2.5 stars rounded up


Mixed feelings, Very mixed feelings for this book. Loved everything about the pirates: loyalty, experience and dynamics on the ship. Plot was interesting, if not a tad bit slow and when we got closer to the end it felt like we took a complete 180 into a different world and genre. It was just not fitting or connecting for me. Also, the relationship between Morgane, Anna-Marie and this mysteries mother was very dramatic, some aspects did not make sense on a number of choices that they made, I was getting pretty frustrated. Everything else about this book was ok, engaging at times, with some action and excitement but I was not sucked into the story or really invested.
I received an advanced ebook via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

Morgane has spent her life on board the pirate ship her mother, Anna-Marie, captains with a fierce hand. One of the few ways women can be as respected as men, she’s worked her whole life to be a valuable member of the crew. All of that will change when Anna-Marie reveals a shocking secret on her deathbed…

The action switches to France, Morgane’s native country, and her attempts to track down family she didn’t know she had. From the moment she lands it seems that at least one shadowy group is trying to abduct her – for reasons she can’t yet understand. As she ploughs ahead on her personal quest, she ignores every warning thrown her way. What are the secrets of this family?

Let’s just get it out of the way: I didn’t love this book. It’s written well enough, but I never warmed to any of the characters, nor did the story feel particularly well structured.

Our ‘heroine’, Morgane, honestly just annoyed me. She’s got one moment of introspection where she realises her life as a rough and tough pirate was so sheltered – due to everyone being terrified of her mother – that she’s not as badass as she thinks, as well as being completely out of her depth in cultured French society. However, she continues to bull her way through everything, listening to no one, and I found her very irritating. It also makes the whole thing feel very YA, which I wasn’t expecting.

Talking of expectations – vampires? Y’know, as in the Vampires of Dumas? Um. Maybe a little bit, at the end – and it feels very tagged on. So this is more about pirates? Well, mainly just for the start. The whole middle is just… abrasive teenager? Hmm. Her success is all pure chance, too, with very little in the way of character development. Indeed, the whole thing feels like 90% set up – and I was surprised to get as many plot-threads tied up at the end (rather suddenly) as we did. What, exactly, are we setting up for?

All of this feels harsh – it’s not a bad book, it just felt mis-marketed and overall failed to grab me. It’s supposed to be the first in a series, and while I wouldn’t run screaming from being made to read book 2, I have no intentions of seeking it out.

Overall: lots of cool ideas, feels like a lot of missed opportunity to do much with them.

Pirates, revenge, and more all set in a world that is a version of Alexandre Dumas's stories! The story follows a young woman who's ship is attacked and she discovers that her "mother" isn't her real mother and that her real family want her returned to them... and they might have paid to have her crew and "mother" killed. This is the first book in a series set in a revolutionary France world and follows Morgane, a young pirate who's life is turned upside down when she discovers her real family and all it entails to discover who killed her pirate family. I am a sucker for Alexandre Dumas, so when I saw it was set in an Alexandre Dumas world with vampires I knew I wanted in... but I really should have known better than to get my hopes too high. The story is definitely unique however its so slow and the main character is so naive that it just feels kind of all over the place. Theres a cute sapphic romance at the heart of it which I appreciate... but the fact that the vampires are not appearing until the last 50 pages and all the big reveals are also in those last few pages is just not great. This feels very much like the starter book in a series but it just doesn't hook you enough to want to continue it and it doesn't feel satisfactory enough and earned enough to invest in the rest of the series. Sadly this was a miss for me but if you like pirate adventures with vampires and set in a historical France setting, absolutely give it a go!

