Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars.

This wasn’t a terrible read. I thought the writing was well done! It was easy to read. I just thought the plot and the pacing had a little bit of fixing up to do.

I loved the beginning, it was so fast paced and the pirate life was done so well! She didn’t hate being a pirate which I enjoyed.

Once she left it started to slow down. It dragged for most of the middle of the book. Even though there was action once she got to France, with her learning everything that she wasn’t used to, it really slowed things down.

The end goal tied together, but it also seemed like a bunch of different plots put into one. It wasn’t cohesive. She went on lots of different journeys. The main goal was to find her mother, but along the way too much was happening for it to all come together.

Morgane was a great main character! She was so spunky and headstrong and could take care of herself. I loved seeing that. I especially love how much crap she gave to men.

I hate to say it though, she was kind of dumb. Spoiler warning in this paragraph: but with every single person she came in contact with telling her to not find her mother because she is a dangerous woman, you would have thought she would have listened to them! It’s one thing when one person says it but every single person? Even I could put two in two together that her mother most likely wanted revenge on her sister for stealing her baby, despite what the letters said.

I loved the crew and I loved Jacques. I wish we could have spent more time with them! I would have much preferred a novel with her being on the ship the whole time. I really enjoyed Lavois as well while we were with him. He was a sweet man, despite assuming she’d want to get married despite her saying no.

I really liked Lisette and Morgane together, I just wish we saw them build up their relationship. There was almost a montage of their time together that told us they spent a lot of time together and Morgane learned to trust her and in turn started to fall for her, but I wish we could have gotten more content of that. It almost felt a little like instalove even though in a technical sense it wasn’t.

It is very interesting that this book was very much a set up to the rest of the series. Which isn’t the best idea because if people get bored with it they won’t finish it. Unless the rest of them are just companion novels because this one ended pretty definitively.

The ending was very rushed. We barely had any time to be scared of her mother because she was taken care of pretty quickly.

If the pacing of this book was touched up a bit, I think this could have been very good! The characters were solid, so the bones of the story was there.

I’d be curious to see how the next book is! If it will follow the same characters or be a totally different plot. If it continues with Morgane’s story, I could see myself liking it a lot more from where they ended up! I do think this reads as a stand alone novel though.

This wasn't my cup of tea, so I struggled to read it and I wasn't able to finish it in time for posting a review.
It felt like a great idea, but written in a confused way, the pacing was a bit off, and it felt like two stories were merged together to create a book, that could have been two. I was expecting more of a pirate dark story, but instead the author lead the narration more on a supernatural level, which was nice anyway, but not was I was expecting, nor what the book seemed to offer.
Overall the writing is good, I just wished the stories were interwined better or divided into two books.
Thanks for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion, Solaris for the eARC. In return, I leave my honest review.

I can see the vision and ideas the author had planned for this book, but the execution is subpar at best. The beginning of the book had me hooked. I enjoyed the world building on the pirate side of it all and would have loved for the rest of the book to have continued in that direction.

The book is slow paced to the point where I couldn’t remember what had happened in previous chapters. I’m such a stickler when it comes to the pacing of a book, and I tried to be graceful especially with this being the first book of the series. Obviously, the world building will pull focus in the first books, but not to this slow dragging pace. The beginning chapter are amazing and I was excited for this type of environment throughout, but it just never came until the last chapters.

The characters fell flat for me as well. I had no connection to the fmc, Morgane. She is very childish and it was frustrating how she totally disregarded anyone else’s opinion. There are also side character that have no business being there in the first place. They don’t push the story forward and don’t give the main character any type of support. And the ones who do offer support are not taken seriously by the fmc. And the love interest felt unnecessary. I’m always up for a Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan pirate romance, but this was more of a “who are you?” “I’m your love interest!” “Oh ok!” “Yay!” Which as you can imagine, should not have been a factor at all.

I don’t even want to mention the vampires, or lack thereof.

