Scallywag! is a swashbuckling historical fantasy adventure written as the “true-life” prison memoir of “Mad” Molly McCormick, who’s awaiting execution in Fort St. Ambrose and passing the days by writing down how she became a pirate. The story starts with her youth in Ireland and her decision to run rather than be married off, then follows her into a life at sea that begins with disguise, turns into capture, and quickly becomes something like chosen family on a pirate ship. From there it escalates into a chain of episodes: cursed islands with warnings scratched into a dead missionary’s journal, ghost towns that reset themselves every night, and a deepening entanglement with the merpeople, including a princess named Itaska who changes what “freedom” even means for Molly.

What I enjoyed most was how committed the book is to the voice. It has that old-fashioned “Reader, let me tell you” energy without feeling like a gimmick. Molly is blunt, funny when she wants to be, and surprisingly tender when she’s caught off guard by kindness. You see it in the way she talks about being locked up near the water, close enough to hear the waves but not touch them. Then, on the other side of the story, you see it in the warmth that creeps in when she describes pirate life as a patchwork family. I also liked author K. L. Mitchell’s choice to treat piracy less like nonstop swagger and more like a messy social system, with rules, bargains, and the constant math of survival. Even the “we’re legitimate” argument lands, because it’s said with a grin and a knife behind the back.

The supernatural pieces are where the book really has fun, and where the historical fantasy genre shows its teeth. The cursed-island section has that dry, salty dread that I like in pirate novels. The ghost-colony idea is clever too, not just spooky for spooky’s sake, but unsettling in a quiet way: the town resets, the food returns, and memory is the only thing that sticks. And when the story goes underwater, it becomes genuinely magical, from shell-grown “buildings” to courtly politics to warfare that involves trained whales and a leviathan-like beast that is basically a living shipwreck waiting to happen. The episodic structure can feel long at times. We’re carried from set piece to set piece. Still, I never felt lost. The emotional through-line, especially around loyalty and longing, keeps pulling you forward.

By the end, the frame story snaps back into focus in a way I found satisfying, with a wink of mystery about what happens to Molly after her memoir is “secured.” I’d recommend Scallywag! most to readers who like pirate yarns, lush sea lore, and historical fantasy that stays playful while still taking characters seriously. If you enjoy a strong narrative voice, found-family crews, eerie islands, and a dash of romance that feels earned rather than pasted on, this one’s for you.