About the Book
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Authors:
- Brodi Ashton
- Cynthia Hand
- Jodi Meadows
Cover Story: Montell Jordan
BFF Charms: Oh Captain, My Captain; Heck Yes; Eventually
Talky Talk: Drunk Herstory
Bonus Factor: Pirates
Factor: Gender Bending
Anti-Bonus Factors: Patriarchy
Relationship Status: Forever Loyal
Cover Story: Montell Jordan
Another great addition to the Lady Janies cover queue. I hope they never reissue these with other covers, ’cause these are perfect.
The Deal:
Mary Read wants to be a pirate, but women are seen as bad luck on ships. So Mary disguises herself as Mark, and joins the crew of The Ranger, a ship captained by a man named Vane. There, she meets Tobias Teach, the son of the famous Captain Blackbeard, and the two form a close friendship. Eventually, Mary reveals herself to Tobias, but she doesn’t let him in on the entire truth: She’s a mermaid, from Underwhere, and a princess to boot.
When Blackbeard dies and a contest to replace him as Pirate King is announced, Mary jumps at the chance to effect major change for herself and other women who want to be pirates, too.
BFF Charms: Oh Captain, My Captain; Heck Yes; Eventually
Mary is an amazing and fierce young woman with plans to change the world. I’ve never had the inclination to be a pirate—I get motion-sick and enjoy indoor plumbing too much—but I’d follow her on an adventure in a hot second. She’s not like other pirates, she’s a cool pirate she values human life as much as she does booty. She also goes out of her way to make the lives of her crew better. That’s definitely my kind of leader.
Tobias is a sweet young man with big shoes to fill who also struggles with the lack of interest in filling said shoes. He’s one of many (many) of Blackbeard’s children, but he was always his father’s favorite. Tobias is a bookish lad with a head for navigation, so it’s clear why he and Mary have such a great partnership. (The fact that he happens to like her like her is another aspect of the story.) He’s a great best mate to Mary, and would be a great best friend to me, too.
The third POV in this book is Mary’s cousin, Jack, who was her best friend in Underwhere and assumed that she was dead. After she left, he discovered that he was half-human, and so could exist both as a Mer and as a human (with legs). In the six months since venturing onto dry land, he’s fallen for a fiery young woman who also has a passion for piracy—and who thinks Jack’s connection to Mary is the perfect way for her to make that goal happen. He’s not exactly the most likeable character at first, particularly because he wants so badly to be liked. He’s also extremely naive and cannot lie (about “where he comes from”) for a darn, so he’d be a frustrating friend to have around. But he grew on me.
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
Tobias and Mary have to keep each other at arm’s length because of her hidden identity on the ship and also her wariness to trust her heart to another. (In this version of The Little Mermaid, Prince Eric is Prince Charles and he is not a Disney prince in any sense of the phrase.) Tobias has it bad for Mary from the get-go, but it’s unsure how Mary feels (other than thinking him a fine specimen of a man) until later in the book. I get that they’ve got a lot going on, but I would have liked them to lean a bit more into the romance of love rather than the love of the sea.
Talky Talk: Drunk Herstory
I have to reiterate what I said in my review of My Imaginary Mary, an earlier book in the Mary series: “The team of Ashton, Hand, and Meadows—The Lady Janies, as they’re referred to collectively—are old hats at crafting creative, alternative stories about famous women of history. And yet, each book feels just as unique as the one before it; the formula might be familiar (famous historical figure + fantasy spin on their story + villain who needs thwarting), but the variety of the women they highlight and their stories keep each book fresh.” (Yes, I’ve just quoted myself, and no, I do not regret it.) Their wit, too, keeps me coming back for more, and chuckling throughout each book.
The town wasn’t much to look at, just the several simp-le shacks and salt-sprayed storefronts where charlatans sold seashells by the seashore. (Your narrators offer our sincerest apologies to our audiobook narrator.) They were in one of the dodgier parts of a town that was entirely dodgy.
I also laughed out loud at this line:
“There, there,” Mary said after a few minutes. Because she had to say something. “Sorrows, sorrows. Prayers.”
Bonus Factor: Pirates
Although I don’t want to be one, it’s always fun to read about pirates. And the pirates in this book are hilariously named, as one might expect from these authors. In her quest to become Pirate King, Mary goes up against Captains Obvious, Ahab, Hook, Penzance, and a variety of others who will be familiar and completely ridiculous to the reader. And yet, their incongruence with the truth of Mary Read’s story—because she was a real person—only adds to the humor of the tale.
Factor: Gender Bending
While it sucks that women in this age had to hide who they were to be able to be pirates (the problematic nature of which aside), I’m glad they figured out ways to get around the patriarchy.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Patriarchy
Mary’s original captain, Vane, is a villainous figure, but even when threatening her life, isn’t all that scary. That said, there are a lot of men just like him in this book, and that’s an extremely frustrating—if all-too-believable—situation. And a lot of them together make for a very large, and very annoying, problem.
Relationship Status: Forever Loyal
Lack of hygiene and high possibility of illness aside, I’d sign up to be on your crew immediately, Book, if I were given the chance. The adventures we’d have! The booty we’d plunder! The name we’d make for ourselves in the history books!
Literary Matchmaking
The first book in this series tells the (altered) tale of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Go back to where it all started with the reign of Lady Jane Grey. (And then go watch the show!)
For more at-sea adventure with a main character who’s aiming to prove her worth, check out Tricia Levenseller’s Daughter of the Pirate King.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from HarperTeen, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. My Salty Mary is available now.