Release Date: May 6, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Rebellion | Solaris for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Emma Newman’s historical fantasy novel The Vengeance is subtitled The Vampires of Dumas. In this respect it overpromises and underdelivers. While it is apparently the first book of a series of revolutionary France-set vampire novels and does set up some potentially interesting threads, it feels complete in and of itself and fails to invite a repeat visit.
The Vengeance of the title is a pirate ship. Captain of this ship is the dread pirate Anna Marie assisted by her crew and feisty and fierce daughter Morgane. Anna Marie has a vendetta against the particular trading company but while attacking one of their ships she is mortally wounded. On her death bed Anna Marie reveals to Morgane that she is not her mother but her aunt. Morgane then discovers that her mother is still alive, is living in France and has been searching for her. Morgane heads to France to find her mother. But when she arrives finds that things are more dangerous and complex than she imagined. Luckily she has some skill to handle herself.
The Vengeance is very much a picaresque tale in the style of Dumas. It has secret parentages, revelatory birthmarks, stolen children, revenge quests, sword fights, costume balls. It also is a little bit modern, with a sapphic romance at its centre. But it is also laboured. Morgane is incredibly naïve and no matter how many times she is warned bumbles into dangerous situation after dangerous situation. That said, there is some fun to be had in her narrow escapes.
But the biggest disappointment of The Vengeance is that Newman leaves all of the major reveals, including finally the appearance of vampires, to about the last fifty or so pages. Overall, while a fairly fun read, the structure and pacing of this book is just off. The book feels like a standalone, it does not do enough to qualify as the first book of a series that many readers are likely to come back to.

Morgan was raised as the daughter of the fiercest female pirate on the seas. When she learns that women was actually her aunt and not her mother, Morgan's world is turned upside down. Now she is leaving everything she has ever known to travel to France and save her real mother, or so she thinks. France may be even scarier than being a pirate, though. Their views on women are off-putting to say the least, dresses are weird contraptions, no one talks right, and why the heck must she use cutlery to eat her food? Not everyone is who or what they seem, however, and sometimes the people we should be able to trust the most are the ones who will hurt us the most.
This thrilling novel is filled with adventure, romance, werewolves, and vampires. I was disappointed that we only truly got to meet the vampires in the last three chapters. Most of the novel is just Morgan and her friend Lisette traveling across France to find her mother.

Thank you for gifting me this ARC! I enjoyed reading this book, but I did think the writing could have been better. It kind of started to drag on a little bit and I got a bit bored because of that. I did really like the storyline though!

Thank you to the publisher and author for the opportunity to review this book for my unbiased opinion.
I was very surprised at the plot of this book, considering the cover art and the series name, considering we didn’t meet a vampire until almost 90% of the way through the story.
Instead, this was a tale about a pirate girl, and to be fair, I would have been more interested if it had been marketed as such.
There were some pacing issues, and the love story came out of absolute nowhere, which threw me off.
All in all, this has great promise but wasn’t developed or marketed correctly. .

Emma Newman delivers a powerful and emotionally charged conclusion to the Planets series. The Vengeance is a gripping exploration of justice, trauma, and redemption set against a richly imagined sci-fi backdrop. Newman's prose is razor-sharp, the characters feel heartbreakingly real, and the stakes are higher than ever. It’s dark, deeply human, and utterly unputdownable. A must-read for fans of thoughtful, character-driven science fiction.

The Vengeance is a fun escapist read, combining historical France, female pirates, LGBTQ romance, and vampires. Newman is a writer of fantasy and science fiction and also an audiobook narrator. I loved her Planetfall series and will pretty much read anything she writes, so I was happy to get an ARC of this book.

Morgane is a young woman who has grown up on the pirate ship Vengeance, captained by her mother. Unfortunately, when the pirates attack a ship that appears helpless, Morgane’s mother is assassinated and Morgane learns that her biological mother and father have been trying to find her. Morgane sets off to find both of them, reasoning that if they are actually her mother and father, she needs to know their story — and if they are not, they’re responsible for the captain’s death and she needs to kill them. Morgane, however, knows nothing of the world outside of her ship, especially the high society world she’s thrown into. On land she’s attacked at every turn and has no idea how to make her way in French society without stabbing everyone she meets.

