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.

Introducing the Vampire of Dumas. This is the first book that follows Morgane, a pirate who unravels the truth of her family.

I really liked the concept and the start of the book but the pacing and ending felt too rushed for me. I liked the characters but didn’t connect on a deeper level that had me fearing for them at every twist and turn.

Overall an enjoyable read 3.5/5

3.5 stars

THE VENGEANCE is a fast-paced, fun title, but sadly with very little of the promised vampires.

The book is very fast paced, racing from one disaster to another. Morgane makes a series of impulsive - and sometimes incredibly stupid - decisions that propel the book along, barely taking a moment to think. It is very in character (and I enjoyed Morgane's "this is so stupid" approach to high society) and also propels the plot along.

Morgane's opinions on high society also let the book explore the class structure of the 17th century (and beyond!) Her views on the nobility and their taxes are very spot on, but presented in a humourous manner to match the fish out of water tone that occasionally appears.

For a book that was advertised as having vampires, it practically doesn't. The final two chapters involve a mild amount of vampires and that's it. It was pretty disappointing - I wanted to read about pirate vampires.

There is a sequel coming to this. The book does wrap up but I think I saw it was a multibook deal. If there is a sequel I hope there will be more vampires. It certainly feels like we haven't seen the last of them.

I picked up this novel after seeing that it was about pirates and vampires in the world of Alexandre Dumas.

We follow female lead Morgane who grew up on a pirate ship. When her mother is killed, she goes on a quest for vengeance that will cause her to uncover her own origins.

This was a quick read. As the paranormal elements don't appear until the second half of the book, it almost reads as two separate stories: the swashbuckling adventures of pirate Morgane who, like Tarzan, finds herself thrust into the 'civilised' world and a paranormal intrigue with vampires and werewolves. Although it is the first book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. There are not many elements of Alexandre Dumas in the story itself, aside from it being set in the time period of his works.

A recommended read for fans of sapphic pirate romance with paranormal elements.

Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thankyou to Rebellion & Netgalley for an arc in exchange for my thoughts.

I enjoyed the first part of this novel which followed Morgane and her life as a pirate on the high seas. In the second part, we saw her travel to France and I felt this section of the book struggled a bit with pacing, dialogue and romance.

This book is marketed as paranormal and the series is titled vampires, but it takes a long time until we see any paranormal action. It almost felt like reading two seperate books. I felt that the first half (the pirate half) was quite well done. The side characters were developed and interesting, and I could understand Morgane's relation ship with them all. There was adventure and there were areas for character development.

Then Morgane travels to France to discover her parentage. This second half felt rushed and underdone. The characters here were superficial, and I was so confused with the back and forth in the dialogue. There were portions and characters that were unreliable to trust, but not in a good way unfortunately. It is also a very long time until we see any romance or paranormal activity which both aspects also felt rushed and underdone.

Narration:
Single character third person POV

Tropes:
- Pirates
- Hidden bloodlines
- found family
- paranormal

I came for the high seas adventures of lesbian pirates and vampires. I stayed for the flammable brandy and bumbo!

This is a strange novel from a familiar author - Emma Newman is famous for her "Planetfall" series, which is part of my enormous pile o' stuff to read. So I was expecting great things, and I did get some of it. "The Vengeance" is a swashbuckling tale, much stronger in the first half of the story where our young heroine, Morgane, is a daring captain's daughter who gets caught up in a quest to find her real mother. But as the story progressed, it had pacing issues that made the tale stretch out a bit. Additionally, Morgane as a character was quite the foolhardy young thing, rushing off into danger and acting the fool a bit too often for my tastes. Perhaps it was her age - she's a young girl who's been raised on a pirate ship, so her manners and tastes run to spit, calling people barnacles, and running people through with a sword. Which is all fun, until you realize that it doesn't quite work when you find yourself in civilized France hunting for a noblewoman.

The ending felt a rushed, and it's only at the very end of the book that Morgane meets her mother, understands what's really going on, and burns the house of cards down. Vengeance, after all, can be flammable brandy and some bumbo. Overall, I enjoyed the book, even the hard candy happy ending that was a bit too sweet for my tastes.

The Vengeance is an enjoyable romp by Emma Newman, a flintlock fantasy about a pirate girl’s quest to find her long-lost birth mother. The publisher’s tagline calls it a “swashbuckling adventure set in a version of Alexandre Dumas’s world haunted by vampires” but there isn’t any real hint of the supernatural in the text until about two-thirds of the way through. So if you’re primarily interested in horror, or if you’re really not into pirates, this may not be the book for you. If you enjoy a feisty female protagonist getting into fish-out-of-water misadventures, plus sapphic romance, keep reading.

Anna-Marie, the pirate captain who raised her, confesses on her deathbed that she had stolen Morgane from her real mother, whom she calls a monster. But Morgane finds a letter from her birth mother begging for her return and hinting at her own safety concerns. There are various other puzzlements, such as why Anna-Marie had exclusively attacked one trading company’s ships (beyond saying that the owner had ruined her life). However, since Morgane has never run into any situation she can’t handle (albeit with the backing of her fellow pirates), she decides to go and rescue her birth mother.

By Chapter Five, Morgane is on her way to France. Once she gets there, she runs into trouble almost immediately; she doesn’t have any idea how many people are going to want to use her, and she knows nothing of how feudalism works. She doesn’t understand why the peasants don’t just vote out their tyrannical lords, the way a pirate crew would reject any pirate captain who wasn’t fair to them. She’s very worldly in some ways, but very naive in others.

Note: Morgane tells this story (first person past tense), and she is almost entirely uncritical of the pirate code and lifestyle throughout. She’s rightly proud of how capable it’s made her, but she only feels mild regret for the deaths she’s caused after someone whose lover was killed berates her, and that’s brief. After seeing the vast inequality of wealth in France, she’s sure that trading ships just make rich people richer, so they’re legitimate targets.

Anyway, Morgane eventually finds a few people who will help her navigate the treacherous tides of French society, and makes her way toward the estate where she believes her mother is being held. Things turn out very differently from how she had thought, with some shocking scenes and revelations, but with her pistols, sword, dagger, fierce will, and the power of love, Morgane achieves a happy ending.

The publisher lists The Vengeance, which comes out May 6, as Book #1 of The Vampires of Dumas, but it works perfectly well as a standalone novel. There are one or two minor dangling plot threads I can think of, plus the likelihood that Morgane will encounter more supernatural and worldly threats in the future, but all the current major perils have been vanquished and the emotional arcs resolved satisfactorily by the end of this book.

The Vengeance by Emma Newman is a book that I dove into immediately. Sapphics, Pirates, Vampires? What more could someone want?

This book !!!! I want to scream!! The relationship between Lisette and Morgane is so beautifully developed, and my only wish for this book is that it’d been longer. The ending is so perfect and I loved the writing in this.