My Five Word TL:DR Review: Entertaining but Lacking in Depth

Okay, I’ll start this review by saying that I enjoyed this read – it was entertaining and I never felt my attention wain.  I wanted to reach the end and see what would eventually become of our MC and I liked the writing, which isn’t a surprise as I have read this author before.  Of course there is a ‘but’.  Some of the content feels very flimsy.  The pacing felt a bit off and I didn’t really feel like the romance worked exactly – it felt more like it was a friendship than anything else.

Anyway, the story revolves around Morgane who has grown up on board a pirate ship.  As we begin Morgane’s mother, Anna-Marie, meets an untimely end but before she passes she shares some truths with Morgane.  Anna Marie is not Morgane’s mother, she is instead her aunt and the Captain of the ship that was paid to hunt her down now offers to return Morgane to her biological mother.  From this comes the title of the book as Morgane is determined to seek vengeance for the death of her aunt.

As you may imagine, being raised aboard a pirate ship with a bunch of cut throats has in no way prepared her to mix in everyday society and so she spends the weeks returning to France being almost tutored by the new captain.  Upon arrival in France however it seems that Morgane’s mother is not the only one seeking her and she seems to barrel around from pillar to post being pursued and kidnapped.

So, firstly, the positives.

I enjoyed the writing and in fact particularly enjoyed the first two thirds of the book which were predominantly based out at sea.  Morgane was a little bit of a difficult character to really get on board with, she definitely makes some rash decisions but, she is quite young and also quite sheltered.  Her knowledge of life on land is practically non existent (a fact that makes her decision to set out on her own even more mind boggling) and yet I think this naivety made me cut her some slack in certain respects.  I did like that she stood up for herself on countless occasions and you certainly couldn’t doubt her courage.

My real issues that prevented this from being a stronger read mainly came down to two or three things.  Firstly, I never really felt any fear for Morgane, the threats and dangerous situations that she found herself in felt very surface level, they didn’t have credibility and the way in which she managed to extract herself from the situations often felt too easy, plus there were certain coincidences that appeared to be manufactured in order to simply help her on her way.  Secondly, the supernatural elements.  Well, they just felt so flimsy and almost unnecessary, particularly given that they don’t show up until the final third of the book – perhaps the next in series will rely more on these elements.  For example, (and this might lead to slight spoiler territory so if you’re thinking of picking this up then don’t read further), Morgane is captured by a man who is obviously a first class swordsman and supposedly one of an elite group, he is in fact a werewolf (but this won’t become obvious until later on) and yet I would say Morgane managed to best him and escape with ease.  The same could be said of the vampires that eventually make an appearance.  Without wanting to go into too much detail, for me, both these elements felt very under utilised.  Neither of them really held any threat, there was no terror or horror, just a kind of resignation from Morgane along the lines of ‘oh, another baddy to kill’.

Finally, the romance.  For me it didn’t work.  It felt more like a friendship and in fact worked well in that respect.

So, in conclusion.  This kept me entertained.  I think I would read more in the series because I’m keen to see how Morgane develops moving forward but I do think this needs a little more depth, particularly in the supernatural areas.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3 of 5 stars