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The Map
(Jackaby #1.5)
by
Perfect for fans of "Jackaby" who are desperately awaiting the release of its sequel, "Beastly Bones, "this novella-length story follows the rollicking events of Abigail Rook's birthday celebration. Abigail hopes that her birthday will slip by unnoticed and uncelebrated, but her employer, detective of the supernatural R. F. Jackaby, has other plans. Using magical party cra
...more
ebook, 56 pages
Published
June 15th 2015
by Algonquin Books
(first published June 2015)
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Showing 1-30
“There is no golden light, Mr. Jackaby. Not for normal people.” Jackaby’s gift as a seer allows him to penetrate magical concealments, make impossible connections, and recognize the auras surrounding objects and people, particularly those with magical significance. I have the rather less unique ability to see the world the way it actually appears.
“No?” Jackaby tilted his head in mock sympathy. “It must be so dismal being you.”
“Only in present company,” I teased back.
----
Aah, I have missed you ...more
“No?” Jackaby tilted his head in mock sympathy. “It must be so dismal being you.”
“Only in present company,” I teased back.
----
Aah, I have missed you ...more
I did not think I was going to like this book but I see I was wrong. I actually loved it. It was weird but also very funny. I would read the 4 books that go with this book.
“It’s not about the treasure— it’s about the hunt. - Abigail”
Jackaby and Abigail set off on another (smaller) adventure. It is Abigail's birthday and Jackaby takes her to a mystical market where the two find a map and decide to follow it to the very end. The pair must decipher the map and follow it to the X.
This story is very cute. It's a fast and quick read. Any fan of the series so far will absolutely love this short story.
I suppose since it doesn't spoil anything major from the first book y ...more
Jackaby and Abigail set off on another (smaller) adventure. It is Abigail's birthday and Jackaby takes her to a mystical market where the two find a map and decide to follow it to the very end. The pair must decipher the map and follow it to the X.
This story is very cute. It's a fast and quick read. Any fan of the series so far will absolutely love this short story.
I suppose since it doesn't spoil anything major from the first book y ...more
I am in love with Mr. William Ritter. He is so good at making me laugh. He writes with out hurry. With a wonder and a laugh. The best way to write.
I absolutely love Jackaby. He is sweet and completely clueless to others emotions. I think Abigail and Jackaby are the right sort of team. I wonderful ying to his yang.
In this delightful novella Abigail has turned another year older. Jackaby the ever entertaining employer and friend decided to celebrate Abigail's birthday with an adventure. He takes ...more
I absolutely love Jackaby. He is sweet and completely clueless to others emotions. I think Abigail and Jackaby are the right sort of team. I wonderful ying to his yang.
In this delightful novella Abigail has turned another year older. Jackaby the ever entertaining employer and friend decided to celebrate Abigail's birthday with an adventure. He takes ...more
Feb 26, 2016
Deborah O'Carroll
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
2016-reads,
celtic,
epic-character-i-love,
fantasy,
mystery,
best-of-year,
ya,
flintlock-fantasy,
muskets,
poetry-and-song
Oh my word, this story! GAH. *huggles it* Okay, so it's a short story/novella type thing, which is free on Kindle, set between Jackaby and Beastly Bones. It's a short, fun read, and has an even different feel than the other two, but I simply LOVED it.
It's Abigail's birthday, and Jackaby takes her on a treasure hunt with an old map and fantastical things ensue. But get this: it's entirely based around trying to find the treasure from the Irish song "Whiskey in the Jar." This kind of totally made ...more
It's Abigail's birthday, and Jackaby takes her on a treasure hunt with an old map and fantastical things ensue. But get this: it's entirely based around trying to find the treasure from the Irish song "Whiskey in the Jar." This kind of totally made ...more
"Morning, sir."
“Obviously,” he replied without turning around. It wasn’t that Jackaby was rude, exactly. Tactless though he was, there was an earnestness to the man. “I should expect you to have long outgrown being impressed by the fact that the sun rises daily in the east, Miss Rook. Really. You can manage more impressive observations than that.” Then again, Jackaby might have just been rude.
