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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finished reading: June 11th 2018
"All that water, bits of land - so many places she could be in this new world. But for all of Anne's geography lessons, Mary was still hopeless at figuring out where exactly she might fit in it."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Sky Pony Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
Spoiler
I love a good pirate story and the blurb of The Unbinding Of Mary Reade sounds just as fantastic as the gorgeous cover, so I've been really excited to finally read this one. And with its f/f romance, I thought it would be a perfect story to read during pride month as well. Alas it seems like it wasn't ment to be. I didn't check the reviews before starting this one, or at least I would have been warned... Because The Unbinding Of Mary Reade unfortunately turned out to be quite a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I still love the idea behind this book, the possibilities of the setting, the f/f romance, the characters... But the execution was just completely off for me. I will try to explain why this book didn't work for me below. First of all, I struggled with the writing style, which felt halted with dialogues that didn't seem natural. The use of 'bad grammar' in the dialogues only distracted (aka annoyed) me instead of adding the right historical atmosphere. Also, the constant switching back and forth in time was really distracting and made it hard to stay focused on the main plot. Especially since the chapters set in London basically didn't add anything substantial to the story and were extremely dull. In fact, I found the story in general quite boring, and how is that possible for a story with gay pirates in it?? For a book about pirates, there were almost no action scenes or even scenes on a boat included in the plot. And that was quite a disappointment, since there was basically nothing of note to fill this huge hole of lack of action. Ok, characters. The characters in general lacked development and were rather bland. Anne almost felt like a caricature and while Mary had all the potential of being a fascinating character, she mostly fell flat for me and I wasn't able to believe either of their feelings or actions. This lack of credibility extends to the other characters as well. Also, trigger warnings are in place for homophobia, transphobia, (sexual) abuse and sexism in general. I get that we are talking about an 18th century setting, but this was just too much. In short, while I still love the idea behind this story, the execution was rather poorly and The Unbinding Of Mary Reade turned out to be a rather chaoticly written, dull and not credible love story. Did I expect this reaction? No, but unfortunately I can't change the way I feel about this one.
When Mary was really young, her mother saw no other way to keep their mouths fed than to disguise her little girl as a boy and pass her off as her dead child Mark. Mark has a wealthy granny that will take care of her only grandchild and heir... So there is no place for a girl in Mary's world, and she has to be Mark at all time to not see her life fall apart. This gets harder as the years go on and she falls in love with her childhood friend Nat. And when she is discovered, she flees London with Nat and boards a Caribbean merchant ship as a sailor. But what will the future bring?
I keep repeating: I still love the idea behind this story and I truly wish I could have enjoyed The Unbinding Of Mary Reade better. Unfortunately, I found the execution lacking in various ways, and I had a hard time finishing this one. Between the chaotic writing style that didn't flow, a rather dull plot, bland characters, lack of action and a not so credible display of emotions, I can't say I was impressed. Where were the pirates, were was the action? Why did we have to read so much about Mary's past in London, if her life on the Caribbean Sea is what really counts for this story? Why wasn't there more focus on Mary and Anne? Why the excessive amount of sexism, homophobia, transphobia and sexual assault? The tone for this supposedly YA rated story was completely off, especially since Mary felt younger than the age group during most of the story. All in all not the story I was hoping for.
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I like pirate stories, so no big complaints from me.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I received an early copy of this book from Edelweiss.
I don't read a lot of historical fiction so this was something a bit different for me. I'm glad I read this book because I enjoyed it. It was a pretty good overall read. I can't say anything specific stuck out to me because, even with the attractive premise, the writing as a whole was average. The story as a whole just felt average to me. I'd still recommend picking it up FOR SURE but the writing does not blow me away. It's still a great book that I'm glad I got the chance to read.
I don't read a lot of historical fiction so this was something a bit different for me. I'm glad I read this book because I enjoyed it. It was a pretty good overall read. I can't say anything specific stuck out to me because, even with the attractive premise, the writing as a whole was average. The story as a whole just felt average to me. I'd still recommend picking it up FOR SURE but the writing does not blow me away. It's still a great book that I'm glad I got the chance to read.
You can read my full review on my blog, The Writerly Way, here.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sky Pony Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
This book sounded absolutely perfect. Pirates? Yes. *Female* pirates? Heeeeck yes. Add a little F/F romance, and I was so sure I would love it. Spoiler alert: I ... didn't. The biggest problem for me was that I didn't realize the focus of the book was going to be on said romance rather than the fun piratey things I was hoping for. It was mostly a case of where expectations just didn't match with reality.
