Blood for Blood by Mark M. McMillin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Blood for Blood. The words are Mary’s first thought upon waking and her last at night. They are her “ungodly prayer” for the wrongs committed against her and those she loves. They give her life purpose for continuing to live. For as long as she can remember the Dowlins have hounded her, and now the son and his henchmen seek to destroy her. They thought they had killed her and her lover when they torched an old mill, but Mary survives and gives birth to a daughter. Now, the time has come to renew her travels; she seeks out her old crew and reclaims her ships, Phantom and Diablo. Not to return to smuggling and the New World, but to England to serve the woman who long ago saved her life – Queen Elizabeth.

Her mission this time is to accompany Sir Francis Drake in his attempt to gain Portugal’s assistance in England’s war with Spain during the autumn of 1588. But their relationship is contentious at best, and Drake’s way of doing things often collides with Mary’s. Still, she heeds orders as long as her ships and her men are not needlessly endangered, even though this is slated to be a military campaign on land, rather than an assault from the sea.

In war plans rarely turn out as expected, and such is the case for this expedition. Then Mary is charged with aiding and abetting the enemy – a foolish charge that results in gaining freedom for a number of imprisoned Englishman, including one of the queen’s best spies – all because she defied Drake’s orders to implement her bold and daring plan.

Weathering this storm, she renews an old acquaintance with Captain Guilliaume Le Testu, the son of the corsair who lost his life during Drake’s raid on the mule train carrying Spanish silver. Le Testu puts forth an opportunity to return to the New World to plunder enemy ships and recover some of the silver buried so long ago. It is a tempting offer, especially since Drake’s most recent expedition is doomed to failure. She and her men decide to join Testu, but on her terms. Even though the long reach of Dowlin and the Siol Faolcháin can pursue her there, this time, they strike closer to home – attacks in Ireland that have a devastating effect on Mary and a young lad who joins her operation.

A fair portion of this historical novel takes place on land, rather than the sea, but McMillin skillfully recreates the time period with clever insertions of historical events interwoven with Mary’s fictional tale. The battle with Spanish forces in Panama is a nail-biting sequel to one of the most famous occurrence in Drake’s Caribbean escapades. Equally compelling are the poignant episodes where Mary once again suffers retribution. Events in her past, told in the previous title The Butcher’s Daughter, are neatly recounted and completed, so readers unfamiliar with that title will still find themselves grounded here. While the setting may be familiar to many, the time period makes this story more unique, for it unfolds long before the golden age of piracy begins. It spans the final decade of the sixteenth century and Mary is a product of her times, for “I was born in blood and I will die in blood, or so the story goes . . .”. (397)




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