You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was in no way the wlw (or queer in general) kick-ass pirate adventure story I hoped for, nor was it the diverse historical fiction I love.
I've spent some time mulling how on earth an au/possible-universe queer pirate book didn't do it for me, and this is what I came up with. This isn't an-depth intellectual or a sociocultural examination of it (I'm so not the right person for that); this a dirty, unrefined super-spoilery, "let's English major this up" breakdown of my own reactions that would appall my alma matter.
[Spoilers, spoilers everywhere.]
I think it comes down to three things, none of which were appealing when combined for me. If maybe one of these three things had been different, I might've ended up liking or loving it. (I so wish it had been because I am still so in love with the idea of you, book. Only rating you two stars killed me a little.)
Thing #1: The plot falls into a consistent pattern, which is a repeated cycle of:
• Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Now, those aren't bad plot points, necessarily. I would've loved an adventure pirate book that touched on these. I would've loved a book that emphasized Mary exploring who she was with a side helping of the others! A steamy pirate romance book with a morally ambiguous Anne, even if Anne weren't necessarily likable, sounds cool! Considering the time period, I expected some mention or moments of danger Mary would likely be in for not fitting into gender norms or if she were caught posing as a man, because People.
But damn, the pattern in this was painful, because it felt like it was a constant pattern of threat to Mary because of gender issues (What will it be this time? Killed, raped, sent to prison, just plain killed?), with an unrewarding side of unhealthy romance and then just a dash of interesting identity issues repeated in various degrees with different levels of effectiveness. Even that might've been okay, if it weren't for #2.
Thing #2: The overall tone and how disproportionate the struggle/empowerment ratio was:
Before the 93% mark, however, it was a great deal of pain, cringing, and brief moments of "Well, maybe, Mary finally has the upper hand...? A little? Nope, not at all. Screwed again."
In most of these cases, that meant: maybe Mary will be killed or raped or thrown into prison or forced to live a miserable life in an emotional prison thanks to a dangerous society. In some of the cases, it meant that Anne was the one causing those circumstances (yet Mary was still like, "oh, I wish she wasn't so cute because all that pesky betrayal kind of dampens the mood.") or Anne was throwing a tantrum or just being plain mean.
Speaking of which, then we have Anne. We're introduced to her as this dynamic, striking Lady Pirate or Not Totally Masculine Pirate whose mere existence is a game-changer for Mary, as a beacon of hope! Then you discover that she's less "pirate" than she is "pirate's girlfriend on a pirate ship." Which, okay, disappointment, but life's complicated, right? She should be a very sympathetic character, who's trapped in this horrible predicament where the only weapon she sees herself as having is offering her sexuality to men, and the only way she'll ever be safe is to find and secure a man, even though it still keeps her in a vulnerable, subservient position. That could've been really interesting to explore. Instead, she comes off being... kind of cruel, shallow, and flat all at the same time?
The weird thing is that I love angst. I'm ridiculous about it. You can throw all sorts of obstacles at a character and I'm into it; I'm a huge fan of painful, uneasy stories without much reprieve. But I think having the plot pattern and this ratio combined, plus almost no actual pirating or adventure or Mary kicking ass otherwise in a pirate book, snuffed all the enjoyment out of the book. You're introduced to Mary/Mark, the "boy who shot the captain," and then nothing else happens to empower Mary until the very, very end. The few gains, minus Mary finding a job (which I did like), are mostly people having mercy on or saving Mary. (Plus, those are very minor gains.)
Then, at the end, you Mary running off with Anne and hoping that Anne doesn't end up betraying her or leaving her for something better or she's just using her, or they don't run into the same damn problems they did for the entire other 97% of the other book. So, you finally get "Mary the Potential Kick-Ass Pirate who loves herself no matter what gender she is or isn't, or will maybe, I hope, because this might not be the steadiest relationship to build one's life on?" and "Anne the Now Actual Pirate, maybe, hope she doesn't back out?" at the 97% mark. Woo-hoo?
Thing #3: There is no fail-safe.
Even with the first two things, I might've liked it with the right narrative voice, a rich setting, nuanced side characters, or the vivid details, but those were all nopes. Initially, I liked some of the side characters, but Jack just fizzled out, Paddy (who is maybe the only decent person in the whole thing) dies, the villains sucked, Nat turns out to be a douche to no one's surprise, and dude, everyone is an absolute ass to Bill. Like, seriously, maybe he's not the most sunshine sweet of people, but can no one stop and empathize for a minute that maybe the dude is concerned about being kidnapped against his will and enslaved into bondage again, and that's understandable? No one? Really?
