"Bloody Jack" by L.A. Meyer

Rating: 3

Description: Mary Faber is an orphan street girl, running with a gang in London, until opportunity presents itself in the form of a ship that needs young boys for its crew. Pretending to be male, Mary, adopting the name Jacky, uses the reading skills she learned from her late father to gain passage on the ship, the HMS Dolphin. "Jacky" and the other ship's boys form their own group and invent a "brotherhood" that swears that they will always remain true to each other. But it's hard for Jacky to get close to the other boys, as she must hide her gender from even them. "The Deception", as she calls it, becomes more difficult as time goes on, and Jacky must use all her street smarts to keep her gender secret from her suspicious shipmates. And when Jacky falls herself falling for her best friend Jaimy, things become even more convoluted. How long can Jacky keep up her Deception?

Review: I've always been a fan of girl-disguised-as-boy books and I am similarly attracted to books taking place on the high seas, so this book had a double appeal for me. The book takes place almost exclusively on the ship, but the plot is interesting enough that the reader isn't bored by the unchanging scenery. Mary "Jacky" Faber is certainly a spunky hero(ine), but her spunk can be a bit overwhelming and unbelievable at times. Despite that, she can get readers cheering for her. The other members of the Brotherhood are definitely interesting, if a bit vague sometimes. Jacky's narration is so full of London street slang that it often feels forced and overdone, but the reader gets used to it after a while. The ending of the book is more realistic than I had expected, and was a pleasant surprise, even if it is less exciting ending than my expectations. Overall, "Bloody Jack" is a high seas adventure that has its share of flaws but will nevertheless appeal to fans of plucky heroines in disguise.