Former mermaid/current pirate Mary Reed navigates (pun intended!) the hazards of the high seas, her friendship with Blackbeard's son, Tobias, and being a woman in a male-dominated industry. She thinks she has it all under control, but could the sudden appearance of her mermaid cousin, Calico Jack, and his lass, Anne Bonny, throw a wrench into her plans?
This is it! This is my review of the third installment in the Mary series, which came after the popular Lady Janies trilogy. It's the culmination of five previous posts, and since the books are fairly stand-alone, reading the past posts is optional, but encouraged!
I had been waiting for this book to come out all year! When it finally arrived last week, I devoured it, just like I did the other Lady Jane and Mary books. This Little Mermaid-esque retelling of Mary Reed's pirate life was, overall, a joy to read. After unrequited love leads Mary away from her underwater life, she learns to stand on her own two feet, both literally and figuratively. Enter the pirate crew of the Ranger, who scoop her up and give her life purpose and freedom. But there is one catch- they all think she is male. The only one not fooled is the ship's navigator and son of the infamous Blackbeard, Tobias Teach. Instead of turning her in, Tobias bonds with Mary, as he, too, is struggling with living up to others' expectations of his life. The duo settle into a nice rhythm on the ship, in spite of a misogynistic, incompetent, drunk captain named Vane, until a series of unfortunate events befalls them. Mary's half-merman cousin, Calico Jack, is wooing the pirate-wannabe, Anne Bonny, but her current scoundrel husband requires a large bribe in order to agree to divorce her. Blackbeard calls for a meeting to discuss the future of piracy, but meets a tragic end while on his way, opening the door for a new Pirate King to take over. Hesitant to throw her name in the hat, Mary only agrees to try to win the pirate contest when she realizes that if Vane wins, he means to root out and punish all women in piracy. Oh, and her King-of-the-Seas father threatens to drag her back home should she not prove her life above the water is worthwhile. Mary enters the pirate contest in the hopes of ensuring a future place for women pirates and her personal freedom above the sea, but she must keep her female and mermaid identities secret from those she loves. What sort of chaos will ensue in the meantime?
While I really enjoyed the mermaid aspects of this story, I thought they were a bit underutilized. I would have loved to see more of all the characters interacting with the water, talking about life on the water, and highlighting the different significance of water in relation to being a mermaid and a pirate. I liked Mary's character arc, but would have loved to see more of Tobias' story. For instance, they allude to some of his feelings about race and slavery as a mixed-race son of the former Pirate King, but never really go in-depth. I thought Jack could have used a bit more development, as his story felt one-dimensional in terms of motivation. He wants to please Anne Bonny, and that's about it. However, I very much so enjoyed many of the side characters, and I liked the all parts of the high-seas adventures- they felt like a mix between National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean. As always with these writers, the pop culture references sprinkled into the dialogue had me squealing with each Easter Egg I read. And with such good pacing, I did find myself hooked throughout the entirety of the novel.
All in all, this book scratched the itch I've had ever since Our Flag Means Death was canceled, but I was left wanting more. I give this a solid 3.5/5, just like the other Mary books. It's an enjoyable read that ties up all the loose ends with a bow and serves up entertaining situations and conversations.
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