Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty

11 reviews

karatics's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Classism, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Deadnaming, Rape, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Infidelity

sunnydale's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

what a delightful read. the world was so rich, i immediately wanted to learn more about the historical context, and fortunately the author provided a bibliography! the audiobook is very well-produced, with two voice actors, sound effects in the "present-day" chapters, and adjustments made to address listeners instead of readers. 

i love that the protagonist's faith is central to her character, and we're also able to see how it's developed throughout her life. her faith is sometimes messy, sometimes self-contradicting, but she also never doubts her core beliefs, and she's a more authentic character because of it.

irrelevant to the quality of the book, i noticed that "midnight" is the author's favorite adjective for anything dark. "midnight beach," "midnight ocean," "midnight fabric," etc. it felt like a scavenger hunt trying to find the word in each chapter, lol.

i would recommend this to fans of fantasy, especially those who are looking for non-western fantasy settings. i definitely recommend the audiobook, although you might want a print or ebook copy for the helpful bibliography.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Cannibalism, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent

Violence and sexual content are at a PG-13 rating. There is a lot of swearing. The cat is fine.

kappafrog's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The historical setting was 10/10. I loved how rich the details were and how immersed I felt in the world of the 12th century Indian Ocean. Amina was also a great protagonist, very complex and easy to root for. The choice of setting and characters was exciting and refreshing.

The book got too violent for my tastes at times. Some of the plot armour the main characters had got pretty convoluted. Still, I look forward to seeing more in this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Gore, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Classism, Violence, Alcohol, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Grief, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Vomit, and War

Minor: Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

drlove2018's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Body horror, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

edamamebean's review

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book so much that without even realizing what I was doing, I kissed the very last page affectionately. No one writes fantasy like Shannon Chakraborty, and this book is no exception. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Violence, War, Transphobia, and Vomit

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Islamophobia

unboxedjack's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Death

Minor: Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Islamophobia, and Transphobia

discarded_dust_jacket's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I loved this!!! What a vivid and gripping display of storytelling. The characters were so strong, and the plot was exciting! 

Spoiler

I selfishly wished that Raksh would find out about his daughter and be redeemed in the end. Even though he was a scoundrel, I still found his character strangely endearing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

shaipanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 
This was an incredibly exciting and action filled book. I haven't been reading as much this year so I rushed to finish this before the archive date. As a result, there are still some parts of the book I have to come back to in order to call it fully finished. However, I did overall really enjoy this! I think if I'd read it at a more reasonable pace I probably would have enjoyed it slightly more but overall I really enjoyed the characters, the storyline, and the potential for more stories in this world. I also really loved the minor plot twist at the very end I found that to be really fun :)
I was personally not expecting anywhere near the amount of fantasy that ended up being in this book as I originally thought it was mostly just a pirate book, but I wasn't mad about discovering that just not what I originally expected. 
Overall would definitely recommend! 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Colonisation, Murder, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Islamophobia, Rape, Transphobia, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

rosesforreading's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Murder, Addiction, Body horror, Torture, Sexism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Islamophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Animal death, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

brontesauruses's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss+ for allowing me early(ish) access in exchange for an honest review!
It took a while to build up momentum, but it was so so good when it got going. Amina and her diverse group of friends/co-conspirators are so likeable and complex*. Also!! Everyone is middle aged! They're greying! Their joints hurt! But they still get to do cool shit.
The ending is satisfying on it's own (and might have made me tear up a little), but there is definitely room for more stories, and I hope we get them!
There....there are going to be more of them, right? 🥺

*Well, most of them are complex. The, uh, one who isn't is still very likeable, though lol.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Alcohol, Blood, and Slavery

Minor: Animal death, Sexual violence, and Islamophobia