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The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

Written by: Shannon Chakraborty
Narrated by: Lameece Issaq, Amin El Gamal
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Publisher's Summary

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

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.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Shannon Chakraborty (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers
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What listeners say about The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Really really great read.

Exciting and funny. I was pleasantly surprised how well written and fun. Narrator was great.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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An Adventure

I started reading the ebook but quickly realized that this would sound amazing on audio. I was correct. Shannon Chakaborty does an incredible job of weaving history into her fantasy. This is a must read for any fantasy lover.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Transported me into a fantastical world. Excellent narrator

This was an amazing story with the perfect narrator. I wish there were more pairings of the author and narrator to listen to.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator ruined it for me :(

I should have loved this, it had everything I usually like in a book: action, adventure, magic, a ragtag group of miscreant characters. But the narrator… NO. Her vocal performance was fantastic, but I swear every 3 words she would change from SUPER SUPER LOUD to *incredibly quiet* and honestly it annoyed me so badly. As soon as I would change the volume to tone it down, she would get quiet. Then I would get absolutely deafened when the next sentence would start and the first word was SO. LOUD.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Meh

Meh. This audiobook just wasn't for me. I can't put my finger on what it was that made me wholly indifferent to the characters and their stories. I guess it was maybe too... simple? The main character is interesting, I suppose, although she had a pretty invincible vibe about her, which detracted from any real sense of danger (at one point, she survives like two weeks adrift on a makeshift raft at sea, and then she makes landfall and carries on like it was no big deal). The author frequently goes out of her way to explicitly remind listeners of the protagonist's motivations, which was a little irritating. The first half of the book is a standard coming-out-of-retirement-and-getting-the-band-back-together story, and the secondary characters are just as one-dimensional and invincible as the main protagonist.

To sum it up, this kinda felt like I was listening to a novelized version of one of the later Pirates of the Caribbean movies: there's this ragtag group of pirates who get up to shenanigans and face down a series of faux-dangers that don't pose any real threat to them, and it all leads to a ho-hum climactic battle with some other greedy pirate seeking empowerment from some supernatural artifact. There was nothing especially compelling about any of it.

So yeah. Meh, indeed.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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High Stakes on the Historical High Seas

I picked up The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi as part of a book club read in September and unfortunately fell behind in my reading until today but all I can say is WOW. This is my first experience with Shannon Chakrabortys work and I am thoroughly impressed.

The narrative was fluid with witty character dialogue and Amina's tired (but secretly proud) interjections and the narrators absolutely captured the spirit and personalities of the unmentioned scribe and Amina herself. The story is well paced, with the important backstories well placed and woven seamlessly into the prose.

Definitely a five star read for me and I look forward to the next installment of Amina's adventures!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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LOVE!!!

This is exactly what I needed. The adventures of a mature, strong female character that doesn’t focus on romance. So refreshing! I really hope there are more to follow.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent pirate adventure

Loved the tone of the writing, made for a very fun experience. Enjoyed the story and characters with Almina being my favourite. She was an absolute joy to follow along.
Loved the performance/narration, kept me glued to the story.
If you want a fun pirate adventure with some fantasy elements then listen to this book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Story could be good. Main character not capturing my interest.

Just don't know if I can finish this one. The story has all the bones of a great tale. I just don't find the main character all that interesting. She's doing her thing being pushed around by this rich lady. She seems more gullible than anything. The whole motivation for the plot feels predictable without a lot of tension. it should be a great story.

I made it to chapter 12 but we'll see if I can pick it up again. Like I said, huge potential that lacks any real dramatic tension.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, not top narration

The setting and premise for the story were fantastic. A 12th-century Yemeni lady smuggler fighting a sorcerer in the Indian Ocean? Yes, please! Awesome. Keep them coming. The narration would have been just ok, but there were very awkward sections where the main narrator was trying to distinguish different voices by noisily moving the microphone which gave it, sadly, a very low production value. Otherwise, it was a really enjoyable listen. Looking forward to the next.

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