Emma Newman’s The Vengeance is the first book in the The Vampires of Dumas series and is a rollicking, genre-bending adventure that sails far beyond the typical pirate or vampire tale, whilst being both. Set in an alternate 18th-century France inspired by the novels of Alexandre Dumas, it has a mix of high-seas piracy, sapphic romance, and supernatural intrigue. It’s not the normal kind of book I read so I approached it with slight trepidation.
The story follows Morgane, a 19-year-old raised on the pirate ship Vengeance by her formidable “mother,” Captain Anna-Marie, who relentlessly targets the Four Chains Trading Company (think East India). When Anna-Marie is mortally wounded in a badly planned raid, she drops a bombshell: she’s not Morgane’s mother but her aunt, having stolen her as a baby. A hidden letter from Morgane’s real mother, hinting at danger in France, propels Morgane to abandon her pirate life for a quest across French society. What follows is a fish-out-of-water romp packed with action, political scheming, and a romance with Lisette, a governess hired to polish Morgane’s rough edges. As well as all that there’s also vampires, but they aren’t featured as much as I thought.
The strength, and occasionally weakness, of The Vengeance is its refusal to be just one thing. It’s not pirate novel, it’s not a vampire story, and its not a standard period romance, so sometimes it feels a little like you’re not sure what its trying to do. Newman focuses on Morgane’s outsider perspective, which works well and her disdain for noble excess and feudal oppression, informed by her pirate upbringing, feels refreshingly modern yet true to her character and time period. Her occasional naivety allowed us an in to this strange similar but different world.
Morgane herself is a flawed, impulsive, and fiercely independent character and as such she’s not always likable, but her growth from a pirate to someone grappling with generational trauma and identity is compelling. Her romance with Lisette shows another side to her character, evolving from prickly animosity to tender intimacy. Newman’s prose, sharp and evocative does do a good job of bringing 18th-century France to life, from grimy inns to opulent chateaus, making every setting feel lived-in.
The pirate-heavy opening is a thrill, but the middle is slower, and this is maybe where the different genre’s feel like they don’t quite meld as Morgane adjusts to land life, the vampire plotline at times feels a little rushed when it emerges. That being said the resolution ties up major threads neatly but it did leave me intrigued as to where the next book in the trilogy might go, and made me wonder if it had initially been written as a stand alone.
The Vengeance is a swashbuckling tale that, at times, sets itself apart with its bold protagonist, queer romance, and a world where pirates and vampires collide against a richly drawn historical backdrop. Despite it not being my kind of thing I found lots to like, and it felt like a full story – sometimes the beginning of trilogies suffer from feeling just like that but Newman avoids that.
If you like this kind of book then definitely give it a shot, it might be the start of your next favourite trilogy!