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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Gah...my heart is so freaking full after finishing this book!!! I went into it expecting a story telling the tale of a girl who wasn’t quite sure who she was, and that’s exactly what I got! I also got some epic pirate scenes, some forbidden romance, and an ending that put a ginormous smile on my face! There were definitely some tough scenes (it is set in the 1700s after all), but they just made the story more real for me! I loved the characters, and I loved seeing Mary’s character evolve!
If you’re looking for a great LGBTQ story and you also love pirates, you’ll love this one! Just don’t go into it expecting all pirates, all the time. :D
If you’re looking for a great LGBTQ story and you also love pirates, you’ll love this one! Just don’t go into it expecting all pirates, all the time. :D
First let me thank Netgalley, Miriam McNamara and Sky Pony Press for this ARC ebook.
I was entranced by the idea, championing the LGBTQ romance, fell in love with the cover, and was ready to fall in love with this book. The problem was I didn't fall in love, I didn't even come to like it till I got towards the end and by then my crush on "The Unbinding Of Mary Reade" was no more.
McNamara had a great idea in taking the real-life Mary Reade and Anne Bonny and writing a book about them which is why I read this but I didn't get a pirate fantasy that would take the reader from meet-cute to sailing, fighting against the social system, and pirating the high seas and that is regrettable because I would have more than likely loved it.
What I did get from McNamara was a lukewarm set of characters that just didn't feel like they fit into the roles. Her Anne Bonny came across as petulant selfish, and childish child-woman while the side characters were bland.
Although I saw the need to introduce Mary in flashbacks as she pulls off the transition to Mark and becoming a sailor, the flashbacks as they were presented became less interesting to me as I read further especially in terms of her love for Nat as Mary and Anne as Mark.
I understood Mary's confusion, loving two people as she herself was also two people and uncomfortable in both skins. McNamara wrote that confusion very well and I was fine to have her walking that fine line because the "romance" unfortunately felt forced on both sides and I despised both Nat and Anne because they both ended up using Reade for their own needs just as much as I despised Reade for allowing it.
For a book about pirates, I hate to admit that there is very little action or actual pirating written and it lead for a longer read than I normally would have liked. In addition, my lack of reading was also dampened by the back and forth chapters as McNamara would switch time periods from chapter to chapter and in some cases lose whatever steam to excitement there might have been.
I do want to reiterate that I loved the premise of this idea as it's a good one based one two real-life female pirates and I'm a fan of wanting more female-driven women fighting against stereotypes but this wasn't that.
I was entranced by the idea, championing the LGBTQ romance, fell in love with the cover, and was ready to fall in love with this book. The problem was I didn't fall in love, I didn't even come to like it till I got towards the end and by then my crush on "The Unbinding Of Mary Reade" was no more.
McNamara had a great idea in taking the real-life Mary Reade and Anne Bonny and writing a book about them which is why I read this but I didn't get a pirate fantasy that would take the reader from meet-cute to sailing, fighting against the social system, and pirating the high seas and that is regrettable because I would have more than likely loved it.
What I did get from McNamara was a lukewarm set of characters that just didn't feel like they fit into the roles. Her Anne Bonny came across as petulant selfish, and childish child-woman while the side characters were bland.
Although I saw the need to introduce Mary in flashbacks as she pulls off the transition to Mark and becoming a sailor, the flashbacks as they were presented became less interesting to me as I read further especially in terms of her love for Nat as Mary and Anne as Mark.
I understood Mary's confusion, loving two people as she herself was also two people and uncomfortable in both skins. McNamara wrote that confusion very well and I was fine to have her walking that fine line because the "romance" unfortunately felt forced on both sides and I despised both Nat and Anne because they both ended up using Reade for their own needs just as much as I despised Reade for allowing it.
For a book about pirates, I hate to admit that there is very little action or actual pirating written and it lead for a longer read than I normally would have liked. In addition, my lack of reading was also dampened by the back and forth chapters as McNamara would switch time periods from chapter to chapter and in some cases lose whatever steam to excitement there might have been.