As far as the pirating goes, I'd have to go back and look, but I think there were two barely described raids, they go to an island, they have some meetings, Jack and some others do some stuff off-page, they describe maintaining the ship (which I actually do like), and then they decide to take advantage of the pardon being offered, and that's it until Mary and Anne steal a ship at the end. So, you have this static plot and stale setting without any real motifs working. You could've had Mary posing as Mark, a worker at a shipyard or even a clerk at a dry goods store, and basically had the same book.
As far as narrative voice goes, I felt for Mary. I really did. But she wasn't a particularly captivating narrator and her voice didn't draw me in. Mostly, I wanted to sit Mary down for a long talk over some hot beverages and talk about life choices, especially in regards to cutting poisonous people like abusive mothers and manipulative or fair-weather love interests out of one's life.
Pros: Paddy (the only person I really liked throughout the book), some of the time jumps were good (which is something that doesn't always play well for me! So that's a good thing!), but, mostly... I still really love the concept and the fact that it was done.
Neutral/Possible Pro/Possible Con#1: I am a cisgender woman who identifies and passes as cisgender, so I don't feel comfortable in really judging any of this one way or another, but in regards to some of the gender thoughts and non-binary musings—some of Mary's thoughts, in general, were interesting and I think you could possibly identify Mary as genderqueer by today's standards (or go in that direction, at least). I do like the concept that what maybe started out as Mary's mother forcing her, then what turned into practicality, eventually became more about Mary's actual self to Mary. But it was such a shallow theme, and it wasn't explored much because of Anne's swishes.
Big Old Con with a Disclaimer: Also, as a cisgender woman who identifies and presents as cisgender, I don't feel comfortable judging how well everything was portrayed and the overall effect it might have on someone. With all the violence, danger, and sheer desolation associated with it for a good 97% of the book, I don't know how a transgender, non-cisgender, nonbinary, or genderqueer person, in particular, would feel about this book. I personally felt pretty damn crappy.
The Rest of the Cons: Um, well, if you've made it this far, I think you probably got the gist of it.
tl;dr: This was in no way the kick-ass queer pirate adventure story I hoped for, the diverse historical fiction I love, a steamy pirate romance, or an identity story with pirate adventuring on the side; it was boring and depressing, actually, and some things bothered me a lot. Someone else please take this general idea and run with it, though, please?
P.S. I originally reviewed this 3/9/18, but never posted it on here, and found it in my drafts folder. Whoops. Normally, I'd just dump it, but since it was close to the publishing date, I thought what the hell.
P.P.S. I'm still so happy that this is a thing. That sounds stupid, I know, but I love historical fiction, especially non-fantasy historical fiction, and it's so hard to find anything that isn't about cishet white heterosexual people and the same stories you've heard a million times before. I hope there are tons of writers out there busy at their keyboards, notebooks, typewriters, chalkboards, or whatever, getting busy writing realistic/non-fantasy historical fiction stories that are about the people who never are mentioned in any history books, because historical fiction needs it, both with YA and adult fiction.
P.P.S. I deleted my original pre-read and post-read commentary on this, because this is long AF. I also edited it once or twice for typos that I noticed.
I've spent some time mulling how on earth an au/possible-universe queer pirate book didn't do it for me, and this is what I came up with. This isn't an-depth intellectual or a sociocultural examination of it (I'm so not the right person for that); this a dirty, unrefined super-spoilery, "let's English major this up" breakdown of my own reactions that would appall my alma matter.
[Spoilers, spoilers everywhere.]
I think it comes down to three things, none of which were appealing when combined for me. If maybe one of these three things had been different, I might've ended up liking or loving it. (I so wish it had been because I am still so in love with the idea of you, book. Only rating you two stars killed me a little.)
Thing #1: The plot falls into a consistent pattern, which is a repeated cycle of:
• Mary is hiding her true identity—what horrible, scary (and likely violent) thing will happen when the truth comes out? • Gee, Anne is so cute with her pretty hair and her cute swishes and how she's a "femme lady" pirate in the way that she—a female-identifying person wearing a dress—exists on a pirate ship while wearing a dress and a snazzy hat, but she is also a horrible person, who you probably shouldn't trust to watch your snacks when you go to the bathroom, let alone with a life-threatening secret or your feelings. • Mary recognizes that Anne's basically not a great person, despite her cuteness and ability to pull off a dress and snazzy pirate hat, because Anne continues to do horrible thing after terrible thing, yet continues to be shocked when Anne does yet another horrible thing or terrible thing; Mary pursues Anne, anyway. • Mary's been used, abused, and defined by others all her life. Who is Mary really: a woman, Mark, or someone in between?