You can probably tell, there’s a lot of snarky dialogue and a lot of action that make this a fun read – though it won’t give you much to think about. I liked Morgane a lot, though I see from other reviews that many readers did not. I liked her toughness and independence, and I also liked the way she discovers that she’s not nearly as tough, independent, and smart, as her life on the pirate ship led her to believe. In fact, she’s been extremely isolated and always taken care of. I liked that she has to work through the morality of her life as a pirate and decide what kind of person she wants to be.

However, there are some execution issues that make this a not-perfect read. It’s described as being in the “world of Dumas” but I’m not sure why, other than that it takes place in France in an alternate past. It also sounds like it’s part of a series, but it seems maybe the author or publisher are undecided on that, as there was no indication of another book coming.

The book would have benefitted from a longer ending with more development of the relationships between Morgane, her father, and her mother. The vampire storyline is not given a lot of time in the book. The resolution is a good one but it felt rushed.

The Vengeance is a fun read, and mixes a number of genres and settings. It’s a little bit of a lot of things – pirates, road trip, historical fantasy, vampires, and romance. Many will be frustrated by this – if what you really want is a pirate novel or a vampire novel, this won’t be for you. But if that sounds good to you, I recommend giving it a try.

Note: I received an advanced review copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Solaris Books. This book publishes May 6, 2025.

A twisty, high-stakes plot filled with Dumasian tropes turned about in the best of ways, THE VENGEANCE is a tale of family, loyalty, and love.

The Vengeance starts The Vampires of Dumas series, which I find both an intriguing and a slightly misleading series name. Vampires barely make an appearance, and it isn’t set in Dumas’ own time either. But it is inspired by his novels set centuries before, in the era of musketeers and swashbuckling pirates.

The book starts as a pirate story. Morgaine is a daughter of a female pirate captain sailing in the Caribbean. She’s lived her entire life at sea and loves it, and knows nothing of her mother’s life back in France. But on her deathbed, her mother makes a confession that sends her reeling—and heading across the ocean to France.

Morgaine isn’t her daughter. The real mother has searched for her for twenty years and she needs Morgaine’s help. Fired up by her anger towards the fake mother, but also anger towards the person who ordered her death, she sails to France to rescue her mother and avenge the death of the woman she thought of as her mother.

She is wholly unprepared for the polite society. But so is the society unprepared for her. And she isn’t given a chance to find her land legs. People are after her, trying to kidnap her left and right. One of them succeeds. He claims to be her father, and tells her not to go after her mother. She doesn’t listen.

Joining her on her quest is a young woman, Lisette, whom Morgaine’s father has hired as her (much needed) governess. Together, they go to see and rescue Morgaine’s mother. But things aren’t at all like she had imagined. And it may turn out that the one person she needs revenge on is the one she wanted to connect with.

This was a good, complete story, and clearly a stand-alone. Either there are different characters in the next book, like often in Ms Newman’s series, or Morgaine’s next adventure will be something completely different. It wasn’t a long book though, and the pacing was a bit off.

Too much time was spent on the voyage to France, even though it didn’t affect the story in any way. And the book was closer to 70% mark before the women headed out to find Morgaine’s mother. That journey was mostly skipped, even though it had a great impact on the endgame. Perhaps the story wasn’t meant to conclude here originally, with maybe the second book about the events with Morgaine’s mother, which would explain the pacing.

Biggest sufferer was the relationship between Morgaine and Lisette, which happened sort of behind the scenes. One minute it didn’t exist and the next it was there. It was lovely that the women found each other, but if you’re reading this for a romance, heightened emotions and angst, that won’t be there.

The supernatural element was sidelined too. If there hadn’t been the series title revealing it, I wouldn’t have expected it when it emerged around 65% mark. It would’ve been an excellent plot twist. Now, I kept expecting it the entire book and was a little disappointed with how long it took. But we got an intriguing glimpse and I hope the follow-ups will dwell in the supernatural world more.

