Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas

by Sam Maggs, Kendra Wells (Illustrator)

A swashbuckling adventure inspired by the historical exploits of real-life female pirates   Anne Bonny had it all—her own ship, a pirate crew, and a fearsome reputation—but a new enemy has her on the run and it’ll take all of Anne’s courage to stay afloat. The night before a major heist, Anne has an unsettling dream, and come morning, the robbery is thwarted by Woodes Rogers, a zealot who has sworn to eliminate piracy. With no plan to escape, Anne must persuade her crew to seek the meaning of her dream—or perish. Full of sass, solidarity, and swordplay, Tell No Tales is a graphic novel about belonging, belief, and how far we’re willing to go to protect the ones we love.  

Genres: Graphic Novels, LGBT, Historical Fiction, Comics, Middle Grade, Historical, Queer

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2021

About the author

Sam Maggs is a New York Times Bestselling and Eisner-nominated author of books, comics, and video games. Her novels include Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars and The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope; she’s written for games like Call of Duty: Vanguard, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and Marvel’s Spider-Man; and her comics and graphic novels include Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins, and Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas. As her day job, she serves as the Senior Manager of Narrative Storytelling at Critical Role. She is also on-air talent for networks like Dropout and the Nerdist. A Canadian in Los Angeles, she misses Coffee Crisp and bagged milk. Visit her online at sammaggs.com or @SamMaggs!

Reviews

[Rod Brown]

I knew I was in trouble the second I realized the first page opened on a dream sequence.

The art and the terrifically diverse cast of pirates (based in part on real historical figures) are so good, but the story is a jumbled mess of dreams, magic, action, quests, and anachronistic steampunk.

Instead of golden plunder, the pirate crew goes on a hunt for Bravery, Cunning, Conviction, Strength, and Kindness. Isn't that the plot of Pooh's Grand Adventure? Or at least some Care Bears or My Little Pony movie?

And then it ends on a cliffhanger and a narrator reveal I could have done without.

[Mallory]

I was very excited to get a copy of this graphic novel. A crew of racially diverse female pirates some of whom are queer/trans??? Where has this been? My inner child delighted at the adventures of girl pirates who didn’t need the boys to save them because they are able to save themselves. The illustrations were great. I know this was geared towards a younger age group but the emojis for swears was a bit much for me. The story jumped around a little and I loved the ending with the classic set up for more volumes in this series!

[Yoda]

My hopes were a bit high for this one, it had an impact on my actual experience. This was an alright read, illustrations were nice, the story jumped a lot, too much in my opinion. It felt rushed. I almost gave up on it when I saw the emoji as a way to censure curses. It was okay, probably better if you´re not hyping it up before you even buy it.

[Meg]

This book was SUCH a joy to read. Firstly, it seems like a lot of the reviews here are based on the black and white ARC -- trust, this beauty is in full color, and tons of fun from beginning to end. The story grabbed me from the start, but what really brings the book to life is the characters and their relationships. The dialogue is so fun, and I loved the importance placed on working together and believing in each other. The book is clearly written for a younger audience, and hits that mark perfectly, but as a 34 year old woman I found it to be really emotionally engaging and a much-needed reprieve from real life. And the use of emojis that everyone on here seems to so dislike? I loved it. Much more charming than reviews would suggest. Overall I'm so impressed with this book, the art and the writing are incredibly fun, and I'd 100% recommend to anyone of any age.

[fer]

Ah é bonitinho, é um grupo de piratas mulheres, todas sao lgbts, a arte é bonitinha mas nao me apeguei muito com ngm e nem mt com a historia tbm. Mas é bonitinho

[Jaida]

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

This was alright. I don't really have tons to say. I liked the art style well enough I suppose but other than that I didn't really like the characters and the pacing was extremely fast.

I didn't really know anything about Anne Bonny before reading this Graphic Novel. Anne’s life was pretty interesting so I think even if you don't read this you should still look her up.


The characters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anne Bonny ~ she was alright.

Sarah ~ I quite liked her actually.

Kati ~ no. Just no.

Mimba ~ ehh also no.

Mary Read ~ I didn't like this character.

Woodes Rogers ~ obviously I didn't like him.

Calico Jack ~ he was alright.

