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phyrre 's review for:
The Unbinding of Mary Reade
by Miriam McNamara
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.