I had a blast with this! Chakraborty has written a good old-fashioned FUN adventure romp, full of getting the band back together, find the MacGuffin good times. I enjoyed the fact that this adventure takes place ten years after the band has broken up and retired, giving us a middle-aged found family that are still good at what they do. Having Amina re-join her friends made for a really great story telling device, as it automatically gave an in to the found family dynamics without needing to spend half a novel setting them up. I cared for each and every one of the main group and loved all their interactions together.

One thing that I kept going back and forth on was the narrative voice. This novel is essentially historical fantasy, but Amina's narrative and dialogue sometimes felt way too modern. I'm obviously no expert on historical language and stuff like that, but I highly doubt people in 12th century Arabian/Indian Sea lands would be slinging around motherfucker and asshole or calling policemen cops. They were very little things; obviously it made for a much more compelling and fun narrative, but they were little spurs that kept poking me and taking me out of the story briefly.

Other than my minor quibbles, honestly, this was just FUN. Lots of adventuring and sea-faring, adventure and family and friends and ex-husbands. Amina is a very strong, voice-y character; if you don't like the narrative told in her voice by the 10% or 20% mark, then this isn't for you. I loved her, though. I'd follow the nakhuda anywhere.