The ending was a bit hasty, and the reader is left with many questions about the other players who wanted to kidnap Morgaine, and what their agenda was. It was slightly too convenient as well, but it was done on Morgaine’s terms, and it was good. I’d read more of this series, whether it’s about her or other characters.

I really wanted to like The Vengeance by Emma Newman, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.
The premise sounded perfect. Anything with pirates and anything with vampires are surefire hits and it seemed that combining the two should have made for an absolutely fantastic book.
However, one of my main issues with the book was that the pirates were only present for the first couple of chapters and the vampires didn't appear until the 90% mark.
In that in-between space, we got Morgane's search for her mother. And unfortunately, Morgane as a character just didn't work for me either. She was naive and uncomprehending to the point of incredulity. I just couldn't understand the concepts that she was struggling to grasp. She felt very childish and immature, and I didn't feel it was believable that she had been second-in-command aboard this legendary pirate vessel.
The pacing on this one was just all off, and the world building was slightly lacking.
I do know that this is the first in what is being pitched as a series, and I wonder perhaps if reading the first and second book together would have been a more enjoyable reading experience.

Throughout the whole book, it seemed as though this was being set up for a series. The pacing was very slow and there was lots of mystery around the “evil”. Then I reached the end and we got the big reveal as well as the complete resolution within 2 chapters and was thoroughly confused.

7/10
Hello again dear reader or listener, I am back with another Arc review, this time curtesy of the lovely folk at Solaris, aaaand it is an ambivalent one. So, with thanks to the publisher, here are some of my honest thoughts.

The best way to sum up my feelings for this book overall would be to say that I did enjoy what I read for the most part, but I was disappointed not to find what had been promised. Newman shows no lack of writing skills for sure, in fact what we do get reads really smoothly and I’ll get into all the good stuff properly in a moment. But I’m not sure I’d confidently say she hit the mark on the target she set out either. The Vengeance is being promoted as a swashbuckling pirate adventure set in a version of Alexandre Dumas’s world haunted by vampires. And yet there is a surprising lack of the paranormal and not quite as much pirating or swashbuckling as implied. Without spoiling it, I feel the need to warn you that the paranormal bits we do get are a whiff of one thing around the 70% mark and a quick vampiric presence in the last 15% ish of the story, not counting the epilogue.

Pacing was another odd one here in that the writing kept me engaged, I was following along swimmingly and eager to see what would happen next, but it felt both rushed and not at times? What I mean is, I got to the end of what narratively felt like the first of say three acts, and I looked to my progress bar to see I was 65% in? And yet it had felt as if the story was barely getting started! Which isn’t even to say that nothing happens. A lot does but it all feels as build up and scene setting? I can see how this book would work as the opening act or even the prologue of a series and yet it presents as a self-contained story leaving no actual narrative loose ends. Still somehow, we get 20 chapters worth of said build-up, only for everything to be resolved in the next two and a half, barely giving the reader the time to even register the aforementioned vampires or be really impacted by the villain in any significant way, and then an epilogue which was lovely (don’t get me wrong) but still felt like I barely had time for any of the final act to sink in. This book could’ve easily been at least a hundred pages longer, hell, it might’ve benefitted from it, allowing the author to enrich some of the more diluted or rushed moments of this story.

I don’t mean to be harsh here though, because as I said, I did enjoy what I read. The characters are interesting, some of the backgrounds provided very intriguing and definitely something I’d like to see explored more in future books. Morgane’s arc of being a fish out of water, almost quite literally hah, was entertaining as much as it was a good device to showcase all the inconsistencies or hypocrisies of polite society in France of the 1660s, and mainly of the vampiric oppression that is hinted at later in the story. The characters that act as foils against her were also well developed, especially the young governess Lisette, and I’d argue their relationship was the only thing that was truly allowed to progress and develop at a steady and more natural pace throughout the story. It made for wholesome moments of respite in between the chaos chasing Morgane from the moment she sets foot on French soil, and complemented her brash pirate personality very nicely. My only peeve with her was her obtuse naiveté to reach a certain goal when everyone she meets and their mother tell her it’s not worth it, based on first hand experience. But I don’t begrudge that actually because it makes for a more complex character trying to hold onto what she tells herself to make things make sense. It doesn’t mater that the reader knows it will not work out from the very beginning, because we get to follow along with a young woman who thinks she knows how the world works and realizes she’s still got a lot of growing to do.