What to expect
🏴‍☠️ Graphic Novel
🏴‍☠️ Pirates
🏴‍☠️ Retelling of Anne Bonny
🏴‍☠️ Female Friendship
🏴‍☠️ All Female Pirate Crew

Quotes
~~~~~~~
“They love it when we stick it to the Brits. Stealin’ from the rich and givin’ to the poor. Who are us.”

Content
~~~~~~~
❤️‍🔥Romance| hand holding, one hand kiss, a forehead kiss, Anne an Mary share a bed/blanket (nothing happens)

🤬Language| blasted, 💩in place of sh!t, 🫏in place of -ss,

🗡️Violence| sword fighting, stabbing,

🏳️‍🌈LGBTQ| Anne calls Mary “My love”, Anne kisses Mary on the forehead, Kati and Mimba are in a romantic relationship and so are Anne and Mary, Mary Read goes by They/Them,

✝️ Religion/spirituality| mentions of the devil, deals with the devil mentioned,

⚠️Other| racism, slavery, blood,

[Leni]

Es ist wie Fluch der Karibik für Kinder

[Danielle]

This was fairly full of tropes, and I wish the characters weren't so caricatured (with the protagonist being my least favorite). It's a rehash of a million stories we've seen before, and even the diverse cast can't make it stand out.

[Matty Cameira]

I LOVED THIS AAAAAA THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY!!! GOD I LOVE PIRATES!

(p.s.: thanks for the selected bibliography at the end, it'll be useful)

[Nancy]

Loved this graphic novel! What could be better than lady pirates on the high-seas! Sixteen year old Anne Bonny is the captain of her own ship La Sirene and has a wonderful crew of diverse misfits who are an absolute delight. They are adventuring but also running from the evil Woodes Rogers who has sworn to eliminate piracy and especially Anne and her shipmates. To save themselves, Anne's shipmates must each confront their own past so that their combined strengths in working together will defeat Rogers. This is a wonderful novel about belonging and believing in yourself and others and I highly recommend it for middle grade readers - and for anyone else looking for a good story. My only complaint? I wanted more! I need more stories from Anne Bonny and Mary Read's adventures. More please!

[Jessie Bond]

AWESOME RACIALLY DIVERSE LADY PIRATES? CHECK
AWESOME QUEER AND TRANS PIRATES? CHECK
AMAZING SWASHBUCKLING ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH SEAS WITH A SIDE OF LESSONS ABOUT COLONIALISM, BEING TRUE TO YOURSELF, OVERCOMING PERSONAL CHALLENGES, RECONCILING ONE'S PAST WITH ONE'S PRESENT, DISCOVERING ONE'S IDENTITY, ETC.? VERY MANY CHECKS!
ALSO IT IS VERY FUNNY AND THE ART IS GREAT

Don't mind me I'll just be out here recommending this to every child (and teen and adult) forever.

[Nikki Jeske]

This is a book celebrating the joy of found family, adventure, and following one's own path. It kept me smiling from beginning to end. I love any book about pirates, especially Anne Bonny & Mary Read and this interpretation is my new favorite. Also... I would die for Kati and Mimba. Protect them at all costs!

[Olivia Shelton]

A super cute graphic novel about real-life female pirates and the history surrounding that time with a little bit of fantasy elements mixed in.

[Panda Incognito]

I wanted to like this graphic novel, but I couldn't get past the twenty-first century lens through which the author filtered everything about history. The language and concepts that the characters use are very contemporary, especially in regards to social justice issues, and in one speech bubble, there was a poop emoji. Is this the new clever way to censor a word instead of putting in asterisks? There's a chance that this element will change before publication, since I read this book as an uncorrected proof, but... WHY? This story is set in the 1700s! People did not use emojis in my childhood, but I'm supposed to suspend disbelief about an emoji in a book set prior to the American Revolution? The telegraph wasn't even invented yet, let alone texting!

If my library gets a finished copy of this book, I would be interested to flip through it again and see what changed before publication. Hopefully the emoji will be gone, and I'm sure that it will be easier to keep track of the characters when they are depicted in color, with recognizable costumes. With the unfinished, black and white sketches, I had a hard time keeping track of who was who, and which backstory belonged to which character. It's possible that this is a problem with the storytelling, but I think that I would have had a different experience if the characters had been depicted in color, as they will be in the finished product.