I do want to reiterate that I loved the premise of this idea as it's a good one based one two real-life female pirates and I'm a fan of wanting more female-driven women fighting against stereotypes but this wasn't that.
A good start to the story of Mary and Anne. The non-chronological narrative was not overly necessary.
*2.5 stars
This book is about Mary Reade who dressed up as a boy for her whole life, because her mother didn’t want a daughter but a son. Her grandmother thinks she has a grandson, instead of a granddaughter, and pays her to visit (as a boy). This is the only income she and her mother have. At some point she decides to join a privateer (?) ship, as a boy, with a friend of hers. At some point they are split up, and her goal is to find him again. She ends up in a fight with another ship; during the fight she sees that one of the attackers is actually a girl. So she decides to kill her own captain, and join this female pirate. The story takes off from there.
What I thought:
For a pirate book I expected a lot of action, in which this book really disappointed me..
This book starts in the middle of a fighting scene, which was great. And later on there was another small fighting scene, I would say may 35 pages total of action?
Besides those fighting scenes the book mainly focuses on all the love dynamics, which was still interesting but not what I wanted from this book.
Recommend for: readers who like romance, with not a lot of action.
This book contains bisexual representation. Be aware This book also contains a lot of homophobia and sexism (which is accurate for the time, but just so you know).
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this e-arc, all opinions are my own
This book is about Mary Reade who dressed up as a boy for her whole life, because her mother didn’t want a daughter but a son. Her grandmother thinks she has a grandson, instead of a granddaughter, and pays her to visit (as a boy). This is the only income she and her mother have. At some point she decides to join a privateer (?) ship, as a boy, with a friend of hers. At some point they are split up, and her goal is to find him again. She ends up in a fight with another ship; during the fight she sees that one of the attackers is actually a girl. So she decides to kill her own captain, and join this female pirate. The story takes off from there.
What I thought:
For a pirate book I expected a lot of action, in which this book really disappointed me..
This book starts in the middle of a fighting scene, which was great. And later on there was another small fighting scene, I would say may 35 pages total of action?
Besides those fighting scenes the book mainly focuses on all the love dynamics, which was still interesting but not what I wanted from this book.
Recommend for: readers who like romance, with not a lot of action.
This book contains bisexual representation. Be aware This book also contains a lot of homophobia and sexism (which is accurate for the time, but just so you know).
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this e-arc, all opinions are my own
(Disclaimer: I received this free book from Edelweiss. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
If you are expecting a pirate adventure that is non-stop adventure - then this might not be for you. Don't get me wrong, there's action scenes and killing abound - but what truly lies at the heart of this story is more of a romance plot line. That didn't mean I hated it, but it just wasn't what I was expecting.
Moving on to the review, because there was more of an emphasis on romantic elements, the characters were particularly important - and none as important as Mary. Mary was a fascinating character not only because she is bisexual, but she is also questioning this sort of gender fluid identity (as someone who isn't part of either of this group, I cannot speak to the accuracy of these). But she's not only reduced to her diversity, she's also an intriguing character because, in many ways, she's beyond her time. This is still the time in period where homosexuality is executionable.
And writing wise, there's two different timelines in the book - the past and the present. The past deals with Mary's history, why she becomes a pirate, and her desire to get to Nassou. In the present we unfold her journeys and the new relationships she forms. This unique dynamic helps reveal the intricacies of Mary's character and internal dilemmas.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/review-unbinding-mary-reade-miriam-mcnamara/
If you are expecting a pirate adventure that is non-stop adventure - then this might not be for you. Don't get me wrong, there's action scenes and killing abound - but what truly lies at the heart of this story is more of a romance plot line. That didn't mean I hated it, but it just wasn't what I was expecting.
Moving on to the review, because there was more of an emphasis on romantic elements, the characters were particularly important - and none as important as Mary. Mary was a fascinating character not only because she is bisexual, but she is also questioning this sort of gender fluid identity (as someone who isn't part of either of this group, I cannot speak to the accuracy of these). But she's not only reduced to her diversity, she's also an intriguing character because, in many ways, she's beyond her time. This is still the time in period where homosexuality is executionable.
