I was so excited for this to be fully about pirates and vampires, so I felt quite disappointed when it wasn’t. I think because of those feelings I didn’t enjoy this as much as I could have.

I also had some issues with the pacing and found myself getting quite frustrated in the middle.

I do think the world-building was very effective though, and I’d like to read more of Emma Newman’s work.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc. 🫶🏻

I received an advance reader copy of this book through Netgalley, and I'm grateful to the author for the opportunity. As a huge fan of pirate stories with a paranormal twist, I was excited by the premise of a female pirate searching for her family in a world plagued by vampires and conspiracies.

Unfortunately, while the beginning and end were fast-paced and action-packed, the middle dragged considerably. Despite the promise of a paranormal world, the first werewolf doesn't appear until 65% of the book!

Many of the events that occurred felt either inconsequential or confusing. The romance felt rushed and underdeveloped, especially considering it was a female-female relationship. I wanted to see more depth and exploration of that aspect.

Morgan, our protagonist, felt somewhat underdeveloped. Given her life on a pirate ship surrounded by cunning individuals, I expected her to be more wary and less easily manipulated.

Overall, while the book had potential, the slow pacing and lack of focus on the key elements ultimately hindered my enjoyment.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for access to an e-arc of this title for review.
Two of my favourite things in books are vampires and witches... check and check! However, don't expect the vampires to appear until late in the book. This was an intriguing but slow start but is a good solid read once it gets into the flow. There's several twists that are sometimes a little confusing to keep track of but overall this was a great time. There was a lot of "what is justice" and " what makes gender" that was really well done. I am looking forward to the next book to find out what happens next. The writing is good, but could do with a good audiobook to accompany and maybe even another round of editing to iron out the couple of little inconsistencies.

Loved the world-building and characters at the start, however I did struggle a little with the pace of the book. The beginning was great, really had me intrigued however I did feel it fell off a little after that and started to become a bit uneven. I also think from going off the cover you think this is a pirate book but (without giving away too many spoilers) it wasn’t really…..Either way I do think this is a book that many will enjoy and should give a read!

I actually hoped It had a focus on pirate but I was wrong. The story Is not so bad, simple but I've ready It with pleasure. Altough the party with vampire for me It Is a non sense, they appear only in the last part. If that Is a book about vampires, why they aren't characters for all the book?
Lynette maybe Is the only character well constructed.
The waiting style Is not bad, thank tò that I finish ed the book.

** I received an ARC copy in return for an honest review **
This is exactly what you would think it is. It has pirates, vengeance, a hunt for family, and a spattering of LGBT rep. However, if you are going into this expecting vampires, you will be disappointed to find that they are only vaguely mentioned near the end. After all, it is inspired by the writer Alexandre Dumas' worlds incorporating vampires into France, not a book about vampires. I do feel that clarification is needed even if it is setting up for a series with vampires.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I particularly enjoyed the world-building and relationships built in the first part of the book.

It has taken me a while to find the words to articulate why I would only give this book 3-stars.

For me, the pacing of the story as a whole seemed inconsistent. The first 20% of the book felt really well paced. It wasn't all high action, but it was well constructed and gripping!

The middle section of the book (from approx 20%, to approx 80%) felt as though it was trying to do too much (world-building, introducing characters, relationship-building, raising the stakes of the story, travelling, plotting, etc). What was there had some really nice moments, but I felt like there were moments that could have benefitted from having a bit more focus. For example, the sapphic relationship and that development had some really nice moments, but I didn't feel as though it had the development in the story to justify where the relationship ended up.

The mystery elements of the story dotted through the book were nice (though I personally would have loved to see more of the vampires, and that dynamic playing out within the world and society that was built!)

Overall, I did enjoy the story, and I grew fond of some of the characters.

1.5 🌟 🔅
First a thank you for Netgalley and the author for providing the ARC of this book for my honest opinion

I am now in search of every Pirate/siren/mermaid book whether historical, paranormal, retelling, or fantasy.
So I was very intrigued about a female pirate trying to find her biological family in a world haunted by vampires and conspiracies.

But sadly, it was a no for me

as much as I enjoyed the first and last 15% of the book, these were quick-paced and full of adventure and action, the 70% in between were dull and very slow.
For a book promising vampires and paranormal, we meet our first werewolf at 65%??!!!!
Things kept happening to Morgan that were either irrelevant or not understandable.

The romance felt rushed
I wanted more for a FF relationship
and the parts that should have been the focus were not given enough space

Morgan herself was lacking as a character.
I understand that she lived her life on board a ship
but she was surrounded by pirates and scoundrels
she knows about thieving and lies
so how come she was easily manipulated?

every person she meets tells her that they are there for her and she should come with them and she goes without a question!
someone says "I am your father" and you immediately believe them???

there were points where I was saying "How stupid can she be?" and lo and behold, she is and she says it herself.

I hope this would be resolved because the book has much potential.

The Vengeance is a interesting adventure with a touch of fantastical, creepy supernatural, pirates, vampires, and a woman's quest to uncover the truth of her lineage.
Morgane was such an entertaining narrator and an easy character to relate to!

