Saltblood by Francesca De Tores: A Book Review

Saltblood by Francesca de Tores, A complex, introspective take on the life of a female pirate based on the life of female pirate Mary Read.

Synopsis: Love Letters to a Serial Killer

A vividly reimagined tale of identity, survival, and reinvention, Saltblood plunges readers into the turbulent life of Mary Read—pirate, soldier, lover, and legend.

From her mother’s desperate deception at birth, to her shifting roles in manor houses, battlefields, and naval decks, Mary must continually reshape herself to survive in a world where women are powerless and the sea is freedom.

Told in rich, evocative prose, this historical novel sails through the brutality of 17th-century Europe, exploring not only Mary’s real-life exploits, but the emotional and physical cost of living between genders and identities.

Mary’s transformation into a pirate is not a single act of rebellion, but the culmination of a lifetime of shapeshifting, yearning, and resistance.

Saltblood is as much a survival story as it is a swashbuckling adventure—intimate, defiant, and endlessly compelling.

Review: Love Letters to a Serial Killer

A complex, introspective take on the life of a female pirate

Saltblood by Francesca de Tores is a fictionalized retelling of the life of Mary Read—an 18th-century pirate and contemporary of infamous names like Blackbeard and Calico Jack. But rather than offering a straightforward high-seas adventure, this novel chooses a more intimate and psychological path, exploring identity, gender, and survival in a rigidly patriarchal world.

As a reader, I found Saltblood to be a difficult book to categorize—and a challenging one to review. There were moments that utterly captivated me, particularly in the second half, when the story finally settles into the expected pirate narrative. However, there were also stretches where the pacing slowed significantly, and I found myself unsure of what kind of story de Tores was truly trying to tell.

At its core, Saltblood is as much a character study as it is a tale of piracy. Mary Read—sometimes Mark, sometimes Mary—is portrayed as someone constantly adapting her identity in order to survive. From childhood, she is raised as her deceased brother so her mother can collect inheritance payments. As an adult, she drifts between roles—servant, soldier, wife, sailor—inhabiting whatever identity society demands in order to navigate a world not built for her.

This fluid approach to gender and identity leads naturally into queer themes, and while the novel never labels its characters explicitly, there’s a quiet, thoughtful exploration of sexuality and gender expression throughout. The shipboard dynamic, especially involving a former priest and the unspoken rule of “what happens on the ship, stays on the ship,” adds depth to the theme without ever becoming didactic.

If you’re picking up Saltblood expecting a full-blown pirate adventure, it’s worth noting that the piracy doesn’t truly take center stage until the halfway mark. The early chapters focus more on Mary’s internal journey and her navigation of rigid social roles. Personally, I would have loved to see this as a duology—one book focusing on her early life, the second on her time at sea. There’s rich material in both halves that could have benefitted from more space to breathe.

That said, the writing itself is evocative, emotionally powerful, and often lyrical. The final chapters hit especially hard, with a depth of feeling that lingered long after I finished the book.

Conclusion

Saltblood is not your typical swashbuckling pirate tale. Instead, it’s a thoughtful, nuanced exploration of identity, survival, and the fluidity of self in a time when such things could be life-threatening. It may not suit readers looking for constant action, but for those interested in historical fiction with depth and complexity, it’s well worth the read.

Not quite the pirate story I expected—but an emotionally resonant novel about becoming who you need to be to survive.

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Above all Keep Safe and treat people fairly.

Mark.