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Oct 12, 2007

Debbie rated it:

I loved this book. REminds me of the True COnfessions of Charolotte Doyle, btu for an older reader... From School Library Journal Grade 6-8-With the plague running rampant in London in 1797, Mary's parents and sister are soon counted among the dead. Left alone and penniless, the eight-year-old is taken in by a gang of orphans and learns survival skills. However, when their leader is killed, Mary decides to try her luck elsewhere. She strips the dead body, cuts her hair, renames herself Jack Fabe More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Joenna rated it:

Excellent story! I love the style of writing...I feel like I'm right with them on the ship. Can't wait to read the others!

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Jeanne rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 01, 2008

Clickety rated it:

I love, love, LOVE all of the Bloody Jack books. She does edge a little into Mary Sue territory at times, but not in typical ways for a female character. She's kind of like an adolescent female version of Jack Ryan (Patriot Games, etc).

6 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kjero rated it:

Entertaining with adventure, gender-hiding hijinks, and romance.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2009

Jimmy rated it:

Sangat mudah menemukan anak-anak jalanan di hampir setiap sudut jalan-jalan di Jakarta, sepertinya di banyak kota di Indonesia. Ada yang jadi pengemis, pengamen, pedagang asongan, dan pedagang koran. Kebanyakan, dipaksa untuk melakukan pekerjaan itu, baik oleh orang tuanya ataupun oleh orang lain yang “menyewa” mereka. Tapi, tidak sedikit juga yang memang melakukan pekerjaan itu karena ingin membantu orang tau dalam memenuhi kebutuhan hidup keluarga, atau bisa juga karena mereka memang sudah More...

16 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2008

Caitlin rated it:

Summary: Life changes forever when Mary’s family dies of Cold and hunger....
Mary finds herself in the streets of London with only the clothes on her back, which are soon stolen by a gang of urchins, who then adopt her into their group. Charlie, Polly, Judy, Nancy, and Hugh teach Mary how to survive on the streets. Begging, thieving, and running from the law become second nature to her. Then someone murders Charlie and Mary decides life is far too dangerous for a girl, so she disguises hers More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2009

Emily rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2008

Gina rated it:

This book is about as much fun as Harry Potter...a coming of age story for a child with the odds stacked against her. And yes, BONUS, the heroine is a girl. I found it to be an engaging read with a novel setting and story line (for me). I'm so happy I picked up on the series!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2007

Julie rated it:

I loved this entire series and can't wait for the next one to come out.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2007

Raelynn rated it:

A great story! Will be reading book two soon.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2007

Anita rated it:

What a romp! Great fun.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 07, 2010

Hallie rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed at least the first half of this, and enjoyed many bits after, so I'd rather give three and a half stars if I could...

Know all those great old ballads where the girl cuts off her hair, sometimes binds up her breasts and goes off to sea? With never a mention of how the hell she's going to continue to pass for a boy on a ship full of sailors - no private bedrooms or nice, locking toilets? Well, this book has the same plotline, except the heroine more sensibly gets More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2008

Bruce rated it:

After the death of her parents and little sister, Mary Faber is turned out on the streets of London where she bands together with other orphans to beg and steal to stay alive. When the gang’s leader is bludgeoned to death in an alley, she decides it’s time to change her living conditions. Removing his knife and clothes from his dead body she cuts off most of her hair; changes her outfit, and heads for the docks. There H.M.S. Dolphin is taking on cabin boys. She tells the recruiters that she can More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2008

Allison rated it:

Meyer, L.A. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, 320 pgs. Harcourt, Inc.; Language~PG-13, Sexual Content~PG-13; Violence~PG-13

Life in the 18th century England was not kind to many. Poverty, sickness, violence, and filth abounded. Mary Faber lost her mother, father, and little sister to the pestilence one summer and was drafted into a gang of street urchins. Thus begins Mary’s life of crime and begging. After the vio More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2008

Jean rated it:

The audio version of this book does exactly what an audio version should do - it not only gives voice to a darn good story, but it carries the reader/listener into the heart of the story. The audio version helps interpret the dialect that the story is written in, which also helps give Jacky her character in a palpable way. This book is made for audio - it has action, adventure, and emotion, all of which are vividly portrayed by the narrator (I forget her name right now, but I'll look it up.) More...

4 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2011

Kristen rated it:

First review: I loved this book. There's some romance, a lot of cussing' and some action too! I just loved it and can't wait to start on the next one in the series. I enjoyed how it was written in a way that showed her accent and progressed as she started to talk more properly. A must read for adventure and pirate lovers.

2nd review:

Why I read this: This is actually a reread for me. I love these books and decided that this year it was time to catch up on the last two books ou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 03, 2011

Alethea rated it:

Re-read on 3/31-4/3... still awesome.

Re-reading 5/4/09 (cannot freaking wait for Mississippi Jack audio)

Once I got past the sad beginning, it was un-put-downable. If that can be said of an audiobook. I'm too tired to think right now. But not too tired to download the rest of the series.