Overall, this story is creative, with its fictional take on some real-life female pirates, but even though I wanted to enjoy it, nothing about this worked for me. I struggled to keep up with the characters, the story seemed a bit overzealous and cluttered with different side plots, and I couldn't suspend my disbelief past the incredibly heavy-handed, twenty-first century messages about feminism and gender fluidity. Also, the villains are completely one-dimensional, and this book celebrates piracy without an honest reckoning with the violence involved.

The historical note in the back correctly explains that part of why pirates were so hated, feared, and reviled is because members of the establishment mounted an effective negative PR campaign against them. The British Navy found the pirates' peer equality and democratic leadership style threatening to their abusive and hierarchical system, and pirates also challenged the status quo by pillaging from colonists who had gotten their gain unjustly. However, even though all of this is true, pirates were incredibly violent against those outside of their crews, and the book also elevates stealing from the wealthy in general, not just those who have ill-gotten gain.

Even though this book is supposed to illumine a different side of history, it is incredibly one-dimensional. It celebrates pirates as fabulous, boundary-breaking, and totally modern, without recreating the past in any real or meaningful sense. I got very tired of all the strong messages about how great it was that the pirates stole, and how brave and fabulous they were. It's important to look at history from a balanced perspective, instead of only listening to the powerful and victorious, but this book makes absolutely no effort at providing nuance about the realities of piracy in the 1700s.

I probably would have enjoyed this more if it had been set in a fantasy world, and hadn't been intended to resemble reality. There were so many fantastical elements in this book that this would have worked well, but instead, I am just a grumpy history major, negatively comparing this to the nuanced, incredibly interesting journal article that I read about piracy a couple years ago.

I wish that I could review this positively. Since I love adventurous graphic novels with strong female characters, I thought that this would be great, and I never would have requested this from NetGalley if I had known that I would have to give it such a negative review at the very beginning of its release to the world. But, alas, this was too unhistorical, abrasively woke, and one-dimensional for me to give it more than two stars.

I received a temporary digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Samantha]

Not bad, pretty meh until the author's note at the end! DEFINATELY make sure to read the note at the end.

I don't know much about pirates, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn a lot in just a couple pages of text in the back of this book. I think it is incredibly interesting that pirates have the connotation they have now due to the sheer fear "the establishment" felt about them. I LOVE that they truly were made up of anybody (male or female, white or black, gay or straight) who wanted to find freedom. I LOVE that women were among the ranks, that enslaved peoples were given the option to join for a high seas life of freedom. I REALLY love that the main characters, Anne and Read, were real female pirates. Total badasses, that really did have an "intimacy" that no one felt the need to point out, or comment on. They just lived their best pirate life.

I will admit that some of the contents of this books gave me pause, and had me questioning whether they were born of stereotype or what. But I am not an expert in those fields, and don't feel comfortable saying whether they were good or bad representation.
The story was just okay for me. The characters while interesting, didn't grab my attention personally. The author's note in the back really did save this book for me. It was otherwise mostly forgettable, but now I won't be able to stop thinking about Anne and Read, the real life female pirates.

[Nick Swarbrick]

A clever retelling of the story of notorious pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. “Happy, together and free” here they are portrayed as classic, swashbuckling pirates with a firm love for each other and a loyal crew of fierce and independent women. The adventures are a little too brightly depicted, too fast paced for me, moving between heartfelt expressions of love and a desire for adventure- but I can see the appeal, the excitement and the piratical adventure of this bold and fictionalised account.

[Kylie]

This was a fun retelling of the story of female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. The art style was fun and I enjoyed the sarcastic narrative style.

When pirates start disappearing from the seas, Bonny and her crew take it upon themselves to put a stop to it. They all have to overcome their own personal demons to pull together a plan to face down the danger.

*Review copy provided by NetGalley*

[Leah]

More thoughts to come, but for now I'll just say I liked the historical notes that came at the end more than I enjoyed the actual story. Yay for real historical figures, yay for lesbian pirates, everything else...I could have done without (using the poop emoji to censor swear words, etc).

[Natalya]

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book for my review.

I really enjoyed the artwork and the amount of fun resonating with this book. However, it could have taken its time and been longer to develop the story better.

[Jill]

Cute story about Anne Bonny and her crew! I enjoyed this graphic novel quite a bit. I hope there are more stories to come.

[Jenny]

Ich mochte die Charaktere und den Zeichenstil sehr, aber der Plot war etwas messy.