- I thought this book was going to be about pirates, and it was … kind of? But mostly, it was a romance. Had I known that this plot largely focused on the romance and less on the piratey goodness, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. Honestly, this is likely why my rating is so low. I don’t enjoy romance books, for the most part. That’s why I tend to avoid them, unless they come highly recommended by people with similar reading tastes. I couldn’t even get behind this romance, because it felt very much like one party was simply using the other, and it seemed like the book was trying to say that this was just … okay.
- Mary’s character arc was lovely, where she has to go from being what’s expected of her to finding herself. It was sort of like a coming of age, except not quite. For her entire life, everything has depended on her pretending to be something she’s not and can never be, and wow has that left some scars. Little by little, though, she rediscovers the person she actually wants to be, and lets go of the expectations others have placed on her. The transformation was lovely to watch, and she was very easy to root for in that regard.
- For a book about pirates, there’s surprisingly little pirate action … but what little there was, I enjoyed. There’s a little swashbuckling swordplay afoot, which was enjoyable. Mostly, the focus was on the politics of pirates, and that was actually pretty fascinating to watch. It’s quite the struggle. Most of the book, though, I felt like it really dragged, because the focus was on these two women struggling with societal issues, and they weren’t all that interesting to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good social commentary, and it can fit in with other things, but this felt more social commentary than pirate novel, and I thought I was signing up to watch two badass female pirates fall in love. Not listen to a diatribe against the patriarchy.
- I could sympathize with these characters, but none of them really grabbed me. The situations a lot of them end up in suck, and I feel really bad for them. I want better for them just because … well, I’m human, I suppose, and it’s nice for people not to have really crappy lives and to be able to catch a break? But I didn’t feel particularly attached to any of these characters. Mostly, they just frustrated me more than anything because of their choices and whatnot.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Sky Pony Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
This book sounded absolutely perfect. Pirates? Yes. *Female* pirates? Heeeeck yes. Add a little F/F romance, and I was so sure I would love it. Spoiler alert: I ... didn't. The biggest problem for me was that I didn't realize the focus of the book was going to be on said romance rather than the fun piratey things I was hoping for. It was mostly a case of where expectations just didn't match with reality.
- I thought this book was going to be about pirates, and it was … kind of? But mostly, it was a romance. Had I known that this plot largely focused on the romance and less on the piratey goodness, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. Honestly, this is likely why my rating is so low. I don’t enjoy romance books, for the most part. That’s why I tend to avoid them, unless they come highly recommended by people with similar reading tastes. I couldn’t even get behind this romance, because it felt very much like one party was simply using the other, and it seemed like the book was trying to say that this was just … okay.
- Mary’s character arc was lovely, where she has to go from being what’s expected of her to finding herself. It was sort of like a coming of age, except not quite. For her entire life, everything has depended on her pretending to be something she’s not and can never be, and wow has that left some scars. Little by little, though, she rediscovers the person she actually wants to be, and lets go of the expectations others have placed on her. The transformation was lovely to watch, and she was very easy to root for in that regard.
- For a book about pirates, there’s surprisingly little pirate action … but what little there was, I enjoyed. There’s a little swashbuckling swordplay afoot, which was enjoyable. Mostly, the focus was on the politics of pirates, and that was actually pretty fascinating to watch. It’s quite the struggle. Most of the book, though, I felt like it really dragged, because the focus was on these two women struggling with societal issues, and they weren’t all that interesting to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good social commentary, and it can fit in with other things, but this felt more social commentary than pirate novel, and I thought I was signing up to watch two badass female pirates fall in love. Not listen to a diatribe against the patriarchy.
- I could sympathize with these characters, but none of them really grabbed me. The situations a lot of them end up in suck, and I feel really bad for them. I want better for them just because … well, I’m human, I suppose, and it’s nice for people not to have really crappy lives and to be able to catch a break? But I didn’t feel particularly attached to any of these characters. Mostly, they just frustrated me more than anything because of their choices and whatnot.
I’m not going to lie, I did only read this for the lesbian romance plot. That however, wasn’t enough for me to confidently say I enjoyed the book. My main issue was with the book flitting between different years. I think arranging the chapters in a more chronological order would have improved my enjoyment of the book no end. I didn’t really warm to any of the characters and really struggled to get into the book as a whole. It almost felt like a fictional retelling of a historical event that was still a bit dry like non-fiction.