I debated a bit about what I thought of The Vengeance and how I would rate it. It was well written, but I wanted more. I went into it anticipating book 1 in a vampire series, but came out wondering why it took so long to get to the point where we actually saw any vampires—or even knew they existed—although to be fair, if the cover didn’t literally say “The Vampires of Dumas” on it this wouldn’t have bothered me at all. I loved how cheeky and brash Morgane was, and Lisette was adorable, but I wanted more character development overall. I really loved the first third or so of the book and the conclusion was great, but the in-between was so busy and convoluted that it didn’t leave enough room to focus on the details or the development of Morgane and Lisette’s relationship. Overall I did enjoy it and will read the next book when it comes out, so I’m going with a hesitant 4-star rating.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I was very intrigued by the blurb on this book. The beginning hooked me. Morgane seemed like a strong female character and her 'mother' seemed very interesting, and who doesn't like pirates? Then suddenly, 1/4 of the way through, there's no more pirates, Morgane has done a complete 180 character change and she's not a strong female character anymore, and has completely forgotten how to be independent and became very annoying. There was nothing 'paranormal' until about 85% of the way through the book. There were a couple of interesting twists, but to be honest, I wish I'd DNF'd this one after the main character did a personality flip.

Emma Newman is an author who has dabbled in various genres, from the Regency fantasy of the 'Split Worlds' series, to the sci-fi, space-set 'Planetfall' books. This time she has produced an odd mash up of pre-revolution France, pirates, and some supernatural elements. The story starts with the protagonist, Morgane, on her mother's pirate ship, about to raid another luckless vessel. But soon her mother is dead, various secrets are revealed, and Morgane is on her way to France to a society she has no concept of and with her heart set on revenge.

The different elements don't sit together very well, with the more supernatural bits brought in very late and not particularly well explained. There is little nuance in the characters, although Morgane is a likeable enough heroine. The pacing also felt off. I assumed it was the first in a series, and the pacing seemed to match that, with a lot of build up. I expected the end to be inconclusive, setting up for another episode. But it seems that this was a one off, and as such the ending felt rushed and with lots of unanswered questions. I also found it implausible that Morgane would behave as incautiously and naively as she did at certain points. It's true she didn't understand French society, but she was supposed to be savvy and bright, and if anything her lack of knowledge should have made her even more suspicious of those around her

On the positive side, it's quite compelling, I did feel mildly invested in Morgane and her quest, and interested in how things would turn out. I just wish the ending had been more fleshed out, or maybe that Newman had spread the story over two books. It felt like good story opportunities were missed out on.

If you love fantasy, particularly anything involving France in the relevant period or pirates, then this would be worth reading. I don't think it's strong enough to recommend to readers without a special interest in those things - there is too much strong competition. But Newman's other novels are definitely worth reading, and would be a better investment of time than this one.

Morgane’s mother was a pirate with a mission. No matter the weather, no matter how tired the crew or how full the ship was with booty, she would never pass up the chance to destroy a Four Chains ship. It was foolish, it was annoying, it was infuriating … and in the end, it was that very same obsession that cost Morgane’s mother her life. On her deathbed, though, her mother revealed an unhappy truth: she wasn’t actually Morgane’s mother. She was her aunt, and had stolen Morgane away from her sister when she was born. With only a last warning that her birth mother was a monster … the woman who had raised Morgane died.

Torn between a desire for vengeance and an uncertain hope, Morgane leaves the ship she was raised on and heads to France, looking for her mother. What should have been simple enough — get off the ship, go find the man her mother hired to find her, and get taken to her mother — turns into several kidnapping attempts, a brief period of unconsciousness, and a frustration with all things French.

The only bright spot is Lisette, hired to be Morgane’s governess and companion. Lisette who is too easy to scandalize, too sweet and kind to survive on her own, and whose smiles and kisses make Morgane want to never leave her side. But there’s still the matter of finding Morgane’s mother. Is she the monster everyone says she is, or is she held captive, as her hidden letters claim?

This is the first book in the Vampires of Dumas series, taking place in a pre-revolutionary France where pirates roam the seas, nobles host decadent balls, and bandits roam the woods. There are evil landlords, smugglers and seamstresses, and — eventually — vampires. But don’t go into this book looking for a vampire story, because that’s not the focus, and really, the vampires are the weakest part of this book. The strongest part is its character work and the slow relationship between Morgane and Lisette.

Morgane lives the life of any child chaffing under the control of a beloved parent, only to have her world turned upside down by losing that same person. Finding out the truth is like a gut punch, and Morgane spends several chapters trying to avoid thinking about it, and several more coming to terms with how she feels about her aunt and about her whole life. She spends chapters wondering about her mother, about the letters her aunt hid from her, and even grieving the life she lost.

Morgane isn’t educated, but she’s not stupid. She’s an idealist, offended at how landed nobility (because she’s always lived on the sea) profit off the people who work their land. The injustice and inequality offends her, having been raised on a ship where her aunt ran things with democracy and fair treatment. Morgane’s ruthless in battle, killing people when attacked; she’s blunt, vulgar, and generally good natured. If someone treats her with kindness, she’ll offer the same right back. She’s pleasantly imperfect and has a strong voice.

Lisette is a governess hired to turn Morgane into someone suitable for society, only to have so many things go sideways that’s it’s a wonder she handled it with as much aplomb as she did. Gently raised, though not noble, Lisette knows how to navigate the worlds of society both high and low. She’s patient, stubborn, even tempered, and prone to mercy where Morgane might be more inclined to simply eliminate a threat.