Also, I know I said that we don’t get nearly enough pirating and swashbuckling but what we do get is really good and well researched/rendered. Which is probably why I was disappointed not to see enough of it, when the author clearly has the ability to put it on the page vividly and atmospherically. Newman doesn’t give a sanitized version of what piracy looked like and it just gives the reader a more nuanced and vivid picture. I wanted more of the crew and definitely more of the ship life antics that can translate to life on land the way you see in Pirates of the Caribbean for example. This book works well enough as a historical fantasy but it deserved to be allowed to breathe and lean into the paranormal aspects and ambiance more.

A quick glance around other reviews showed me that overall, this seems to be a bit of the consensus around this book and I felt a little relieved cause I initially feared it was just being me being persnickety. Newman has a really solid boned story and, had it been allowed to flourish better, it could’ve been an excellent new entry in the swashbuckling subgenre but, as it is, it is one to be embarked on with tempered expectations.

Until next time,
Eleni A.E.

The Vengeance delivers a concept rich with potential, blending science fiction with psychological tension in a world shaped by secrets and manipulation. Newman’s writing remains sharp, and her worldbuilding continues to impress, but this installment feels more like a bridge than a climax. The pacing lags in key places, and some character arcs that once felt compelling lose momentum under the weight of exposition and internal monologue. While moments of brilliance still shine, especially in the darker emotional undercurrents, the overall narrative doesn't quite hit the mark with the urgency or payoff it promises. It's a decent start, but not as gripping or satisfying as earlier entries.

The Vengeance is sold as pirates with vampires. The series name is The Vampires of Dumas. But for so much mention of vampires before reading, there is surprising little vampires in this book. As a whole this book could not sell me either unfortunately.

We meet Morgane on the ship that she grew up on. They are pirates, going after any ship that is from the Four Chains Trading Company. But during the last heist something goes wrong. It is a trap and her mother is killed. Secrets are revealed and she learns that there is more for her beyond the ship than she thought.

While initially I could go along with the naivity of Morgane who has grown up most of her life on a ship and has not been out in to the society of France, it is hard to see that she doesn't seem to know anything about the world. It is hard to believe that growing up on a ship of hardened sailors (who did have a life before coming on the ship) wouldn't have told her or taught her anything about the world beyond the ship. Another problem that I have is that she does not seem to have much character growth throughout the book. She doesn't learn from the things that she doesn't know. There is no real introspection.

Reading the book was fine for the most part but I got bored. Morgane could not grab me as a character and neither could the story. It just seemed to drudge on towards Morgane finding this one person. Once she does, it just fizzes out.

The vampires, the werewolves, they felt like an afterthought. There was little worldbuilding. I suspect that this book is very much a set-up for something bigger. However this book should have sold me on that. On a bigger story and a bigger world. But it doesn't. There is nothing appealing to me here.

I love almost everything in this book, but throwing in the mystical elements took me out of the story and just was confusing. I was fully enjoying Morgane’s story and her journey to find her birth mother, then bam vampires. Now I know it says they are there in the description, but the way in which they were introduced really just was jarring. They didn’t fit into the world that was being built. Their introduction felt like an afterthought or a shock value. How can we make this story even crazier…oh vampires. Honestly, they were not necessary. It takes almost 50% of the book before you even find out there might be mystical creatures in this world with the werewolves. The overall story was great. The mystical elements just didn’t fit.
Thank you to Rebellion and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Ahoy there mateys! This was described as the first book in a new series "set in a version of Alexandre Dumas's world haunted by vampires..."  Excellent idea but this book does not live up to its premise at all.  In fact this book was such a letdown that it walks the plank!

