(no subject)
How did it take me this long to get around to reading the latest Bloody Jack book?
Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy is the seventh Bloody Jack book, and this series continues to fill me with joy in my heart despite (or perhaps because of?) the increasingly ridiculous list of Jacky's accomplishments. It helps that L. A. Meyer totally knows how ridiculous it is and wastes no opportunity to point this out.
Let us track Jacky's career progress so far:
Bloody Jack: pickpocket, cross-dressed cabin boy, midshipman, castaway, schoolgirl
Curse of the Blue Tattoo: schoolgirl, maid, actress, singer, musician, artist
Under the Jolly Roger: nanny, lieutenant, merchant sailor, cult star of a popular series of novel romances, naturalist, PIRATE
In the Belly of the Bloodhound: - actually I think Jacky does not pick up any new careers here! On the other hand, she does make out with girls, which I think somewhat balances it out.
Mississippi Jack: showgirl, playwright, owner of a merchant firm, riverboat casino operator
My Bonny Light Horsemen: cavalry officer, BALLERINA SPY
Rapture of the Deep: all of the above (except possibly riverboat casino officer) plus fighting rooster trainer PLUS: DEEP-SEA DIVER
From this alone I think some of you will understand why I love these books. (Also, okay, I am sorry but after my thesis I just have to get this out there, IDENTITY SHIFTS LIMINALITY LACK OF BINARIES okay I am done.)
I can't decide which is better, the part where Jacky invents the modern bathing suit or the part where she invents flippers. Also the boyfriend tally in this book is up to three in the same place at once, which is reasonably impressive even for Jacky. (Tiny detail, but I am also quite fond of the blatant Casablanca homage with Ric's Cafe Americano in Havana.) And yet despite the ridiculous improbableness of it all, Jacky also still has her flaws - she's still a ridiculous show-off, still prone to bursting into blubbering whiny tears ("why are you so meeeeeeean to meeeeeee!") and, best of all, still an enormous flirt and never demonized for it, because she's the hero of a picaresque romance and that's how these things work. Go Jacky!
Complaints: first of all, and this is a big one, oh L.A. Meyer. I appreciate that the freed-slave character has an agenda and goals of her own, and also gets to save the day; that is pretty cool. However, that does not help enough, because did she really have to be a cook named Jemimah? Really?
My other complaint: my favorite Jacky books are the ones that are lady-centric, and while this book had some ladies there are nowhere near enough. (I am still waiting on my Jacky-and-Amy adventure, L.A. Meyer!) However, it looks like that will be fixed soon, because apparently the next book is all about Jacky on a ship of FEMALE CONVICTS GOING TO AUSTRALIA. How excited am I? THIS EXCITED.
Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy is the seventh Bloody Jack book, and this series continues to fill me with joy in my heart despite (or perhaps because of?) the increasingly ridiculous list of Jacky's accomplishments. It helps that L. A. Meyer totally knows how ridiculous it is and wastes no opportunity to point this out.
Let us track Jacky's career progress so far:
Bloody Jack: pickpocket, cross-dressed cabin boy, midshipman, castaway, schoolgirl
Curse of the Blue Tattoo: schoolgirl, maid, actress, singer, musician, artist
Under the Jolly Roger: nanny, lieutenant, merchant sailor, cult star of a popular series of novel romances, naturalist, PIRATE
In the Belly of the Bloodhound: - actually I think Jacky does not pick up any new careers here! On the other hand, she does make out with girls, which I think somewhat balances it out.
Mississippi Jack: showgirl, playwright, owner of a merchant firm, riverboat casino operator
My Bonny Light Horsemen: cavalry officer, BALLERINA SPY
Rapture of the Deep: all of the above (except possibly riverboat casino officer) plus fighting rooster trainer PLUS: DEEP-SEA DIVER
From this alone I think some of you will understand why I love these books. (Also, okay, I am sorry but after my thesis I just have to get this out there, IDENTITY SHIFTS LIMINALITY LACK OF BINARIES okay I am done.)
I can't decide which is better, the part where Jacky invents the modern bathing suit or the part where she invents flippers. Also the boyfriend tally in this book is up to three in the same place at once, which is reasonably impressive even for Jacky. (Tiny detail, but I am also quite fond of the blatant Casablanca homage with Ric's Cafe Americano in Havana.) And yet despite the ridiculous improbableness of it all, Jacky also still has her flaws - she's still a ridiculous show-off, still prone to bursting into blubbering whiny tears ("why are you so meeeeeeean to meeeeeee!") and, best of all, still an enormous flirt and never demonized for it, because she's the hero of a picaresque romance and that's how these things work. Go Jacky!
Complaints: first of all, and this is a big one, oh L.A. Meyer. I appreciate that the freed-slave character has an agenda and goals of her own, and also gets to save the day; that is pretty cool. However, that does not help enough, because did she really have to be a cook named Jemimah? Really?
My other complaint: my favorite Jacky books are the ones that are lady-centric, and while this book had some ladies there are nowhere near enough. (I am still waiting on my Jacky-and-Amy adventure, L.A. Meyer!) However, it looks like that will be fixed soon, because apparently the next book is all about Jacky on a ship of FEMALE CONVICTS GOING TO AUSTRALIA. How excited am I? THIS EXCITED.