Dear Mr Jackaby,
I love you.
Marry me, pretty pretty please.
Yours,
Gio.
P.s. My birthday is on September 3 ...more
“Obviously,” he replied without turning around. It wasn’t that Jackaby was rude, exactly. Tactless though he was, there was an earnestness to the man. “I should expect you to have long outgrown being impressed by the fact that the sun rises daily in the east, Miss Rook. Really. You can manage more impressive observations than that.” Then again, Jackaby might have just been rude.
Dear Mr Jackaby,
I love you.
Marry me, pretty pretty please.
Yours,
Gio.
P.s. My birthday is on September 3 ...more
05/05/2019
fun little story about a little treasure hunt! Perfect to get me back into the Jackaby universe
fun little story about a little treasure hunt! Perfect to get me back into the Jackaby universe
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Give me a treasure hunt and I will love you forever.
William Ritter kind of did, so... Yes, I love his series!
In this little short story, Jackaby takes Abigail on an adventure to find the Bold Deceiver's treasure and celebrate holiday!
I will say that I was under the impression it lacked the realness of the 1st book, since in this novella there aren't just paranormal creatures but pure magic and gravitating islands and teleporting from one place to another using party crackers.
Bu ...more
Give me a treasure hunt and I will love you forever.
William Ritter kind of did, so... Yes, I love his series!
In this little short story, Jackaby takes Abigail on an adventure to find the Bold Deceiver's treasure and celebrate holiday!
I will say that I was under the impression it lacked the realness of the 1st book, since in this novella there aren't just paranormal creatures but pure magic and gravitating islands and teleporting from one place to another using party crackers.
Bu ...more
Loved this little novella even better than its predecessor, Jackaby. Brings to mind the wonder and wit of some of the best sci-fi I've ever read or watched. I'm not exaggerating when I say that William Ritter would probably write fantastic episodes of "Doctor Who." This is excellent stuff.
In this short story it's Abigail's Birthday and Jacaby has plans for her. She wants adventure so they set off on one. All in all a fun quick read. I enjoy Jackaby's character so much as well as Abigail Rook.
"It's not about the treasure - it's about the hunt." -Abigail Rook
It's no secret that I love novellas and I was excited to learn that there is a novella for the Jackaby series! This was a fun little story featuring Jackaby's idea of a great birthday gift for Abigail Rook - an adventure! The detective duo stumbled onto a treasure map created by the subject of an old pub song and began a treasure hunt. The hunt was full of the strange and mysterious, featuring giant vegetables, magpies, goblins, a ...more
It's no secret that I love novellas and I was excited to learn that there is a novella for the Jackaby series! This was a fun little story featuring Jackaby's idea of a great birthday gift for Abigail Rook - an adventure! The detective duo stumbled onto a treasure map created by the subject of an old pub song and began a treasure hunt. The hunt was full of the strange and mysterious, featuring giant vegetables, magpies, goblins, a ...more
Quick, humorous and whimsical. Lovely!!
Yawn..
Such a fun filler between Jackaby and Beastly Bones, a wonderful reminder of why I had enjoyed the first book so much. I just loved the references to Whiskey In The Jar and couldn't stop humming or singing it as I read. The story was short, but not too short. Of course, I wish it had been another hundred or so pages longer, but I will get more from these characters soon enough. Rook and Jackaby make a great pair and I am so anxious for more!
I could not have asked for a more brilliant novella. Finally, a short story that actually adds to the series and enhances the character development. It made me adore Jackaby far more than I originally did and it answered some of my question about his supernatural gifts. I honestly loved it more than I can say.
If you a fan of the series, don't overlook it. It's most definitely worth a read.
If you a fan of the series, don't overlook it. It's most definitely worth a read.
