The back cover describes the book as "A novel of stark survival, Fire on Dark Water is the story of a woman plunged into the depths of corruption. Within the bloodstained waters of the Caribbean, it will take both cunning and unwavering strength for her to become the woman she was always meant to be, and thrive in the golden age of piracy..."
I describe this book as "Rape-in the golden age of piracy."
Admittedly, I did not finish the book. After reading 204 pages, I literally stopped mid chapter. And ladies and gentlemen, that was that.
Let's dissect, shall we? By "A novel of stark survival," the editor means Lola, the main character, must survive after she is duped away from her gypsy family at the age of 7 to be sold as a virgin sex slave. After fighting back THE NEXT DAY, she is beaten to within an inch of her life and dropped at the doorstep of the resident Golden Age of Piracy-equivalent of a crime lord where she is promptly taught how to pickpocket and scam for money. While on a nice little illegal venture, Lola is arrested and "sentenced" to a ship bound for the New World (that's us, America!-the Land of Opportunity was once the worst kind of punishment short of death). So far, she has survived simply through no fault of her own.
When the editor writes "the story of a woman plunged into the depths of corruption" they are referring to the SEVEN-year-old girl stolen from her family. By page 200, Lola has only aged to 15. While I know the average life-span that many years ago was 36 practically making Lola middle-aged, this book is classified as YA novel and the content is ill-appropriate for today's average teenager.
At "... it will take both cunning and unwavering strength for her to become the woman she was always meant to be..." the editor is simply toying with the reader. The previous sentence implies Lola is a woman and this is her story. But, now we are backpedaling to say these events will shape her into a woman, eventually. BTW what kind of woman was she meant to be that 8 years of repeated rape and other such bad shiz is needed to mold her?
Whatever it was, the rape didn't do the trick. Lola has neither cunning or unwavering strength. In fact, she is pretty much a naive simpleton child who is raped, trusts the wrong person-which leads her to be raped again, before luck sends on her on the next leg of her journey-which leads to more rape and more trusting the wrong people (usually the one who rapes her), before circumstance sends her on her way again-which leads to more rape. Eventually, she breaks the cycle by charging for sex. This is a socially acceptable position for a 12-year-old girl in the Golden Age of Piracy, natch. At 15, Lola leaves the glamorous life of prostitution to become the wife of the infamous Pirate Captain Blackbeard (he's in his 50's, from the description). Of course, she later discovers she was lucky wife numero 13 and the marriage was not legally binding. Essentially, it boils down to her being raped by someone she trusted. It seems we have gone full circle, and that is that.
The real interesting character is Anne Bonny. At one point Lola is sold to a plantation owner as a servant. He rapes her statutorily by today's standards, but buys her nice things, essentially introducing her to the spoils of prostitution. Anne is the -brat seems too nice- cold, manipulative, BITCH daughter who makes Lola's life miserable at every given point. Lola hates Anne, but with several opportunities for revenge throughout the 204 pages I read, she shows loyalty and gets figuratively raped by the fearless and heartless Anne.
To sum: Lola gets raped, a lot. A little boy she befriends on the ship to the New World gets raped, a lot. Her friend Violet gets raped, a lot.
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