#62 My Bonny Light Horseman by LA Meyer
This book contains spoilers for previous Jacky Faber books. There are only minor spoilers for My Bonny Light Horseman. 
Life is good for Jacky Faber. Faber Shipping World Wide has managed to get off the ground. Jacky spends her time carting goods up and down the East coast of America, and counting down the days until she can see her betrothed, Jaimy Fletcher, again in England. Then her little ship is boarded by members of British intelligence who recognize her for who she really is, a young woman with a big bounty on her head for piracy. Is Jacky's freedom gone for good?
My Bonny Light Horseman is the sixth Bloody Jack book. It contains three storylines: Jacky's time with British intelligence, Jacky's time undercover as a dancer in Paris, and Jacky's time undercover with the French army. The first storyline is an example of the Bloody Jack series at it's finest, filled with truly suspenseful moments where you have no idea how our heroine will manage to survive. The second and third parts take us to much different places. These sections of the book have their strengths but also weaknesses as well.
The Paris chapters can be really interesting, as we've never seen Jacky take on this particular type of task before. Here, she must rely completely on her wits, not her physical abilities or connections. At the same time, I'm skeptical that even Jacky would be able to learn enough ballet to turn her into a halfway decent performer after just two weeks of training. This caused me to ponder Jacky's other impressive abilities. So far she's shown talent in sailing, military command, piracy, horse racing, playing multiple instruments, painting miniature portraits, playing cards, faking accents, acting, disguising herself as a boy, and now ballet? Even though she has faults to attempt to counter balance all of these skills, I can't help but feel as if the list is getting a mite long.
The third section has some of the most thrilling battle sequences we've seen in the series. I also enjoyed how the French were portrayed. Even though they are technically Jacky's enemies, they are not shown as evil, but as people fighting for what they think it right. Even Napoleon is not portrayed in an overly negative light. At the same time, this section felt a little repetitive when compared to Under the Jolly Roger. We've seen Jacky take a rag tag group of men and turn them into a fighting force already. Why repeat the process?
My Bonny Light Horseman is clearly one of the weakest books in the Jacky Faber Series, but it's still an fun book filled with plenty of likable characters and exciting moments, making it worth the reader's time. Once again, I highly recommend that people pick up the audio version of this series as the narrator really does a fantastic job.
Rating: four stars
Length: the print version is 436 pages
Source: Lewiston Publc Library- Overdrive Media Console
Other books I've read by this author: Bloody Jack, The Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Under the Jolly Roger, In the Belly of the Bloodhound, Mississippi Jack
Next I will be reviewing Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn
xposted to temporaryworlds, bookish and goodreads
Life is good for Jacky Faber. Faber Shipping World Wide has managed to get off the ground. Jacky spends her time carting goods up and down the East coast of America, and counting down the days until she can see her betrothed, Jaimy Fletcher, again in England. Then her little ship is boarded by members of British intelligence who recognize her for who she really is, a young woman with a big bounty on her head for piracy. Is Jacky's freedom gone for good?
My Bonny Light Horseman is the sixth Bloody Jack book. It contains three storylines: Jacky's time with British intelligence, Jacky's time undercover as a dancer in Paris, and Jacky's time undercover with the French army. The first storyline is an example of the Bloody Jack series at it's finest, filled with truly suspenseful moments where you have no idea how our heroine will manage to survive. The second and third parts take us to much different places. These sections of the book have their strengths but also weaknesses as well.
The Paris chapters can be really interesting, as we've never seen Jacky take on this particular type of task before. Here, she must rely completely on her wits, not her physical abilities or connections. At the same time, I'm skeptical that even Jacky would be able to learn enough ballet to turn her into a halfway decent performer after just two weeks of training. This caused me to ponder Jacky's other impressive abilities. So far she's shown talent in sailing, military command, piracy, horse racing, playing multiple instruments, painting miniature portraits, playing cards, faking accents, acting, disguising herself as a boy, and now ballet? Even though she has faults to attempt to counter balance all of these skills, I can't help but feel as if the list is getting a mite long.
The third section has some of the most thrilling battle sequences we've seen in the series. I also enjoyed how the French were portrayed. Even though they are technically Jacky's enemies, they are not shown as evil, but as people fighting for what they think it right. Even Napoleon is not portrayed in an overly negative light. At the same time, this section felt a little repetitive when compared to Under the Jolly Roger. We've seen Jacky take a rag tag group of men and turn them into a fighting force already. Why repeat the process?
My Bonny Light Horseman is clearly one of the weakest books in the Jacky Faber Series, but it's still an fun book filled with plenty of likable characters and exciting moments, making it worth the reader's time. Once again, I highly recommend that people pick up the audio version of this series as the narrator really does a fantastic job.
Rating: four stars
Length: the print version is 436 pages
Source: Lewiston Publc Library- Overdrive Media Console
Other books I've read by this author: Bloody Jack, The Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Under the Jolly Roger, In the Belly of the Bloodhound, Mississippi Jack
Next I will be reviewing Kitty's Big Trouble by Carrie Vaughn
xposted to temporaryworlds, bookish and goodreads