Climbing Mount TBR: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Review by Ed O.

Welcome to Climbing Mount TBR where I, your humble kaiju, struggle to climb to the top of my book pile.  This time we’re looking at The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty.  

Amina Al-Sirafi is just a single mom trying to get by.  She’s doing her best to raise her lovely daughter, take care of her aging mother, and keep the roof of their home from leaking too badly during monsoon season.  She’ll take the odd job or two like ferrying scholars across the lagoon, but for the most part her life is normal and dull.

Sure, she used to be one of the most infamous pirates around, but that’s all in the past.  Before she had a daughter.  Before she got married for the fourth time.  Before the incident that shattered her crew.  The past is the past and that’s where it will stay.

Until a wealthy woman appears with an offer Amina can’t refuse.  Rescue the scion of a wealthy family and Amina will be rewarded with more money than she can imagine.  Refuse the job and maybe some terrible “accident” befalls Amina’s daughter.  

With the veiled threat, the promise of wealth, and the realization that this is all connected to a crewman whose death weighs heavy on her heart, Amina takes the offer.  Now she must reassemble her crew, get her old ship, and figure out what’s actually going on.  What started as a nearly impossible job, soon balloons into an adventure to rival that of Sinbad.  

This isn’t some epic fantasy with large action set pieces.  This is the story of a woman with a bad knee regretting her past.  Her friends are scattered to the four winds and her adventuring days are long past.  I will admit that ten years ago I would not have read this book, but now?  This is the kind of fantasy I want.

The past year or so I found myself drawn to books that best be described as “getting the band back together.”  The tales of people coming out of retirement for one last job.  Heroes gathering their friends to once again go adventuring.  

Maybe it’s just the stage I am at in life.  When I was a child I read stories about teenagers and dreamed of what it would be like when I reached the old age of sixteen.  When I was a teenager I read about young adults figuring their way out in the world for the first time.  As a young adult I read about people who had their lives together.  Now that I’m closer to forty than thirty I’m finding myself reading about older protagonists with bad backs and bills to pay.  Perhaps I’m trying to assure myself that even though I need ibuprofen to get through the day, my ankle makes a weird clicking noise, and I can’t stand up without grunting that I still have life in me.  I want to know that my dreams haven't expired just yet. 

I wonder what I’ll want to read when I reach retirement age.  Are there any good octogenarian fantasy novels?  Will I just have to read about immortal elves?  Zombies?  I hope it’s zombies.

I really love what Chakraborty does with the character of Amina.  Her entire arc is about becoming her true self.  At the beginning of the story she sees herself as a mother, but longs for the days of piracy.  Then, after getting the crew back together, she longs for being with her daughter.  Neither life fulfills her completely and the entire book is her getting a chance to find that equilibrium.  She gets to change and transform into her best self, one who embodies both aspects of her life.  

That may be the entire heart of the novel, that seeking of true self.  It is shown in her crew, is darkly mirrored in the villain, but is best exemplified in the character of Dunya, the scion of the wealthy family.  Dunya’s story of self discovery is a great tale and I won’t spoil it for you.  Just go read the book.

“Go read the book” is basically the sum of this review.  I loved this book.  I loved the characters.  I loved the setting and the mythological elements.  I loved the prose.  I loved learning more about the cultures of the Indian Ocean.  Read this book.

I really wish I had read this before I made my Hugos predictions.  I would not be shocked if this ends up on the short list.  Oh well, if I have to read whatever dreck the Gnome has chosen for me, then it’s my own fault for not reading this sooner.  

One book down on the TBR pile.  Only three-hundred-and-thirty-four to go.  See you next time.