Amina al-Sirafi Q6: Trilogy and publishing imperatives

NeilNjae

This book is obviously intended to be the first of a series (a trilogy?). Chakraborty is laying a lot of foundation for future books: the contract with the Peris, Amina's supernatural abilities, the ongoing personal issues of her peers, Raksh's reactions to learning about Marjana, and so on. (When do we think that Magnun will return to reclaim his iron knife?)

Did the frankly transparent set-up detract from your enjoyment of the book? Are you looking forward to additional books in the series? Would you have preferred a self-contained book?

clash_bowley

It didn't detract. I will welcome more adventures with Amina al-Sirafi! It all seemed organic to me while I was experiencing it. Was the set up transparent? If so it was so transparent I didn't see it. I was too busy walking this glory road behind Amina

Apocryphal

I thought the book was adequately self-contained, so I wasn’t bothered. I read all contemporary fiction with the understanding that it will be part of a series. That’s just the way the wind blows these days. However I’m not motivated to read more - it just didn’t give me what I want from historical fiction. It reminded me a LOT of another similar novel the Clash and Ray and I read a long time ago, with a similar simpering villain, Unholy Night by Seth-Grahame-Smith, which tried to turn the story of Jesus into a swashbuckling sword-and-sandal novel, and was just about as successful. The Adventures of Amina at least had the relationship angle, which makes it better.

RichardAbbott

It's one of the reasons I like indie publishing - a writer can turn a book into a series or not, just as he or she sees fit, without having a publisher pressurising with "of course we'll need book 2 by December and book 3 by June next year". (Zany off-beat thought - is Shannon Chakraborty really writing about the publishing industry with all these entrapment themes, and the tension between the things Amina would like to do vs the things her blackmailer wants her to do?!).

Perhaps unlike @Apocryphal I wasn't expecting historical fiction and was geared up for fantasy but perhaps like him I wanted to be somehow more immersed in the period, or else more immersed in the crew dynamics, but (at the risk of sounding repetitive) didn't want to be immersed in the conflict with Falco.