And writing wise, there's two different timelines in the book - the past and the present. The past deals with Mary's history, why she becomes a pirate, and her desire to get to Nassou. In the present we unfold her journeys and the new relationships she forms. This unique dynamic helps reveal the intricacies of Mary's character and internal dilemmas.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/review-unbinding-mary-reade-miriam-mcnamara/
I was expecting a lot more from this, but ended up not minding it at all.
The writing is perfectly readable and well paced, so that’s not an issue.
My biggest fault with this novel was the forced romance between Anne Bonny and Mary Reade, and the overall treatment of Anne Bonny as a character.
To start, I was hoping the author would show Anne as more of a strong, independent, mentor to Mary since she was historically one of the most infamous female pirates. But the author made it seem like she only latched onto Jack to save her from an abusive marriage and used her sexuality to let him keep her with him. I would have much preferred an Anne who loved Jack but was also strong, domineering pirate in her own right. Anne was a fairly weak, annoying character in this story and there wasn’t any character chemistry between her and Mary to begin with - so the sexual tension felt off.
Otherwise it was fine. Just not as good as I was hoping.
The writing is perfectly readable and well paced, so that’s not an issue.
My biggest fault with this novel was the forced romance between Anne Bonny and Mary Reade, and the overall treatment of Anne Bonny as a character.
To start, I was hoping the author would show Anne as more of a strong, independent, mentor to Mary since she was historically one of the most infamous female pirates. But the author made it seem like she only latched onto Jack to save her from an abusive marriage and used her sexuality to let him keep her with him. I would have much preferred an Anne who loved Jack but was also strong, domineering pirate in her own right. Anne was a fairly weak, annoying character in this story and there wasn’t any character chemistry between her and Mary to begin with - so the sexual tension felt off.
Otherwise it was fine. Just not as good as I was hoping.
This review, and many others, can be found at Lost in My Library. I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Oh, this is exactly what I have wanted for so long! Not only queer historical fiction, but queer historical fiction based on real people! And from what I've read (which is admittedly not much), a lot of the events on the book are based on real events.
It was a bit hard for me to get my bearings at first. I love stories told in multiple times at once, but there was enough ambiguity at the beginning of both of the stories that I had some trouble figuring out exactly what was going on. Once I did, though, I was fully engrossed in Mary's adventures and very excited to find out what would happen.
One thing I really loved about this is that Mary and Anne didn't always do things that I could root for. Even with that, I always wanted to root for them, and it really helped them become fully-developed characters. It also made it so that I never quite knew what was going to happen next, even when I had a general idea of where the story was going.
If you're looking for more queer books, or more historical fiction, I would definitely recommend this book!
CONTENT WARNINGS: Sexual assault, domestic violence
Oh, this is exactly what I have wanted for so long! Not only queer historical fiction, but queer historical fiction based on real people! And from what I've read (which is admittedly not much), a lot of the events on the book are based on real events.
It was a bit hard for me to get my bearings at first. I love stories told in multiple times at once, but there was enough ambiguity at the beginning of both of the stories that I had some trouble figuring out exactly what was going on. Once I did, though, I was fully engrossed in Mary's adventures and very excited to find out what would happen.
One thing I really loved about this is that Mary and Anne didn't always do things that I could root for. Even with that, I always wanted to root for them, and it really helped them become fully-developed characters. It also made it so that I never quite knew what was going to happen next, even when I had a general idea of where the story was going.
If you're looking for more queer books, or more historical fiction, I would definitely recommend this book!
CONTENT WARNINGS: Sexual assault, domestic violence
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Violence
Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia
Minor: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship
The premise of this book was strong. A retelling of the true story of a girl who disguised herself as a boy and ended up on the pirate ship, falling in love with Anne Bonny. Unfortunately the execution was lacking.
I'm sorry, but this book was boring. The dialogue felt stilted and there just was no action.
I had the feeling of reading a draft, rather than the finished book.
Still, I liked the idea behind the book.
I'm sorry, but this book was boring. The dialogue felt stilted and there just was no action.
I had the feeling of reading a draft, rather than the finished book.
Still, I liked the idea behind the book.