Morgane sets out from everything she knows to fond the mother she was stolen from, only to find monsters. Morgane was raised on a pirate ship by the woman she believed to be her mother. When they attempt to take a ship, Morgane’s mother is killed and it is revealed that she is not really her mother.
The start of this book feels very Pirates of the Caribbean and the second half brings in more Dracula and Van Helsing-esque themes. This story was very easy to get drawn into and to turn the page to see what unfortunate circumstance would happen to Morgane next. I did not like the relationship between Morgane and Lisette. It really cane out of no where. There really was no lead up or development to them being in love/falling in love. I was also hoping for some more action at the end of this book or for Morgane to narrowly escape and to have more in a next book. It just felt to easy and was a lot of information given to the reader in two chapters at the very end of the book.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out in May next year. This is a sapphic twisty and turny book and I love the mc and her love interest even though the book had me go: Miss ma'am you are GULLIBLE. I didn't hate this.

☠ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 ☠

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 by Emma Newton — it’s an adventure that any pirate enthusiast will enjoy. 🏴‍☠️
The story follows Morgane, a young woman raised on the unforgiving seas as a pirate, now thrust into the rigid world of royal society while she searches for the truth about her real parents.
What I loved most about the book is its focus on Morgane’s personal journey—her struggle to adapt, find her place, and stay true to herself in this new, challenging environment.

What makes 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 stand out is the refreshing portrayal of pirate life. The male characters, though rough, are surprisingly kind-hearted, and the lack of romance in the first 80% allows for a more plot-driven, character-focused story.
Morgane’s relationships, particularly with a girl she befriends, felt genuine and beautifully built on trust. The friendship seemed to be a core theme, adding depth to the story as Morgane learns to open up to someone after not being able to trust anyone for so long.

However, here’s where I had some mixed feelings. (SPOILERS!!)
Though the book is technically book 1 of a series called 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘿𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙨, vampires only make an appearance in the last 20% of the story. I had actually forgotten all about that aspect, enjoying it purely as a pirate adventure. When the supernatural elements were suddenly introduced, it felt a little out of place and overshadowed the well-crafted pirate plot.

Along with that, the previously platonic friendship between Morgane and her friend abruptly shifts into a romantic confession. While the queer couple is adorable together, the transition from friendship to romance was a big surprise, especially after the bond between them had been portrayed so innocently throughout the book.

Despite these twists in the last part, I still think 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 is worth the read. If you enjoy pirate stories, plot-driven adventures, and don’t mind a sudden supernatural twist or queer romance, this book could be just your thing.
Plus, it’s set to be a series, so there’s more to come!
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 releases in May 2025, and it’s definitely one to watch if you're into high-seas adventure, a strong female lead, and a bit of a twist at the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book felt slow, and took an excruciatingly long time to get around to incorporating an important, anticipated plot point. The final forty pages or so felt rushed, like the deadline had suddenly come due and everything left unsaid had to be shoehorned in.
The main romantic relationship felt slightly hollow, with neither party seeming to open up or develop much past a skill share agreement. The title “her lover” was frustratingly overused, and distracted from the story, despite being basically entirely closed-door.
I enjoyed the description of belonging to a pirate crew, and certain relationships that Morgane grew up forming and strengthening during her life at sea. I especially look forward to hearing more about a certain captain in forthcoming books

I was given an ARC copy of this book by the publisher, Solaris, an imprint of Rebellion.

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.

Firstly, I want to thank the author Emma Newman and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange of my honest review.

This was such a fun read!! The first part of the book was fast paced at first, and then it was a bit slow. Morgane's life in the ship was fun and very well written. And then, she arrived in France. Honestly, her reaction to all the rules and etiquette was so refreshing, I loved it!!
I just wish the end wasn't so rushed, and that we knew what happened when the girls went back to The Vengeance.
Great book.

A sapphic historical fiction with pirates and vampires - what's not to love?!

Morgane grew up on a pirate ship as the daughter of a badass female captain, Captain Anna-Marie, whose sole mission is to attack and steal from ships operated by the Four Chains Company. One day, after a raid gone wrong, Anna-Marie lets out a dying confession that she's actually Morgane's aunt and that she stole Morgane out of both vengeance and the desire to protect Morgane from her sister. Morgane also discovers that every Four Chains Company ship that they've raided contained letters and gifts from her biological mother in the hopes that they would eventually fall in Morgane's hands and that Morgane would return to France to be reunited with her real family. Determined to find her biological mother, despite Anna-Marie's ominous warnings, Morgane sets sail for France only to realize that, in doing so, her life might be in danger.

I really enjoyed reading about Morgane's journey travelling to France and the culture shock of going from being a pirate to trying to blend in with French society in search of her long lost mother. Her characterization and that of the supporting characters were great and made the reading experience highly enjoyable.