With that being said, I’m not sure I’m going to pick up book two. I mulled it over in my mind on whether or not I wanted to continue, but I think the first book is enough for me. However, if the author were to right a book solely about The Vengeance in its peak, I would definitely pick that up.

This is the story of Morgaine, who is forced to leave her young life as a pirate in search of her mother and a quest for vengeance. This was an adventuresome story, but unfortunately for me the main character really brought down my enjoyment of this book. I believe she is a teenager, which perhaps explains why she was reckless, thoughtless, always jumped to conclusions, and was naïve to boot (while thinking she wasn't). To her credit, she was honest and said what she meant, but she also had no tact and seemed to always make her circumstance worse than it had to be, because she decided to either believe or not believe what people were telling her based on her whims. To some extent, this could be in keeping with her background and how she was raised, but it was a challenge to witness. I was very intrigued by the series being title "Vampires of Dumas" and though this is a feature of the story, it's not enough to want to continue.

I really wanted to love this book because who wouldn’t love a swashbuckling pirate adventure with vampires? Sadly, it just didn’t hit the way I think it was supposed to. For a book that’s supposed to be part one in the ‘Vampires of Dumas’ series, I think leaving the revelation of vampires existing until the end and making it the big plot twist was a mistake and made the ending fall very flat.

I liked the central sapphic love story and the pirate lore seemed well researched, but none of the plot points were filled out enough to incite the required emotion for what was happening. I just think this needed more development unfortunately.

I wanted to love this one, the idea was soo good, but I just couldn't. The pacing was weird, and some of the plot lines weren't even fully developed. It just wasn't for me. I struggled through to the end, but I won't be reading the next one.

For a book one in a series entitled ‘The Vampires of Dumas’ there was a severe lack of vampires, or any supernatural/fantasy element at all. When such an element came around it felt very strange and off-pace with the rest of the book, which was already quite convoluted with a sea of plots and characters that didn’t get wrapped up.
Characters were introduced sporadically and given small margins of screen time before either being killed off or sent away and new ones introduced. It made sense for how the main character was navigating a large swath of the ocean and then France, but it made for disjointed reading and not being able to gain attachment to any characters. Our main girl is quite often ridiculous, and when people are constantly telling her of the danger she is planning to go towards she does nothing but ignore every warning coming her way. It was very frustrating to read, and it made me start skimming from about 60% onwards.
The beginning of this was my favourite part, the piratical themes and how the ship was described I found really intriguing and well-researched. Unfortunately my enjoyment didn’t stay for the rest of the book.
My funniest gripe is that our MC seems to be the only girl in France with blonde hair??? It is the one descriptor that everyone trying to acquire her uses, and it did make me laugh that it was such a factor.

This was a great story, but the portrayal of it appeared a bit choppy and couple used more depth in certain parts. I would say this is more of a pirate novel then a vampire novel as well

1.5 stars
The idea behind this book is good!
I wanted to love this book, but I was so frustrated!

But the pacing was all wrong!

One of the main plot points was only developed past the 80% mark. Another was barely explained.

The premise for this one is so interesting: vampires and pirates in a Dumas inspired world? Sign me up! Unfortunately, this book did not live up to the potential I saw in the synopsis.

Morgane is the daughter of the notorious pirate captain Anna-Marie; or so she believes. Growing up on the ship Vengeance, Morgane is content with her life of piracy and the small family unit she has with her mother, the captain of the ship. However, when a raid goes wrong and her mother is terribly injured, she reveals to Morgane that she is not her mother, but her aunt. Anna-Marie stole Morgane away to keep her safe from her real parents; the same parents it turns out may have had a hand in Anna-Marie's death. Morgane sails to France to uncover the truth of her heritage and seek vengeance for the woman she's called mother her entire life.