Now, those aren't bad plot points, necessarily. I would've loved an adventure pirate book that touched on these. I would've loved a book that emphasized Mary exploring who she was with a side helping of the others! A steamy pirate romance book with a morally ambiguous Anne, even if Anne weren't necessarily likable, sounds cool! Considering the time period, I expected some mention or moments of danger Mary would likely be in for not fitting into gender norms or if she were caught posing as a man, because People.
But damn, the pattern in this was painful, because it felt like it was a constant pattern of threat to Mary because of gender issues (What will it be this time? Killed, raped, sent to prison, just plain killed?), with an unrewarding side of unhealthy romance and then just a dash of interesting identity issues repeated in various degrees with different levels of effectiveness. Even that might've been okay, if it weren't for #2.
Thing #2: The overall tone and how disproportionate the struggle/empowerment ratio was:
I don't think I really had a solid "Oh, hell yeah, Mary!" moment until about the 93% mark (I literally went back and checked, because I marked it), and even then, I had reservations—it was more like a "Well, there you go, Mary... That's better, I guess?"
Before the 93% mark, however, it was a great deal of pain, cringing, and brief moments of "Well, maybe, Mary finally has the upper hand...? A little? Nope, not at all. Screwed again."
In most of these cases, that meant: maybe Mary will be killed or raped or thrown into prison or forced to live a miserable life in an emotional prison thanks to a dangerous society. In some of the cases, it meant that Anne was the one causing those circumstances (yet Mary was still like, "oh, I wish she wasn't so cute because all that pesky betrayal kind of dampens the mood.") or Anne was throwing a tantrum or just being plain mean.
Speaking of which, then we have Anne. We're introduced to her as this dynamic, striking Lady Pirate or Not Totally Masculine Pirate whose mere existence is a game-changer for Mary, as a beacon of hope! Then you discover that she's less "pirate" than she is "pirate's girlfriend on a pirate ship." Which, okay, disappointment, but life's complicated, right? She should be a very sympathetic character, who's trapped in this horrible predicament where the only weapon she sees herself as having is offering her sexuality to men, and the only way she'll ever be safe is to find and secure a man, even though it still keeps her in a vulnerable, subservient position. That could've been really interesting to explore. Instead, she comes off being... kind of cruel, shallow, and flat all at the same time?
The weird thing is that I love angst. I'm ridiculous about it. You can throw all sorts of obstacles at a character and I'm into it; I'm a huge fan of painful, uneasy stories without much reprieve. But I think having the plot pattern and this ratio combined, plus almost no actual pirating or adventure or Mary kicking ass otherwise in a pirate book, snuffed all the enjoyment out of the book. You're introduced to Mary/Mark, the "boy who shot the captain," and then nothing else happens to empower Mary until the very, very end. The few gains, minus Mary finding a job (which I did like), are mostly people having mercy on or saving Mary. (Plus, those are very minor gains.)
Then, at the end, you Mary running off with Anne and hoping that Anne doesn't end up betraying her or leaving her for something better or she's just using her, or they don't run into the same damn problems they did for the entire other 97% of the other book. So, you finally get "Mary the Potential Kick-Ass Pirate who loves herself no matter what gender she is or isn't, or will maybe, I hope, because this might not be the steadiest relationship to build one's life on?" and "Anne the Now Actual Pirate, maybe, hope she doesn't back out?" at the 97% mark. Woo-hoo?
Thing #3: There is no fail-safe.
Even with the first two things, I might've liked it with the right narrative voice, a rich setting, nuanced side characters, or the vivid details, but those were all nopes. Initially, I liked some of the side characters, but Jack just fizzled out, Paddy (who is maybe the only decent person in the whole thing) dies, the villains sucked, Nat turns out to be a douche to no one's surprise, and dude, everyone is an absolute ass to Bill. Like, seriously, maybe he's not the most sunshine sweet of people, but can no one stop and empathize for a minute that maybe the dude is concerned about being kidnapped against his will and enslaved into bondage again, and that's understandable? No one? Really?
As far as the pirating goes, I'd have to go back and look, but I think there were two barely described raids, they go to an island, they have some meetings, Jack and some others do some stuff off-page, they describe maintaining the ship (which I actually do like), and then they decide to take advantage of the pardon being offered, and that's it until Mary and Anne steal a ship at the end. So, you have this static plot and stale setting without any real motifs working. You could've had Mary posing as Mark, a worker at a shipyard or even a clerk at a dry goods store, and basically had the same book.
As far as narrative voice goes, I felt for Mary. I really did. But she wasn't a particularly captivating narrator and her voice didn't draw me in. Mostly, I wanted to sit Mary down for a long talk over some hot beverages and talk about life choices, especially in regards to cutting poisonous people like abusive mothers and manipulative or fair-weather love interests out of one's life.
