The Adventures of Amina Al- Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Pages: 496 

Publisher: Harper Voyager 

Released: 28th of February 2023 

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.

 What I Have to Say 

This book was everything I wanted it to be! It was a wonderful historical setting full of diversity and the kind of rich mix of cultures that really makes the world interesting, it was a beautiful arrangements of fantasy creatures and elements that went into this world to make it just that much more exciting. And it was a character who was different and interesting and funny! 

I don't honestly know what to say other than that. It was a thrilling book that engrossed me completely, maybe not from the first page, but from very early on. There were so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. It was just perfection. 

I appreciate a slightly older character. Not being a young spry teenager myself anymore, it was really nice to read about someone a bit different in one of these books. I couldn't relate to her entirely as she's a little older than me and a parent, but I've never found that an obstacle to liking the character. 

I just want to scream about this book from the treetops! Go read it! 

5 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for providing me with this copy for review. 

Internment by Samira Ahmed

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 381

Publisher: Little Brown Book Group 

Released: 19th of March 2019 

Rebellions are built on hope.

Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.

Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.

Trigger Warnings: Extreme racism, imprisonment, violence

What I Have to Say 

This book was incredible. It was so atmospheric. It brought every feeling right off the page and into your heart. The undercurrent of fear and tension that existed inside the camp felt was there in every page of the book. I sympathised so much with all the characters having to live that way. 

It was really good how much Ahmed delved into history while writing this book. She brought in so much about the concentration camps from the holocaust as well as the Japanese internment camps in America. Having the camp that Layla is sent to near to one of the Japanese camps was a really good way to remind both the characters and the reader what these camps could become. I found the Japanese camps more relevant because that also happened in the US, so it gave us a good idea of what the US government has already proven to be capable of. 

I loved the characters so much. Layla was so strong, but also such an ordinary every day girl. She talked about Star Wars and missed her boyfriend and made friends in the camp. I think it's so important in these types of stories to really ground the characters in things that the reader can relate to. It brings it home to you and makes it feel more real. And adds a little bit of nerd humour for everyone to enjoy. 

Obviously this is a book that has some quite tough subject matter, but it's also a really good story about friendship, family, survival and resistance. The issues raised are so, so important but it's also a really great book in it's own right. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for providing me with this free copy for review. 

Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

Synopsis (from Goodread)

Pages: 288

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 16th of January 2018 

Maya Aziz is torn between futures: the one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter (i.e.; staying nearby in Chicago and being matched with a "suitable" Muslim boy), and the one where she goes to film school in New York City--and maybe, just maybe, kisses a guy she's only known from afar. There's the also the fun stuff, like laughing with her best friend Violet, making on-the-spot documentaries, sneaking away for private swimming lessons at a secret pond in the woods. But her world is shattered when a suicide bomber strikes in the American heartland; by chance, he shares Maya's last name. What happens to the one Muslim family in town when their community is suddenly consumed with hatred and fear?

What I Have to Say 

This is a beautiful story with really great and interesting characters. Maya was so easy to like and get interested in. I enjoyed her funny interactions with both the boys she dated, her friend and her aunt. I wanted so much for her to get to go to film school and get what she wanted. 

The racism and terroism attack made it really interesting, especially with the bomber sharing Maya's last name, showing an important glance into what it's like to be Muslim after an attack. It showed the way that people are quick to take "revenge" on the Muslims in their community, taking out their anger on innocent people. 

I enjoyed every twist and turn of this book, watching Maya struggle to free herself from the overprotectiveness of her parents and chase her dreams of filmaking. I would definitely read more from this author. 

My thanks go to Hot Key Books and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Sophia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 439

Publisher: Twenty7 

Released: 3rd of September 2015

"Brilliant idea! Excellent! Muslim dating? Well, I had no idea you were allowed to date.' Then he leaned towards me and looked at me sympathetically. 'Are your parents quite disappointed?'

Unlucky in love once again after her possible-marriage-partner-to-be proves a little too close to his parents, Sofia Khan is ready to renounce men for good. Or at least she was, until her boss persuades her to write a tell-all expose about the Muslim dating scene.

As her woes become her work, Sofia must lean on the support of her brilliant friends, baffled colleagues and baffling parents as she goes in search of stories for her book. In amongst the marriage-crazy relatives, racist tube passengers and decidedly odd online daters, could there be a a lingering possibility that she might just be falling in love . . . ?

What I Have to Say 

This book captured my heart in the way that very few romance books do. Sophia was just such a great character. She was strong and well written, with a voice that felt more like she was just chatting to you than that you were reading a book. She was hopeless at recognizing when guys liked her and even more hopeless in recognizing when she liked them back. She faced racists on the tube and potential in-laws down with a witty sense of humour and complete faith in herself and what she wants. 

The story was good enough for a romance book. with quirky characters and strange happenings bringing it up in places. I think I didn't like the main plotline so much because I'm not really into romance that much rather than the story itself. But the book had plenty ways to make up for this. 

I picked this book to request from Netgalley simply because it had a Muslim character. I'm a big fan of diversity and always find a book about ten times more interesting if it has a person of another culture or just a different perspective in it. I don't know enough about Islam so I can't say how realistic Sophia is as a Muslim, but I can say that she was wonderfully British in her opinions on biscuits so they got that bit right. It was great to see how she was so religious while not having that define her entire personality. Sometimes authors portray religious people as having nothing to them but their faith, so I'm glad that this one didn't. 

This is definitely a book for fans of diversity and feminism. I would be really interested to hear a muslim's opinion on this book and Sophia.