Mary "Jacky" Faber is an orphan, reluctant beggar/thief, book lover, musician, seamstress, salty sailor, and cross-dresser--masquerading as a boy on H.R.M. More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 15, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 04, 2009

Jane rated it:

Honestly didn't think I would like this one--you know, cause I get seasick, and this being a story about sailors and ships.

Jacky Faber has wonderful characteristics: strong female, too much pride for her own good, and clever. Her voice stays with you long after you close the book.

The only thing that bothered me (and this is going to sound really stupid) are the run-on sentences. I hope I'll get used to it with the next installment.

My favorite line: "Th More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2012

Liz rated it:

This is definitely a book for the younger reader, but adults will find much here to capture their interest, as well.

Mary, orphaned at a young age, survives on the streets of eighteenth century Britain with other orphans. Until the death of her friend (her gang's boss and her protector) sends her looking for another life. She's always dreamed of sailing, so that's what she sets out to do. Reading being a rare skill for the lower classes in that time, her ability gains her a place as a s More...

0 comments like

Aug 01, 2011

Janet added it

In 1797, when Mary is about eight years old, her family are wiped out by plague and she finds refuge on the streets with a gang who survive by stealing food and sleeping huddled together for warmth in their ‘kip’ under a bridge.

Some four years later, one of her gang is killed and Mary takes his clothes and disguises herself as a boy. She leaves the gang and heads for the Thames where she is recruited as a “ship’s boy” and is assigned to the schoolteacher onboard the Dolphin because of her abili More...

0 comments like

Mar 11, 2009

Eva rated it:

I don't know why I resisted reading this series for so long. My own daughter, who shares many of my reading tastes, adores it despite the fact that it is not fantasy (this in itself should have told me something).

Suffice it to say, this tale, narrated by Jack Faber (London street urchin turned salty sea dog), is a rip-roaring sea adventure with plenty of heart besides. Jack happens to be a girl (Mary) but must masquerade as a boy to gain a berth aboard the HMS Dolphin in the latt More...

0 comments like

Jan 24, 2009

Jason rated it:

Oh, I am so disappointed! "Bloody Jack" was terrible. When I was checking it out, the librarian said something like "Bloody Jack! That's a wonderful book!". I'll never listen to her again; I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Positives:

1) A strong anti-rape, anti-sodomy and anti-bully theme.
2) A strong sense of self, as in determining on your own how to act and what to do.
3) A reading-is-good message.
4) A balance of good More...

9 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

John rated it:

Sometimes a book’s beginning is so good you can’t not purchase it. Here’s one that forced my hand.

“My name is Jacky Faber and in London I was born, but, no, I wasn’t born with that name. Well, the faber part, yes, the Jacky part, no, but they call me Jacky now and it’s fine with me. They also call me Jack-0 and Jock and the Jackeroe, too, and, aye, it’s true I’ve been called Bloody Jack a few times, but that wasn’t all my fault. Mostly, though, they just call me Jacky.

“Th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 14, 2011

Sandy rated it:

Narrated by Katherine Kellgren
PUBLISHER Listen & Live Audio

You grew up fast as an orphan in the streets of London. Being in a group of other kids helped all survive. That's how Mary "Jacky" Faber did it until it all fell apart. What was she going to do? If she survived until puperty, she knew she would probably end up as street walker which she knew was wrong. Ah, then she spotted a ship in the harbor looking for boys to serve. If she cut her hair, she could pass; she wa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 01, 2011

Lightreads rated it:

It’s your typical ‘girl dresses as a boy, goes to sea, stuff happens’ book. I think I’m missing the age of sail gene; it just doesn’t do much for me. (Which is funny, ‘cause when you transplant age of sail into the stars and call it space opera, I’m all over that.)

Anyway, one thing. I don’t really get what’s going on with this book. It’s this raggedly cheerful narration with an appropriately naive heroine, but hanging over the whole thing like an axe is the threat of rape. It’s inten More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

Sheila rated it:

I have seen this series floating around for about a year now around the blogs. My first peek of interest was the raving of this series on audio. Good audio raving always peeks my interest. But really - a whole series around a young girl on a ship? Would I really find that interesting? Would I?

But the blog buzz continued and time and again I seen this title come up and my curiosity grew...

so....

I jumped on board.

(Get it? A little ship humor...)

More...

0 comments like

Jul 07, 2011

Erin rated it:

So when I read this book today I found out that I had already read this one I just didn't remember that until I started reading it again, It was the sequel i needed.

Still loved this book I like how she was trying to pretend to be a boy so that she could work on the ship, and there are parts that I crack up like a scene where she writes a will! I like that this book shows girl power but I wish that they showed Girl power with the girl being able to show that she was a girl. Heh I can't More...

0 comments like

Apr 14, 2011

Samrat rated it:

Excellent story! I tend to like those gender-bending characters in general, but Jacky was especially well done. So many female action heroes tend to be modeled as boys in skirts - ass-kicking, bloodthirsty heroines out to prove they're not just some weakling girl. Jacky is a girl. She proves herself worthy in combat, but doesn't relish it. She plays a boy because it will secure her food and freedom. She challenges gender assumptions when her boyfriend wants to mold her into something she isn't. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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