I loved the pirate aspect of the story and I really think it was one of the best parts, it was clearly well researched and felt truly authentic. On the other hand I would have loved to see more about the vampires in the story and I really hope we will get to have more in the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Solaris Books and the author for providing me the opportunity to read this book!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
I'm a little disappointed the Vampires showed up too late and too little on the book but I understand the author had to set all the background storyline plus this is a series but it was still a slow pace for a first book. I loved the main character and the worldbuilding so overall I enjoyed it and will definitely read book number 2.
3 Stars

This book promises pirates and vampires, and while we did get both, there was a lot more pirating than vampirism. This is no inherently bad, but as I set out reading this book hopi for more vampires than this book has I was a little disappointed. That's not to say that the book is bad, on he contrary it was really good! I does take a little while for the plot to really get going, but once it has it flows nicely.

This book has a LOT of potential. I took time to finish and think about how I wanted to write this review as an ARC with the knowledge that there are elements that could change before publication.

The main character is strong-willed and I can see her personality shine through so vividly, that it felt like the other characters got lost in the background. The story was compelling, but also confusing. Normally you would see more foreshadowing (or any) about some of the larger twists with the book, but the only context I had that there would be vampires in the book is in the listing as the first in a series with vampires in the name. The fantasy elements felt forced in at the end, almost like it was a found family adventure that just happened to run into vampires because something felt like it needed 'more.' Love the representation of a strong, queer female lead, but overall it just fell flat for me.

2.5/5

Easily one of most surprisingly fun books I’ve read all year. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I loved every second of this book.

The combination of pirates and vampires is an amazing idea. My only complaint would be that it was spoiled in the blurb. I would have liked that to have been a surprise.

This book has it all - poor dialogue, run on sentences, terrible pacing, and a plot that makes no sense at all. I was really looking forward to reading this (sapphic pirates and vampires, who wouldn't be?) but it was incredibly difficult to get through.

This is being marketed as ‘Dumas with vampires’, but I spent the majority of the book waiting for the vampires to turn up. I was disappointed in that regard, because they don’t appear until about page 300 of 350, and that didn’t feel like enough vampires.
Having said that, it was a very well written, swashbuckling adventure, with complex, loveable characters and interesting plot and development. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing 1800s France through the eyes of a woman brought up on a pirate ship: it felt very natural for her to hate all that was going on and to question the so- called natural order of things.

I think if the vampirism had been kept as a surprise, the reveal near the end would have had more emotional impact; as it was I felt like I picked up too quickly on the foreshadowing.
I did enjoy it, and would recommend it.

First off, I’d like to thank Solaris and NetGalley for an early copy of this ebook. The opinions in this review are mine alone.

I really enjoyed this book. The beginning of the book was honestly my favorite, with the swashbuckling pirate tales. I would have given this book 5 stars, had the title not been so deceptive. It’s called the Vampires of Dumas, but the vampires don’t show up until 90% through the book. And then once they did show up, they aren’t all that exciting. Mostly, once they presented themselves, I was like “oh. Right. This book is about vampires.” I think this book would have been better suited as a prequel to a series, or a prequel to another book. It’s a nice back story, but if you’re marketing it as a book about vampires, 2/10.

I liked Morgane, she’s got just the right amount of sass and whit. She seems well equipped for battle scenes, but also just like she stumbles into victory with chaos and sheer will to survive. Which honestly is a whole vibe and I love it. Overall, this is a great book if you don’t read the description and just vibe with it the whole time. Was a great little mystery.

This book wasnt bad but it def wasn't my cup of tea. The plot felt a bit one dimensional and then it became super far fetched compared to the start of the book. Overall I do think it has potential for the future but it did drag on a bit too much for my liking.

Thank You to Netgalley for giving me an e-arc of this book!

I got to about 60% mark and at that point tried to skim through a couple pages ahead see if anything was going to happen because honestly I had had been holding out for any mention of vampires. I feel like by this stage something should of happened. The writing style is good. Its descriptive and it was easy for me to visualise the world they were in. I felt myself growing attached to the fmc but in the same breathe there was just something lacking - I'm not sure whether its the age, experience of the character vs the type of plot and the sub character relationships. There's just a mismatch somewhere there. It wasn't for me on this occasion. Thank you NetGalley and Emma Newman for the opportunity to review.

I could not get past the first few chapters. This book was just not for me. I was super excited to read this based on the description but from what few chapters I did read the book was not like how it was described and too much was going on at once.

What an amazingly, fun novel!

Morgane is an excellent protagonist set apart by by her rough edges, carefree speech, and steadfast commitment to loyalty and love for her crew and friends. Her raw, authentic character connects you to her and keeps you rooting for her. Her mannerisms and behaviours perfectly reflect someone who grew up as a pirate and knows no other way of life. The use of sea terms to describe land situations that Morgane faces throughout the book makes it easier to understand Morgane's thinking (for example, calling someone a "barnacle" because they're clingy and useless, or comparing a crew's loyalty to their captain with the traits of a good ruler) and is quite clever. Her innocence regarding life on land makes her very endearing and leaves you laughing.

Her reluctant friendship and blossoming relationship with Lisette is beautifully written. The mature writing style keeps you captivated completely. I finished the entire book in just two days. The plot is intriguing and doesnt reveal too much too soon. In fact, if the title didnt mention vampires, I never would have guessed their involvement in the story.

All in all, this is a fantastic book and a quick, interesting read. I'm looking forward to the sequel and exploring more of the author's works.