I LOVE these books; L O V E them. This was a perfect short story and highly enjoyable. I wish there had been an audio of it [since I totally love the narrator for this series as well], but just reading it was delightful as well. It makes me want to dive right into the next novel even though I do not have time to be starting a new book like that. :-)
It was fun but it feels as if the world inside of this short story is not the same as the world we got to know in Jackaby. In Jackaby, Jackaby makes it clear that he is a man of science but the mode of transportation that they use in this short story reeks of magic. I wished it would have been explained a bit more like a science thing or maybe something from a creature because now, it kinda feels like it doesn't fit with the story we got in Jackaby. Other than that it was fun though.
This was a short fun adventure back in the world with Jackaby and Miss Rook. Clearly made want to pick up the next in the series.
Ahhhh! How lovely to spend more time with Abigail Rook and Jackaby!
This short story takes place between Jackaby and Beastly Bones and was absolutely delightful. Abigail Rook is hoping that her birthday will escape the notice of her employer, R.F. Jackaby, but he has decided to help her celebrate in a spectacular way. He takes her to a mystical market, where she notices a treasure map but declines it as a present. Of course Jackaby knows better and presents it to her. Using magical party crackers that teleport them to whatever destination they wish, they follow
...more
"The air is anathematic, laden with an aura of untold danger." "Untold danger. Charming. That seems to be the unifying theme of today's outing."
Fun, short story in which Jackaby has a special birthday treat for Abigail: a treasure hunt to hidden lands, full of riddles and the aforementioned untold dangers during which they travel by pulling on party crackers (which, by the way, I still find ingenious!). It doesn't really add much to the first book in my opinion, but it does strengthen the fun "p ...more
Fun, short story in which Jackaby has a special birthday treat for Abigail: a treasure hunt to hidden lands, full of riddles and the aforementioned untold dangers during which they travel by pulling on party crackers (which, by the way, I still find ingenious!). It doesn't really add much to the first book in my opinion, but it does strengthen the fun "p ...more
First of all let me say William Ritter is an actual genius. His characters are genuine and witty. The chemistry between Abigail and Jackaby is not a romantic one but genuine friendship. Even a small little story like this just makes me giddy. The adventure they had was super interesting and it was so easy to picture the setting. The book was also hilarious and all the sarcastic comments always managed to make me smile. Good job Mr. Ritter
This was such a cute little story. I want to read Beastly Bones so bad, but this was almost enough to tide me over for another couple of days. I love Jackaby and Abigal Rook, that is all.
Jackaby knows how to give awesome birthdays...
Actually 3.5 stars. I sure do like Jackaby, and this novella was definitely a good fix for that. It's a good mini adventure to get me ready for when Beastly Bones comes out!!
Cute addition to the Jackaby series. Love that it was quite a bit more fantastical than the full novels.
The Map was short, but adorable and exciting. It takes place after the timeline of the first book, but you don't need to read that one for this (still, you might as well, seeing as it is quite entertaining and you get references for a few mentioned characters). I haven't read anything after Jackaby, so, so far I can say that this one adds to the mythology of the series, too, regarding Jackaby's seer powers and the visibility of the magical world to Abigail. It is an adventure as they figure out
...more
“I suppose one little party cracker won’t be the end of the world…”
Oh, Abigail, how you don’t know him.
This was just a fun, funny, adventurous short story where Jackaby decides to take Abigail Rook on a trip just to celebrate her birthday. As you can imagine, things don’t go well, they get into trouble, they make things worse, only to make things better, and they survive… barely.
I really miss Doctor Who right now.
Oh, Abigail, how you don’t know him.
This was just a fun, funny, adventurous short story where Jackaby decides to take Abigail Rook on a trip just to celebrate her birthday. As you can imagine, things don’t go well, they get into trouble, they make things worse, only to make things better, and they survive… barely.
I really miss Doctor Who right now.
I wish every novella was like this: free, longer than 5 pages, not necessary for the main novels but still a fun story in itself. The Map gloriously checked off all these points. It's a super cool treasure hunt that let me spend more time with the characters and that offered some creative extra world building.
Fun short story set in the Jackaby/Rook storyline. It takes about 45 minutes to read. I enjoyed the treasure hunt. It reminded me of a cross between Doctor Who, the Hobbit and Monty Python. Great fun.
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