Their romance starts as a friendship. Both of them are lonely and vulnerable, with only the other woman to rely on, but neither of them are fainting flowers. Even as they’re working their way across France, Lisette is determined to teach Morgane to read, which ends up tying into a very nice plot point later on. However, while I enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book as a slow road trip where mysteries were slowly being tossed out like breadcrumbs, the ending fell apart in a very clumsy manner that left me with my final impression of this story being how poorly the climax was handled, rather than the rest of the book.

There is a point where Morgane makes a sudden leap of intuition with regard to her mother’s husband. It feels more like the author quickly tying up a plot point than a realization Morgane came to on her own. Reading that section over a second time, there was no set up, no clues as to how Morgane came to that understanding, no indication as to whether she was right or wrong until the very heavy-handed villain monologue where the scene has Morgane behaving in a way that feels more like something the plot had her do rather than the character reacting on her own.

So, I’m left with a feeling of disappointment that a promising story ended as it did. If you’re looking for a pirate story, this one is a good two-thirds of that; if you’re looking for a vampire story, this probably isn’t that, as the vampires are around for only the last ten percent or so. Honestly, this is a pass from me. But, as ever, if you decide to give it a try, I hope you enjoy it!

This was fun, mostly because I adored Morgane and her absolute no fucks given brashness. A literal fish out of water story of a girl raised as a literal pirate of the Caribbean, finding out she is the daughter of French nobility. In an attempt to "rescue" her birth mother, any number of people in mainland France try to kidnap her, which they invariably regret. Also gets a girlfriend out of a governess, and finds out that the monstrosity of aristocracy is littered with actual monsters. It's all fun and capers and hilarious outrage, except every element of this story except Morgane's characterization seems like an afterthought. The fantastical monsters element comes in WAY too late in the game, and resolved too easily. I wouldn't be as upset if the book didn't declare ON the cover as part of a series called "Vampires of Dumas", while SEVERELY lacking vampires and any obvious Dumas references. Not to mention that it reads as a standalone. Overall, enjoyable and fluffy, but without much of a solid identity.

I read this and honestly, it surprised me. It’s not your typical fast-paced, revenge driven story it’s slower, more introspective, and really leans into the emotional weight of everything the main character is going through. As someone who reads a lot, I appreciated that it took its time and didn’t try to force big twists just for the sake of drama. The atmosphere was heavy in the best way, and the writing had this quiet power to it. There were moments that dragged a little, and I wished some of the side characters had more depth, but overall, it really worked for me. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t shout it lingers. Solid 4 stars.

“The Vengeance” tells the story of Morgane, who was raised on a pirate ship and expects to be their captain one day. However, an attack results in the death of Morgane’s supposed mother, who upon her deathbed reveals she is actually Morgane’s aunt. Morgane is in fact French nobility and the heir to a massive shipping company, taken from her family and raised away from them. She travels back to the mainland to take her place in society and learns the dark secrets of the company she is to one day inherit. I found Morgane essentially a blank slate of a character who made decisions not out of any actual reason, but because those decisions were convenient for the plot. The plot itself dragged along until the very end, which felt rushed and left things unresolved.

The beginning was really strong. I loved reading about Morgane’s life on the Vengeance and how she navigated the pirate world as a girl. That part was gritty and fun, and I thought it would last longer. Honestly wish we’d spent more time with the crew and seen what happened after the captain’s death. Felt a bit rushed.

Morgane’s journey to find her mother started off compelling, but kind of lost momentum halfway through. And for a book with vampires in the series title, they don’t show up until the very end. I expected them to play a bigger role and actually feel like a threat or at least be part of the worldbuilding earlier on. That was a letdown.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Definitely has potential, but this one didn’t fully land for me.

The Vengeance is the first novel in a swashbuckling historical inspired fantasy series, The Vampires of Dumas, written by Emma Newman, and published by Solaris. A great adventure story that will be following Morgane on her journey across France trying to unveil the truth about her mother, while navigating a society where she's the outsider, coming from a pirate's life.

Morgane grew up at the sea, part of the Vengeance crew, a pirate ship that is the scourge of the Four Chains Trading Company; however, when Anne Marie, her adoptive mother, is mortally wounded, Morgane discovers she's not her mother as she believed. The captain of the ship was paid to bring Morgane home to France and to meet her real family; Morgane leaves the Vengeance, embarking on a journey across a society where she's the outsider, many deceptions from various sides, and to discover the dark truth about her mother and France's aristocracy.

Honestly, I feel Morgane a bit of a contradicting character; while I absolutely love how badass and how brave she's, especially when she doesn't really get many of the ideas behind Frech society (and correctly pointing many of the failures of the monarchical system), I was also a bit disappointed with how naïve she acted at moments, leading her to dangerous situations due to her overconfidence. Lisette, however, is a character that slowly grew in me, adorable at moments, but also that anchor that Morgane needed when the trust in herself evaporated, a resourceful person in the most unexpected of situations. The rest of the cast fills well their role, even if they might be a bit plain.

While the novel is a bit light on the speculative elements, I really enjoyed how well Newman played with the historical setting, and putting it from the perspective of an outsider also gave her the opportunity to point many of the contradictions of the moment. While the pacing is a bit weak at the middle, the beginning and the ending balance it, and there are excellent action sequences that will delight the readers.

The Vengeance is a really enjoyable novel, a story that establishes the setting for a bigger series that promises much, especially in terms of setting; if you are looking for a swashbuckling adventure, mild romance and some supernatural elements in your historical inspired fantasy, Emma Newman is your author.

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.