, author Tochi Onyebuchi noted that "there's a reason why 'one last job' remains such a popular and powerful subgenre". Onyebuchi also noted that "what is most refreshing about [the novel] is how concerned Amina is for the state of her soul." Despite the fact that she often drinks alcohol and misses prayer, he feels that "Amina's religiosity feels intimate and lived-in". He also praised the "adroit commentary on class conflict, piety, warfare and gender politics, particularly how these things are perpetuated through myth and storytelling". [6] A review by Chris Kluwe in Lightspeed notes that the novel feels "like a heist movie à la Ocean’s Eleven or The Italian Job." Kluwe also commented on the snappy dialogue and the novel's complex portrayal of the major characters. [7] Lacy Baugher Milas of Paste Magazine wrote that the novel is "one part traditional heist story and one part magical adventure". She believes that the novel pushes back against the traditional tropes in pirate stories, which can include "swordfights, rum, probably some treasure, [and] maybe a little misogyny". 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. This is "a perspective and a character type we see very infrequently in this genre". [8]
A review in Grimdark Magazine praised the "nuanced treatment of queer characters within the historical and religious context of the story" as well as the "weaving in of stories, using the past as something of a mythologized tale to create a larger-than-life version of Amina". [9] Publishers Weekly praised the novel, stating "this swashbuckling adventure is sure to delight". The review positively commented on the cast, the plot, and the dry humor. [10]
A review for Tor.com notes that the ending is "maybe a little too wacky", but praised the characterization of Amina and her crew. [2]
Spelljammer is a campaign setting originally published for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which features a fantastic outer space environment. Subsequent editions have included Spelljammer content; a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition setting update was released on August 16, 2022.
Neverland is a fictional island featured in the works of J. M. Barrie and those based on them. It is an imaginary faraway place where Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, the Lost Boys, and some other imaginary beings and creatures live.
The Faraway Tree is a series of popular novels for children by British author Enid Blyton. The titles in the series are The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree (1943), The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946) and Up the Faraway Tree (1951).
Space pirates are a type of stock character from science fiction. A take on the traditional seafaring pirates of history or the fictional air pirates of the 19th century, space pirates travel through outer space. Where traditional pirates target sailing ships, space pirates serve a similar role in sci-fi media: they capture and plunder spacecraft for cargo, loot and occasionally steal spacecraft, and kill or enslave the crewmembers and passengers.
The Mummy's Ghost is a 1944 American horror film directed by Reginald Le Borg for Universal. It is the second of three sequels to The Mummy's Hand (1940), following The Mummy's Tomb (1942) and preceding The Mummy's Curse (1944). Lon Chaney Jr. again takes on the role of Kharis the mummy.
Vampirates: Tide of Terror, is a 2006 children's novel by British author Justin Somper. It is the sequel to Demons of the Ocean and the second in the Vampirates series.
A swashbuckler film is characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers. While morality is typically clear-cut, heroes and villains alike often, but not always, follow a code of honor. Some swashbuckler films have romantic elements, most frequently a damsel in distress. Both real and fictional historical events often feature prominently in the plot.
Luck in the Shadows is a fantasy novel by American writer Lynn Flewelling, first book in her Nightrunner series. Set in a fictional universe, the novel follows the adventures of a complex thief and his apprentice as they are targeted by magical forces and attempt to unravel a political conspiracy. It is followed by Stalking Darkness, Traitor's Moon, Shadows Return and The White Road.
Saba Qamar Zaman is a Pakistani actress who works predominantly in Urdu films and television series. Qamar is one of Pakistan's most popular and highest-paid actresses. She has won several accolades including two Lux Style Awards and a Hum Award, and Government of Pakistan honoured her with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 2012 and Pride of Performance in 2016.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is a 2017 American swashbuckler fantasy film directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and written by Jeff Nathanson, with story credit given to both Nathanson and executive producer Terry Rossio. The fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, it follows At World's End (2007) and On Stranger Tides (2011) as a stand-alone sequel. The film stars Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, and Kevin McNally. The story follows Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) as he searches for the Trident of Poseidon to defeat Armando Salazar (Bardem), who is determined to kill every pirate at sea and take revenge on Sparrow for imprisoning him and his crew of ghosts in the Devil's Triangle. Jack is joined by Hector Barbossa (Rush), young sailor Henry Turner (Thwaites), young astronomer Carina Smyth (Scodelario), Jack's crewmen including first mate Joshamee Gibbs (McNally) and Scrum to defeat Salazar's ghostly crew.
Bin Roye is a 2015 Pakistani romantic drama film directed by Momina Duraid and Shahzad Kashmiri. The film is produced by Momina Duraid and stars Humayun Saeed, Mahira Khan, Armeena Khan, Zeba Bakhtiar, Javed Sheikh and others. One of the film's songs is produced by Haissam Hussain.
Mikoto Misaka is a fictional character created by Kazuma Kamachi and first illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. She is a major character in the A Certain Magical Index light novel series and the main protagonist of its manga spin-off series A Certain Scientific Railgun.
NAIRI: Tower of Shirin is a point-and-click adventure game and visual novel, developed by the Dutch indie game developer HomeBearStudio and published by Hound Picked Games. The game was released on November 29, 2018 for the Windows and Nintendo Switch platforms.
Shannon A. Chakraborty is an American historical fantasy and speculative fiction writer based in Queens, New York, best known for The Daevabad Trilogy.
War Girls is a 2019 science fiction novel by Nigerian-American author Tochi Onyebuchi. The novel depicts a post-apocalyptic future world that has been environmentally devastated by nuclear conflict and global warming. The North American and European powers responsible for the devastation have escaped to colonies in space and exploited the nations left on Earth for their scarce remaining resources. In the novel, characters Ify and Onyii navigate a Nigeria torn apart by a resurgent Nigerian Civil War. The novel explores themes of colonialism, climate change, war, and posthumanism. It is an Africanfuturist work of climate fiction.
The Stardust Thief is a 2022 fantasy novel by Chelsea Abdullah. It is the author's debut novel and is the first installment in the Sandsea Trilogy. The novel draws inspiration from One Thousand and One Nights. It received positive reviews from critics.
Gemma Amor is a British author of horror fiction, podcaster, and illustrator. She has written two collections of short stories, five novels, and edited a collection of stories. Amor co-wrote Calling Darkness and has contributed to other podcasts including The NoSleep Podcast and Shadows at the Door.
The Spear Cuts Through Water is a 2022 fantasy novel by Filipo-American writer Simon Jimenez. The novel contains a frame story about a grandchild listening to stories of the Old Country; it also tells the story of two men who journey across the Old Country with a dying goddess. It is Jimenez's sophomore novel. The novel received critical acclaim, including being shortlisted for the 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize.
Hena Khan is an American author of children's books. Khan is best known for her middle-grade novel Amina's Voice and its follow-up novel, Amina's Song, which won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children's Literature in 2022. Amina's Voice was the first book published under Simon & Schuster's Salaam Reads imprint in 2017. Khan has authored or co-authored more than twenty picture and middle-grade books.
Vampires of El Norte is a 2023 novel by Isabel Cañas. The novel centers on the romance between Nena, daughter of a ranchero, and the vaquero Néstor. The novel takes place during the Mexican–American War, with the addition of vampires.