The first problem is that for a book "haunted" by vampires, they do not show up until around 82% of the book and barely appear even then.  There are, however, werewolves that show up at 62% for one chapter and never appear again.  The fantasy elements could have been removed and not much would have changed in the novel.  I wanted more supernatural elements as promised in a book series called "Vampires of Dumas."

The idea that the book is set in a version of Dumas' world is laughable.  The first part of the book takes place on the sea but the rest takes place in France.  The atmosphere of French culture is practically non-existent and completely surface level.  Also when I think of Dumas, I think of swashbuckling where the main character has excellent swordsmanship, guile, and chivalrousness.  There were some sword fights but mostly the fighting was boring.

Morgane is supposed to be the fierce daughter of one of the fiercest female pirates in the Caribbean.  Instead she is extremely naïve, gullible, uneducated, and just plain silly.  She can fight at times but spends an awful lot of time running, panicking, or trusting the wrong people.  Plus she is written as though she is primitive in social graces.  Aye, she grew up onboard ship but the Caribbean was not a complete backwater.  She acts like France is an alien planet and makes no real effort to learn to adjust to life ashore.  Where be her pirate wiles?

And lastly, there were too many modern sensibilities in Morgane's opinions.  I can see that she might find slavery distasteful.  However, wanting to fight the economic and social class systems felt out of place for the historical time period.  Also being a pirate did not mean there was complete social freedom.  Morgane's lesbian relationship was a bit carefree and felt too modern.  Also Morgane let her romantic partner do all of the travel arrangements and communicate with innfolk, etc.  That felt so unrealistic even with Morgane dressed as a boy.

Basically, I feel that every area of this book was problematic including the parts set at sea.  With the bad pacing, lackluster characterization, and unfulfilled premise, I will not be reading the sequel.  Arrrr!

This book had a lot of really interesting potential, from the premise of the book, to our initially incredibly fun main character. However, as the book progressed, the main characters stubborn naiveté deeply grated on my nerves, and made the book nearly intolerable. Similarly, while the book advertises itself as being set in a vampire-ridden world, said vampires don’t appear until nearly the end of this book. Ultimately, from the unrealistically ignorant main character, to the false promise of vampires, to the all-too sudden romance, The Vengeance really just could’ve used a few more drafts.

Morgane has been raised on the pirate ship that her mother, Anna-Marie, captains. An infamous pirate with a particular appetite for attacking the ships of the Four Chains Trading Company, Anna-Marie is fatally wounded during an ambush and Morgane finally learns the truth: Anna-Marie kidnapped her as a baby and is actually her aunt, and she's been targeting the Four Chains ships because they all contain letters and chests of gifts from Morgane's real mother, hoping she'll see them one day. Morgane decides to return to France with one of the ships to seek revenge on whoever ordered her aunt's death and to rescue her mother, who she believes to be trapped in a terrible life.
What follows is a fast-paced romp across France, with various groups trying to kidnap Morgane, a random bunch of werewolves and finally, vampires.

I wanted to like this more than I did. Morgane is the kind of main character that I really struggle with. There's a fine line between headstrong, kick-ass heroine and bolshy idiot, and sadly Morgane plunges over that line multiple times. For someone who has been raised as a pirate, and is capable of fighting and killing to protect herself, she just sort of bumbles along.

The supernatural elements could also have done with being more developed, I know it's the start of a series, but having werewolves randomly pop up for a chapter then disappear and then the vampires for which the series is named (The Vampires of Dumas) only appear at the 90% mark, felt on odd choice. I think maybe if there'd been a bit more foreshadowing or more rumours and speculation about supernatural creatures, it would have felt less like they'd been randomly dumped into an otherwise purely historical adventure.

A fast-paced swashbuckling adventure with an undercurrent of the supernatural.