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.

There are a few 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. Some 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.