The book series is called Vampires of Dumas, the synopsis hints at vampires, and the marketing for this book has revolved around the vampire fantasy elements. It's strange that this is featured so heavily when the book does not introduce vampires until the 85% mark, and the word "vampire" is not used until the 90% mark. This wouldn't be a problem on its own, but the vampires are treated like a shocking plot twist when the reader is expecting them in the book. The book's synopsis says "Her quest reveals a world of decadence and darkness, in which monsters vie for control of royal courts and destinies of nations" - and yet this book reads like a historical fiction for most of its runtime. The synopsis also spoils aspects of her mother's identity, that again, we don't find out as the reader until the 90% mark of the book.

Taken as a coming of age, fish out of water story, this book shines. Morgane has the manners of a pirate, and her exasperated companion tries to teach her the ins and outs of high French society (or even just the basics like how to use silverware). This was the bulk of the book, and even though Morgane is 20, I think this book should be marketed as YA to receive a better reception. The protagonist was plucky and a "shoot first ask questions later" level of fearlessness that is popular among YA heroines, and the coming of age elements took up most of the page time. Morgane is on a journey of self-discovery, and that wasn't uninteresting to read, but wasn't the vampire pirate story I was hoping for. The romance is a little on the insta-love side, which also hindered my enjoyment and made this book read younger than its intended demographic.

Personal enjoyment of this book is about a 2 star, however, my expectations were wildly different and that seems unfair to the book, so I'm giving it a 3. The book is decently paced, and the elements that did have piracy and vampires were interesting; they just weren't the focus of the book.

It felt like two different stories mashed together. I wish it was more the pirate story and less the supernatural stuff that felt thrown in.

2.5/5 ✨️

I really wanted to like this but it just felt disjointed and rushed at the end. The first 60% of this feels like a completely different book from the latter part. The pacing in this book is abysmal.

I liked Morgane & I liked Lisette. Their romance felt rushed but that's also because we go through weeks in a chapter when previous chapters were a day...again, pacing issues.

I loved the idea of pirates and vampires being a book together but the world's are completely separate, again, feel like completely different books.

I will 100% forget about this in a few weeks

Thank you to Netgalley & the publishers for this ARC.

I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one - on one hand I enjoyed the pirate stuff at the beginning, but the vampire stuff felt like it was thrown in as an afterthought and all the events that happen with them could've happened without the vampire aspect. I enjoyed the characters, especially Morgane and how unapologetic she was about being herself, but at the same time I found her to be incredibly naive and too trusting, considering she's a pirate. The writing was good, but the pacing felt way off - most of the book was Morgane travelling and the big plot points happened all within the last 30% and then everything was way too rushed and not given enough time to fully explore any of it. The romance also was rushed and there was no chemistry at all between the two characters - in fact, they mention the travel time to be about 2 weeks until they get to their location after they met, it was probably a week in when they first kissed, and they were already saying I love you? I felt like I missed an entire chapter of their lives, and it just happened way too quickly for me to really get behind it. Definitely don't go into this book expecting a vampire story, they play a pretty small role in this book. I loved the idea of this book with pirates, vampires and werewolves (oh yeah, there's like one chapter where werewolves exist and then they're never seen from again), but the execution for me is where it fell flat. I'm not sure if this is going to be a series or not since did have a conclusive ending, but I don't think I would pick up a sequel. I do however think this could be great for people new to fantasy, or teen readers looking to get into fantasy. I definitely don't feel like this fits into an adult category, the characters are very young, ACT very young and the few romantic scenes are really tame. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I liked this book, I was very interesting in discovering this story about pirate. But this is more than just a pirate story and it was very well written and I liked what happened in here.
I particularly love the character of Morgane.
The only problem I had was with the pacing. And I think it is had that the element of paranormal is only happening at almost 90 per cent of the book.

This was a really captivating read. The world building was good and the introduction of characters was written well. A couple of revelations shocked me that I didnt see coming which is always great! Morgane is the main character and lives on The Vengeance, which is a ship, after her mum is shot she tells her on her death bed she's actually her aunt! She rescued her as a baby as she was in danger. So now Morgane wants to find her parents... Morgane meets Lisette along the way and is a great character; I love their relationship development throughout the book. The only reason its not 5⭐️ is because there was no mention of vampires until the last 2 chapters; I would've liked more Vampire action!

