The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

First of all, I loved the narration! Voice actors did their job perfectly. Not sure that I'd have enjoyed the story as much if it were an eye read. Sidebars were a great touch.

As for the story itself, I enjoyed following Amina's adventures, especially in the second half of the book, but it wasn't a wow-experience. Maybe I had too high expectations going into the book, maybe it's just because the whole naval-piraty theme doesn't resonate with me as much. There is nothing I feel the need to criticise, but at the same time 4 stars feels like the most I can give the book at this point. Maybe when the other two instalments come out and I binge read all three my opinion will change. I did like the setting up for the other books and look forward to finding out how the things turn out for the crew of Marawati.

Raksh. He's so amazingly bad and selfish (and mostly blind to the fact). I love how Shannon portrayed him in a way, that I can't completely hate and despise him. There's something about him that makes me want to see him reformed and reunited with his family, no matter how naive and simplistic it may sound. And oh I want to “see” his face when he finds out about his daughter.

Amina herself did not impress me at first. She was supposed to be some super legend pirate captain, but the way she told the story (not even the events she described) were in such a dissonance with all the hype around her. It was difficult for me to create an image of her in my head because of it. But after she got to the magic island, it all somehow clicked into place. She became the hero I expected her to be from the very beginning.