Some thoughts on Under the Jolly Roger and a poll

[nocoward_soul]

Poll Bloody Jack

I finally read Under the Jolly Roger. I say finally because I've read 4-7. In this one Jacky is a midshipman and then captain of a privateer . . . pirate ship . . . well, it's a fine line. Jacky's manservant Higgins appears for the first time, and so do Mairead Delaney and sailors Robin Raeburn and Joseph Jared (one of my favorites). UtJR is

Comments

[carey_pontmercy]

I'm not sure how to answer the poll. The first three books are my favorites, but "declines" is a strong word for what happens afterwards. In the Belly of the Bloodhound is a very different sort of book from any of the others, so it's hard to compare it with them. I don't care that much for Mississippi Jack or The Wake of the Lorelai Lee, but My Bonny Light Horseman and Rapture of the Deep are terrific. I guess the series isn't as consistently good after the first three, though, and there is a kind of poignancy in the early books that you only see occasionally later on.

I'd bet on Jacky and Jaimy getting married at the end of the series. If they were going to break for good, I think it would've happened before now, but I think L. A. Meyer's a bit squeamish about having them actually married or he wouldn't keep breaking them up and separating them. Plus they still have things to work out. To tell the truth, I don't like him for her. He's so dour.