All the characters were interesting with my favourites being:
- Morgane, who is unapologetically herself the entire time - strong, brave, brash, and honest. If you like Lila Bard from A Darker Shade of Magic but wished she was a bit more queer (and vulgar), then you'll love Morgane.
- Captain de Lavois, who brings Morgane to France, is truly the sweetest man and the prime definition of a gentleman - I hope we see him again in future books because he was one of my favourite characters!
- Lisette who was absolutely adorable, open-minded and loyal - she must be protected at all cost!

This was a fairly slow moving and predictable story but the characters were well fleshed out and I enjoyed the adventurous, spooky and mysterious setting. Although the ending was rushed, the story wrapped up nicely (no cliffhanger, yay!). This could easily be read as a standalone novel (I would have assumed it was a standalone, were it not for the cover indicating that it's part of a series). I am curious what the rest of the series could hold.

This book is exactly what it says on the tin and is brilliant.

Morgane has only ever known a life as a pirate, daughter of the notorious private lord Anna-Marie, Captain of the Vengeance. But when new information comes to light, her life is thrown into chaos, and she feels the need to go on a great adventure without her crew, to rescue a woman she has never even met. But the world is not ready for Morgane, and she finds she is not quite prepared for the world either.

This book is amazing, it was a fun riot from start to finish, especially if you like bold women, thrilling fights, and a perfect scoundrel that you cant help but cheer on.

I really love Newman’s sf, which tends to be quite brutal about the wrongs people are willing to do to others, but bounced off her earlier fantasy series. This is a new fantasy world with werewolves and vampires in the West Indies and pre-revolutionary France (the fantasy doesn’t come explicitly in until halfway through). The protagonist has been raised by her stern pirate captain mother, whose death early in the narrative prompts her to seek out the rest of her family in France. She’s basically unlettered and unmannered, to the consternation of many who encounter her, and what I really liked about the bewildering array of people who tried to kidnap her was that they were totally willing to “explain” just enough to get her to go along, and it wasn’t clear for a while whether she was hearing the truth—kind of like morally ambiguous situations in the real world. Unfortunately, then there’s an exposition dump by a character who it seems we’re just supposed to believe. I remain excited by Newman’s sf but I guess the way she does historical fantasy isn’t my speed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Emma Newman for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book! Once it got going, I found it hard to put it down. Morgane as a character was as an absolute delight to read about and she was so easy to fall in love with. I wanna feel the same about Lisette but we were given so little of her.

On to the world, I love it. It felt very authentic and believable. Like trips take time and they aren’t going to sail around France in a day with the equipment they had. I liked the aspect of Morgane being so disconnected from the land world. It added to the authenticity of the world.

As much as I loved the book I just felt like it was lacking where I wanted more and going to in depth on parts that didn’t need it. I understand the traveling takes time and it would drawl on to describe the whole thing, but even a few little events from the trip would help really feel the depth of the relationship between Morgane and Lisette for later in the story.

I definitely think the series will be on my tbr list to keep looking for next installments. I’m very very interested in what the author could do with the world.

A fantastic story, fast paced and everything you want on this kind of books. Betrayal, family, love and lots of action. Great book

The Vengeance by Emma Newman

A huge thank you to Solaris Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This story follows Morgane a badass Pirate whose life thus far has been as the daughter of a brutal and fierce Captain, until one day her mother is killed and with her last words changes everything she has ever known by telling her she is NOT her mother.

We follow Morgane through her journey from being a pirate living out at sea to travelling to land and having to adjust to a completely different way of life.

Morgane is searching for her mother but ends up learning so much more about herself. This story is about losing and finding family. It is about not appreciating what you have until it’s gone. It is about trust and how sometimes we trust the wrong people. It is about learning from our mistakes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book although I do remember hitting 60% and wondering when the vampires were coming into it. I had to check the title to be sure I definitely read the word vampire. I really wish we had more of the vampire storyline.

While I did like most of the book I felt that everything happened in the last 10-15% of the book and it all happened very fast. I would have liked if some parts lasted a little longer.

Overall I really enjoyed it and am interested to see where it goes next!

The Vengeance had an awesome premise but overall the book didn't really come together for me. To start with the positives, the early part of the book with all the pirate ship stuff was great and clearly well researched. Had this just been a swashbuckling pirate tale, I think it could have worked well. Where it fell apart was in the latter chapters once Morgane left the ship to seek her mother in France. The introduction of the vampires came far too late to have an impact -- it just felt tacked on -- and I struggled to accept Morgane's fighting ability when she came up against vampires for the first time. The other aspects where this book didn't work for me were the dialogue, which felt really forced, the pacing, which was slow at the start but then rushed at the end, and the romance, which felt too sudden to be believable. It looks like this book is intended to begin a series; however everything felt wrapped up (however swiftly) by the end of the this volume, so there was nothing that made me interested to read on. In conclusion, I am giving this book 3 stars. It's worth a look for the fun pirate stuff at the start, but I feel the inclusion of the vampire element was misguided (and you'll feel let down if you read this expecting a vampire story) and the book could have done with more editing on pacing and dialogue.

