Ahoy there mateys!  This was described as the first book in a new series "set in a version of Alexandre Dumas's world haunted by vampires..."  Excellent idea but this book does not live up to its premise at all.  In fact this book was such a letdown that it walks the plank!

The first problem is that for a book "haunted" by vampires, they do not show up until around 82% of the book and barely appear even then.  There are, however, werewolves that show up at 62% for one chapter and never appear again.  The fantasy elements could have been removed and not much would have changed in the novel.  I wanted more supernatural elements as promised in a book series called "Vampires of Dumas."

The idea that the book is set in a version of Dumas' world is laughable.  The first part of the book takes place on the sea but the rest takes place in France.  The atmosphere of French culture is practically non-existent and completely surface level.  Also when I think of Dumas, I think of swashbuckling where the main character has excellent swordsmanship, guile, and chivalrousness.  There were some sword fights but mostly the fighting was boring.

Morgane is supposed to be the fierce daughter of one of the fiercest female pirates in the Caribbean.  Instead she is extremely naïve, gullible, uneducated, and just plain silly.  She can fight at times but spends an awful lot of time running, panicking, or trusting the wrong people.  Plus she is written as though she is primitive in social graces.  Aye, she grew up onboard ship but the Caribbean was not a complete backwater.  She acts like France is an alien planet and makes no real effort to learn to adjust to life ashore.  Where be her pirate wiles?

And lastly, there were too many modern sensibilities in Morgane's opinions.  I can see that she might find slavery distasteful.  However, wanting to fight the economic and social class systems felt out of place for the historical time period.  Also being a pirate did not mean there was complete social freedom.  Morgane's lesbian relationship was a bit carefree and felt too modern.  Also Morgane let her romantic partner do all of the travel arrangements and communicate with innfolk, etc.  That felt so unrealistic even with Morgane dressed as a boy.

Basically, I feel that every area of this book was problematic including the parts set at sea.  With the bad pacing, lackluster characterization, and unfulfilled premise, I will not be reading the sequel.  Arrrr!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.