Gabriele d'Annunzio is fascinating. And, at least on a technical/prose level, much more enjoyable to read.

It didn't hit me until I was reading a much worse book what my problem was with Pirate Utopias, and that was how much it reads like an outline rather than an actual story with characters and dialogue. I couldn't tell whether it was intentional, as there are definitely avant-garde works in that period that are written like that.