5/5 Stars

Usually a chapter or two into a book I have a good feeling on whether I am going to like a book and continue reading or close it up and DNF. The Vengeance is one that hooked me in. I might not be using the correct terminology but to me this was an Epic. I found the writing to be very descriptive. For me as a reader, this really helps me get into the story. No spoiler or context to this quote: "She looked... flawless, as if Anna-Marie had been a clearing of the throat and her mother was a perfectly sung note." This highlights the difference between the two characters being described.

The Vengeance follows a pirate named Morgane who, under unfortunate circumstances, has to go on a journey to find her mother. While out to sea, she receives notification that her mother is in trouble and must come quickly to aide. She ventures on a boat whom she has no affiliation with the crew to make it back to France to start the search for her mother. Once upon land, she runs into trouble and finds herself face-to-face with the man claiming to be her father. She sets out to find her mother with a Governess named Lisette under constant warnings of strange and spooky happenings in the woods. On the journey to find her mother, she finds love along the way.

This book is not listed as romance but there is a small amount of romance in this book. Anything that happens between Morgane and her love are closed-door situations. The book is listed as LGBTQIA+ and I wasn't seeing any of that category until about halfway through the book. If you're looking for a romance, the is not the book for you. If you're looking for pirates, adventure, and paranormal happenings, this is definitely a book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure and it was a nail biter at the end. Does this book have a happy ending? That's for me to know and you as a reader to find out 😉.

Just a suggestion for the author if she see's this. Your descriptions of pirate life are plentiful. I don't know if this is something that you could add, but maybe add a small index of terms and their meanings. It might be helpful to readers who aren't familiar with the terminology and they can look to see what the word means as they're reading along.

This book was amazing I couldn’t put it down was completely drawn in from the first page and hooked. I loved the characters the writing and the plot so sad it ended

The sea is the only life you have ever known so when it is taken away from you, you realise that you are no one. Morgane has had a good life aboard the Vegeance it hasn’t been easy but it was her family. Now is she off to France to see her parents but she has no idea what she is going to find. Not everyone wants Morgane to make it to get mother and in time she will learn the truth and she will be horrified.
A good read of second chances. And finding love in the strangest way.
Great characters the story is full of adventure and secrets. Morgane is a well man that has grown up on a ship her whole life and she is thrown adrift when she leaves the truth about her life. But even when things look like there is no escape she finds the will to fight.
Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for the copy. This is my voluntary review.

First I want to thank Solaris for the ARC. This was my first venture in to a fantasy book about pirates and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story captured my attention the entire time and had a twist I was not expecting. The main character Morgana was perfectly flawed and had the perfect curse phrase I will probably be using in real life. Hope to see this as a series. Highly recommend.

A great pirate story! Faced with challenges in the form of both people and be outside works, this was a great and entertaining journey.

Firstly, I should mention that I’ve read Saltblood this year and as a near-perfect 5 star, gender-bending, romantic, beautiful, intelligent pirate adventure, it will affect my judgement of similar books, even if it shouldn’t.

So that’s the first point. Because The Vengeance really is mainly a pirate adventure, and that is definitely its strength, and the part I enjoyed the most. It’s clearly very well researched, with great characters and a good story line, which makes it a joy to read. Post-arrival in France though… meh. Everything unfolds very quickly (the MC meeting the love of her life; the death of her father, etc) even before we get to what’s been advertised as the main part of the story (finding her mother, realising she is a vampire, etc). Spending a relatively short period of time with these new, very significant characters in the MC’s life does make it a bit more difficult to buy into their relationships, as well as feeling like a lost opportunity to indulge a little in the interpersonal here.

As others have already pointed out, the vampire aspect isn’t even introduced until the last 10% of the book, and rather a lot is asked of the reader in terms of suspending their disbelief that a young (however piratey and capable) woman is able to destroy two of the most powerful vampires in the land within mere moments of meeting them. It’s hard to believe, and a lot less enjoyable for it. I would have liked some twists and turns at the end! Maybe these will appear in the sequel, but to be honest, the story is pretty much wrapped up in the end and personally, I think I’ll leave it there.

So I was definitely expecting more vampires but the book its self was still really good I loved everything about the pirates!! If you like pirates and adventure you’ll like this book