Pros: Paddy (the only person I really liked throughout the book), some of the time jumps were good (which is something that doesn't always play well for me! So that's a good thing!), but, mostly... I still really love the concept and the fact that it was done.
Neutral/Possible Pro/Possible Con#1: I am a cisgender woman who identifies and passes as cisgender, so I don't feel comfortable in really judging any of this one way or another, but in regards to some of the gender thoughts and non-binary musings—some of Mary's thoughts, in general, were interesting and I think you could possibly identify Mary as genderqueer by today's standards (or go in that direction, at least). I do like the concept that what maybe started out as Mary's mother forcing her, then what turned into practicality, eventually became more about Mary's actual self to Mary. But it was such a shallow theme, and it wasn't explored much because of Anne's swishes.
Big Old Con with a Disclaimer: Also, as a cisgender woman who identifies and presents as cisgender, I don't feel comfortable judging how well everything was portrayed and the overall effect it might have on someone. With all the violence, danger, and sheer desolation associated with it for a good 97% of the book, I don't know how a transgender, non-cisgender, nonbinary, or genderqueer person, in particular, would feel about this book. I personally felt pretty damn crappy.
The Rest of the Cons: Um, well, if you've made it this far, I think you probably got the gist of it.
tl;dr: This was in no way the kick-ass queer pirate adventure story I hoped for, the diverse historical fiction I love, a steamy pirate romance, or an identity story with pirate adventuring on the side; it was boring and depressing, actually, and some things bothered me a lot. Someone else please take this general idea and run with it, though, please?
P.S. I originally reviewed this 3/9/18, but never posted it on here, and found it in my drafts folder. Whoops. Normally, I'd just dump it, but since it was close to the publishing date, I thought what the hell.
P.P.S. I'm still so happy that this is a thing. That sounds stupid, I know, but I love historical fiction, especially non-fantasy historical fiction, and it's so hard to find anything that isn't about cishet white heterosexual people and the same stories you've heard a million times before. I hope there are tons of writers out there busy at their keyboards, notebooks, typewriters, chalkboards, or whatever, getting busy writing realistic/non-fantasy historical fiction stories that are about the people who never are mentioned in any history books, because historical fiction needs it, both with YA and adult fiction.
P.P.S. I deleted my original pre-read and post-read commentary on this, because this is long AF. I also edited it once or twice for typos that I noticed.
I liked the premise of this book going into it, but it didn't deliver :( I just wasn't captivated by the storyline as much as I wanted to be, and I didn't feel the romance - the chemistry wasn't quite there for me, something was off. I really wanted it to be good, but the whole novel falls flat :/
This book was amazing. Possibly my favorite of the year. The chapters are short but after every one I stopped and went holy s*** I didn’t see that coming. The lgbt rep is amazing and I love it so much.
I really enjoyed this story. There was lots of romance, and a bit of suspense too.
I flew through this story. It was very fast paced. The chapters alternated between different years. Some flashed back to Mary’s young years, or her first journey on a ship, while others returned to her current pirate life. This made the Mary’s past more mysterious because some parts of her past life are saved until the end.
As soon as I started reading this, I had to look up Mary Reade, who was a real pirate. I could could tell from the way the story was written, that it was based on a true story. Mary’s story is fascinating. She was a woman who dressed up as a man so she could be a pirate. Her mother raised her as a boy because her son, Mark, died after Mary was born. Her son was the grandson of a very rich woman, and she wanted her illegitimate daughter to inherit the woman’s wealth instead. It is a crazy premise for a story, but it is what actually happened to Mary.
I’m curious about Mary Reade now, so I will keep my eyes open for more of her story. I highly recommend this book.
I received a copy of this book from the book distributor Thomas Allen & Son.
I flew through this story. It was very fast paced. The chapters alternated between different years. Some flashed back to Mary’s young years, or her first journey on a ship, while others returned to her current pirate life. This made the Mary’s past more mysterious because some parts of her past life are saved until the end.
As soon as I started reading this, I had to look up Mary Reade, who was a real pirate. I could could tell from the way the story was written, that it was based on a true story. Mary’s story is fascinating. She was a woman who dressed up as a man so she could be a pirate. Her mother raised her as a boy because her son, Mark, died after Mary was born. Her son was the grandson of a very rich woman, and she wanted her illegitimate daughter to inherit the woman’s wealth instead. It is a crazy premise for a story, but it is what actually happened to Mary.
I’m curious about Mary Reade now, so I will keep my eyes open for more of her story. I highly recommend this book.
I received a copy of this book from the book distributor Thomas Allen & Son.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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:
Yes