3.5 star rounded up to 4.

The vengeance is a swashbuckling adventure that blends historical fantasy with some gothic intrigue. The story follows the FMC who has been raised on a pirate ship when a shocking revelation propels her to travel to France, on a quest for identity and truth and we follow her through a world of decadence and danger.

The novel's strength is in its earlier chapters which vividly show life at sea and well-researched pirate lore. The writing vividly captures the contrast between the brutal life at sea and the opulence of the French courts as the FMC manoeuvres unfamiliar social hierarchies and uncovers bloody secrets. However, the pacing of the story is uneven. While the beginning is gripping, the middle sections lag a bit whilst focusing on the FMC's internal struggles and the details of court life. Also, the supernatural elements (vampires) are introduced quite late in the narrative which was disappointing as I expected more integration from the outset.

Despite this, I believe the novel sets an intriguing stage for future instalments and I will be looking out for book 2.

“Alas, mademoiselle, there are some problems that cannot be solved with violence.”
“Nah.” Morgane sheathed the knife. “Any problem involving a man can always be solved with violence. Violence or gold, to be fair.” [loc. 2374]

Morgane has grown up crewing on a 17th-century pirate ship, the Vengeance. It's a marvellous life and the ship's captain, Anna-Marie -- Morgane's mother -- is notorious for daring raids, especially on the ships of the Four Chains Trading Company. She's also famous for being the first captain to put in the Articles that women can be crew, with equal shares. And she's brought Morgane up to fight, to be brave, and to eschew shore life.

But Anna-Marie is killed, and Morgane heads for distant France (which she believes is an island) to track down her family and the Comte who ruined them. Of course, it is not that simple: Morgane is confronted with con-men, feral wolves and, worst of all, courtly etiquette. Only with the help of the sensible Lisette, initially engaged as her governess, does Morgane begin to solve the mystery of her birth and of the reasons her mother is called a monster.

Despite the piratical elements (left behind when Morgane set out for France), the cross-dressing (Morgane, of course, disguises herself as Lisette's brother) and the queer relationship (which seemed to come out of nowhere), I didn't engage with this novel. Most of the characters seemed shallow and one-note, and had a terrible habit of dying violent deaths just as they were about to reveal the Shocking Truth. Morgane did not show much in the way of common sense: yes, France is very different from Port Royal, but surely by observing the behaviour of others, and listening to those who are more familiar with the local customs, she might have avoided some of those inconvenient deaths?

And the grammar is shaky: far too many paragraphs where the third-person pronoun is used for two different people. ('Anger at what she’d been told and anger that she’d been killed'; 'She was petite, looked to be about the same age as her'; 'So she had been duped, just as much as she had?'). Also, though Morgane's dialogue is not too horribly anachronistic, some of the surrounding prose really jolted me out of the historical period. 'She was given the chance to speak but shook her head, feeling like she’d forgotten how to do that. What even were words?' What, indeed...

If I had seen the cover properly, or even the series title, I would probably not have read this novel: it is the first in the '--- of Dumas' series, which is a massive spoiler considering that the presence of --- is only revealed very late (and rather abruptly) in the novel.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 6th May 2025.

This could have been a fun and unique retelling but sadly was lacking the editing and guidance it needed. I would definitely love to see what this author does in the future though.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

DNF. Unfortunately neither the pacing nor the writing style work for me, and there are already inconsistencies with the plot that I know will only continue to bother me. The premise is interesting, but looking at other reviews it seems like the payoff will not be enough to convince me to continue.

Unfortunately I had to dnf around 30%. The pacing and prose were just not for me but I appreciate the opportunity! I’ll keep my reviews off of social media since I did not finish this book.