I have always enjoyed reading books based on legends. I loved reading everything I could get on the Arthurian legend and I really enjoyed books by Laura Joh Rowland which mined Japanese history and legends in books like Shinju.  Téa Obreht in The Tiger’s Wife and Katherine Arden in her series beginning with The Bear and the Nightingale rely on the legends of the Balkans and Russia respectively. So I was excited to find that Shannon Chakraborty had released a new book that is set in Asia (the Indian Ocean to be exact,) and based on the life and legend of a notorious woman pirate! What could be more intriguing than that?

Amina Al-Sarafi is retired and living quietly in a remote village taking care of her mother and young daughter. Her days of captaining a ship as a notorious pirate, sailing the Indian Ocean are done after a terrible incident involving a demon cost the lives of several of her crew. She should be content, but when the wealthy mother of one of her former crewman tracks her down and asks her to find her granddaughter who has been kidnapped and offers a kings ransom for the job, suddenly Amina is tempted. With just this one job she could atone for the death of a comrade, have one more chance for adventure on the high seas, and make enough money so that her family would be secure for ever. Believing that this offer must be an answer to her prayers, she agrees to do the job.

But things are never as easy as they seem. Soon Amina begins to suspect that the girl’s disappearance is not a simple kidnapping, that the man who has her may be dealing in black arts, and the demon who caused so much trouble before is suddenly back in Amina’s life being just as helpful but unpredictable as always. Becoming a legend is not easy, but it sure is full of adventure!

This was such a fun book and I loved the fact that it was based on legends from Asia! Amina is a resourceful and strong woman, standing against the misgynistic and patriarchal culture that surrounds her. She is creative and cunning while trying to protect her crew and her family. She is truly a unique literary hero and I look forward to the next book in this series. In the meantime I plan to read  Chokraborty’s other series starting with The City of Brass!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Lauren and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.