I’m so conflicted about this book. i really enjoyed the premise and exploration of found family. the action scenes were well written and enticing! unfortunately i don’t think the novel was super well written. while some parts (like the action scenes) were interesting and exciting, much of the book felt like a middle school creative writing assignment. the plot was pretty easily predicted and followed traditional tropes, which didn’t make it a real page turner for me. a lot of the social commentary was redundant and read kind of like it was intended for a young adult audience. 

that being said, i did really enjoy the concept of fictionalizing a historical figure as interesting as this one. the romances were well written and i particularly enjoyed the foil between the attitudes of the crew and all others towards queer romance.