Little Mary Faber is an orphan, begging on the streets of London, but she longs for something more. When things on the streets take a turn for the worse, she cuts off her hair, dresses as a boy and goes to sea. What follows is a terrific high seas adventure that will appeal to teens as well as adult readers of YA!
I’ll admit this one’s not really about pirates. But, there are some run ins with pirates to be sure. And by the third book in the series there are definitely pirates, so I’m just setting you on the right path. You can thank me later.
Warning: This series is highly addictive and so far never-ending. I both love and hate that. Sometimes I get frustrated that Jacky doesn’t learn from her mistakes. Sometimes I just want the story to move forward. But I keep reading them. At some point, I may have to abandon ship though, because I do want to see where Jacky ends up for good, and if L.A. Meyer doesn’t have the decency to do it, I don’t know that I can stick around. Bloody Jack is the shortest of the series, so if you’re looking to keep your teen occupied for a good long time, lay in a supply of these. While it’s unlikely that I’ll do a break down of content for each book in the series (They’re long! And I’ve read most of them already!), I can tell you that they certainly don’t get any less racy. And probably do get a bit more racy. So keep that in mind.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Jacky is naked early and often, though not usually for sexual reasons. There’s a lot of veiled talk of prostitution and men wanting you for sex. Some ship punishments include having your pants taken down and your bottom switched. There’s talk of men taking girls to their beds. There’s a sailor who always has his eyes on the ship’s boys in a sexual way. Fake manparts are worn. There’s a definite threat of sodomy, pederasty and buggery and the ship’s boys are warned of it. Jacky gets her period. The boys ask their teacher to tell them about sex and he gets aggravated and rants about STDs. There are brothels. Jacky asks a prostitute about sex and babies and such. A sailor grabs Jacky and rubs himself against her. There’s an attempted rape, and not the kind that authors try to make sound romantic, an ugly, vicious scary one, which is only right. There is some touching of breasts, kissing, betrothals.
Profanity – “bleedin”, “bollocks,” “damned,” “sod off,” “hell,” “arse,” “assed” “piss off” “fairy” used to mean homosexual, “son of a bitch”
Death, Violence and Gore – We open to the death of most of Jacky’s family due to illness. Hangings happen, there’s a short but graphic description of bodies left out for birds to pick at. Plenty of crimes are punishable by flogging or hanging or beating. Characters die and their deaths are sometimes violent and are graphically described. Carrying weapons is commonplace (including a shiv, cutlass, pistols). There are sea battles between the navy and pirates with lots of firing of cannons and blood and death, such as a pirate without a face, floors slick with blood, a pirate shot then stabbed as he is dying, a lost leg. Jack earns the nickname “bloody” in this battle. There’s joking about cannibalism. Jacky is beaten badly enough to require stitches. After one battle, Jacky lists off the dead. The head of a pirate is mounted like a prize on a ship.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – There are drunkards and taverns. There’s a rum ration allocated to sailors. Officers drink wine and brandy. The boys speculate that Jesus has a few pints with his mates. The boys all drink.
Frightening or Intense Things – There’s a lot of poverty and orphans in the streets. The poor used to have their dead carted away and the bodies were sold for dissection. A character visits the doctor once and sees all the body parts up in jars. Pirates take captives, either for ransom or slavery and put them off the boat for pursuers to rescue when they want to get away.