[Meygan Cox]

Cute story. The author’s note bumped it from a two star to a three star rating for me. The author tried to fit too much into one book. I wish we could have seen more details for other characters.

[Allison]

Did you binge Our Flag Means Death? Wishing there was a queer female version of the show? Pick up this middle grade graphic novel! Such a fun little book based on more pirate figures from history. The authors note about the inspiration for the story at the end really ties it all together.

[Quinn]

I liked the artwork and characters, but the story just didn’t come together in a cohesive way. Admirable attempt, but I had hoped for better.

[Rebecca]

I wanted to like this but it just didn't capture my attention. I think the illustrations are brilliant but the storyline seemed lacking. I particularly enjoyed the history section at the end. I wish there had been more in this graphic novel.

[Casey]

Cute. I liked the characters. I liked the story. I liked how they all needed to confront their past to discover something to defeat the villain. I would definitely read more if the authors’ decide to write more. Wish I could be a member of this lovely pirate crew.

[Athena]

*3.5/5*

rewatched our flag means death 3 times last month so of course i had to seek out more pirate content and this did not disappoint !

[Chloe]

Books featuring pirates will always draw me in, so I was eager to pick up Tell No Tales, however my expectations may have been a bit too high as nothing about this gripped me enough to say that I particularly enjoyed reading it. The story just felt lacking, and the use of emojis to censor swear words and occasionally convey emotion was strange and out of place. Admittedly this was quite a short graphic novel, but even so the pacing felt rushed and certain elements of the story just did not get enough explanation. At the end there was a bit of information about the historical figures that both featured in and inspired this, all of which was incredibly interesting, perhaps more so than the narrative itself.

The representation and diversity of characters was one of the better things about this graphic novel, even if some of these characters were not quite as interesting as they had the potential to be. Only one character out of the main cast truly fascinated me with her backstory, but each character was only given a small amount of attention which was just not enough to feel connected to any of them. Additionally, Woodes Rogers could have been a great antagonist, but he was completely without menace and had very little presence, although this probably had something to do with the pacing.

Unfortunately, Tell No Tales was not the exciting and swashbuckling pirate adventure I was hoping it would be. Perhaps my expectations were just too high, as although the character diversity was good, their personalities were lacking and the narrative itself was underwhelming too. The art style was fine, but certainly not enough to redeem the graphic novel overall.

Rating - 2/5
★★

There is also a link to this review on my blog here!

[Elena]

This book was just so charming and my biggest wish is that this gets many more entries in the series! I can’t way to see what this gang gets up to. I love that everyone reading this gets a sense of the many ways that people fought back against the tyranny of colonialism, especially kids! It’s so difficult to convey stories like this in a way that’s both fun and educational and this has the perfect balance between the two.

The art here in the final book is vividly colourful and filled with so many adorable sight gags. The characters’ expressions (including the sweet kitty) were pitch perfect. I strongly disagree with some of the reviews that found the (mind you very sparingly used—just a handful in a 150 page book) emojis jarring—I thought they were very cute and funny and that middle grade kids (the target audience for this) will love it!

Lastly I don’t understand the hang-wringing in some of the reviews about the dark side of piracy. Children’s books often simplify concepts and edit down things such as violence. There is a bounty full of media that shows kids the “dark side” or piracy—think of how many books show pirates as one dimensional villains! It’s about time we also got books about how pirates were positive forces and a means of freedom for the downtrodden. Also if you’re a parent who thinks this book portrays piracy as a bit too positively, then you can easily take your kiddo aside and talk to them about it. This book will prompt lots of interesting conversations with your kids.

Also, although this book is aimed at a middle grade audience I loved it as an adult! Highly recommend! :)

[Tab Atkins-Bittner]

I really enjoyed this book! The story was a fun and funny (dramatized) tale based around the real-life pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, with the rest of the cast also either real historical figures or realistic extrapolations from existing cultures of the Caribbean. It was fast-paced and easy to get through, and Kendra's illustrations do amazing work supporting the character's personalities and making the whole thing delightful to read.

The story is clearly intended for a younger audience - I'd say maybe 8-12 ideally? - tho it's fine for a younger audience (nothing shocking, just some topics addressed, like slavery, that will need adult explanation) and it's a fun quick romp for an older audience as well. I'm going to give it another more careful read-thru in a few days, then send it off to my brother for his kids to enjoy.