The Story

Twenty years after The Blooding of Jack Absolute finds Jack being coerced back into the Royal service and off to fight in the American War of Independance – his mad skillz as a spy are in desperate need, especially when it is discovered that one of the inner circle in his general’s command is a spy for the Americans.

Through his adventures in the war, and particularly trying to discover who this spy is, Jack captures many hostages, becomes a hostage many times, is almost killed almost as many times as there are chapters in this book, makes many daring escapes, has a few women fall in love with him, falls in love with one woman in particular, hangs out with his Mohawk adopted-brother Até, gets attacked by a rattlesnake, and generally goes around being all awesome-like. (Not that rattlesnake attacks are awesome. But if anyone is to survive two rattlesnake bites at the same time, it’s going to be Jack. And in an awesome-like manner.)

Oh, and there is quotage of Hamlet! And much brooding over the number of times Jack is almost killed! And adventures in Canada and the USA in the late 1700′s! And Jack playing himself in a play! And other such stuff!

The Response

Bah! I had such high hopes for this. SUCH HIGH HOPES. This book was such a tease…

Alas.

I’m sure if I had read this one first instead of The Blooding of Jack Absolute, then I would’ve enjoyed it so much more. But I LOVED The Blooding and this one wasn’t nearly as good for the following reasons:

• There was a heck of a lot less of Até!
• Too much of the book revolved around romance!
• Not enough revolved around bromance!
• I wanted more Até!
• Too much brooding over women!
• Less Hamlet-inspired awesomeness!
• …Where’s Até?

So, obviously, my undying passion for Até coloured how I reacted to this book. Mainly in that I was hugely disappointed that he was only in it for a very short period of time – most of the time Jack was off galavanting and not getting killed all on his own.

And “not getting killed” seems to be the key there. I’m almost annoyed at how lucky Jack is. (But he is lucky in a charming sort of way, because we really don’t want Jack to die! If Jack died, Até would be heartbroken!) He manages to just scrap out of every single life-threatening situation he is faced with – whether it be from a duel fought over (yet another) lover, almost being hung due to being thought a traitor, numerous times when the Rebel army could’ve gutted him, or a rattlesnake that the evil dude throws at him…. well. EXTREMELY lucky. I would not want to be him when his luck finally runs out.

But for all that annoyed me, the writing was as wonderful as the last one. It was very humorous, as one of my favourite passages, when Jack is hiding in a tree stump, shows:

The temptation was to tay in the log, perhaps for the duration of the war. But he couldn’t do that for two main reasons and one minor: he was hungry; he had learned the war was going badly for the Royal Army so he had to resume his position at Burgoyne’s right hand; and some creature had slipped inside his trouser cuff and was engaged in biting its way up his leg.

So yes, the writing almost made up for the lack of Até. I think I may have just realized that I have a new-ish fictional crush.

The Bottom Line

If you’re not going to read all the books in this trilogy/series/whatever, then skip this one and read The Blooding of Jack Absolute – MUCH more fun, much better characters, much more adventure, slightly less romance.

Other Reviews

Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

This week’s Listed feature covers books that takes place in Saskatchewan. I actually read a lot of books that take place in Saskatchewan… I wonder why, OH RIGHT it’s because a lot of Arthur Slade’s books take place in Saskatchewan! Anyway, here we go!

1. Jolted by Arthur Slade. Originally Published 2008. LT.
2. Jake and the Kid by W.O. Mitchell. Originally Published 1961. LT.
3. Owls in the Family by Farley Mowatt. Originally Published 1961. LT.
4. A Student of Weather by Elizabeth Hay. Originally Published 2000. LT.
5. For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross. Originally Published 1941. LT.
6. Homesick by Guy Vanderhaeghe. Originally Published 1989. LT.
7. Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen. Originally Published 1990. LT.
8. Lost Geography: A Novel by Charlotte Bacon. Originally Published 2000. LT.
9. Peace Shall Destroy Many by Rudy Weibe. LT.
10. Dust by Arthur Slade. Originally Published 2001. LT.

What books do you like that take place in Saskatchewan?

Do you like this feature? You should also check out Librarian’s Book Reviews’ Listless Monday and A Bookshelf Monstrosity’s Books By A Theme.

The Story

Okay, so this is more like two stories. Or like one and a fifth.

The first story in this book is The Selkie, written by John Barrowman & Carole E Barrowman, art by Tommy Lee Edward with Trevor Goring, and lettering by John Workman.

The Selkie is a stand-alone story of our lovely Captain Jack in Scotland, and works itself around the Selkie myth. It’s about a bunch of men who have been found dead and completely skinned; Captain Jack gets a call for help from the local authorities, only to discover that what is hunting down these men is something that he brought to earth in the first place many, MANY years ago.

The second story in this book is part one of five in the Broken story, written by Gary Russell, art by Adrian Salmon and lettering by John Workman. This one takes place before the Children of Earth season of Torchwood – which means that Ianto is in it!! Huzzah! (But sadly, Owen and Tosh are not around.)

Anyway! Over 100 years ago the rift let through this crazy pink light that caused a hotel in Cardiff to go weird. As a result, it shut down. But! Exactly 140 years to the day that it shut down, it re-opened. And on the first night it has been re-opened, guests magically disappear – in fact, whole rooms magically disappear. Somehow, the rift is using the original caretaker of the hotel to get something in our world that the rift wants – but no one knows what it is. And, as Torchwood Three is investigating, Gwen, Jack and Ianto all get sucked into the rift…

The Response

If this is the only way I can get my Ianto/Jack fix, then so be it. I will keep buying Torchwood comics as long as they continuously have our beloved Ianto in them. *snuggles snuggles snuggles*

Have I mentioned how broken hearted I was at the end of Children of Earth??? Because I was. It killed me a little bit on the inside.

So yes, two different stories in one comic!! The first story, bless John Barrowman’s heart, wasn’t that great… the illustrations were beautiful, but it didn’t flow very well. Too narrated, actually – the panels and the illustrations in the comic should tell the story, you shouldn’t need to read everything that is happening all the time. Actually… it read like an old film noir movie. So that distracted a little bit from the enjoyment. It doesn’t seem to suit the Jack that we know… which, I suppose, looking at it that way could be a good thing – this was supposed to give fans a glimpse at the Jack that they don’t know from Doctor Who or Torchwood.

The best thing about the first story, though, was by far the illustrations – positively gorgeous!!

As far as the second goes… well, it looks like this is going to be a GOOD story. Again, I love the illustrations (this time, they reminded me a little bit of Dexter’s Laboratory and Powerpuff Girls, the way that it was such solid colours throughout), and it feels like something that could actually work as a real episode. Doesn’t feel fanfic-ish at all (whereas, oddly enough, the one John Barrowman wrote did). Or maybe I was just ecstatic that OMG IANTO HASN’T DIED YET. (Oh, squee!)

Um.

Okay, now I want to go and watch some Torchwood. I apparently know what I’m doing this weekend.

The Bottom Line

Will definitely continue reading this. Recommended to Torchwood fanatics. If you’re not obsessed with the show, you may not enjoy it – it is quite cheesy, but that’s part of the charm, in all honesty. Also? Yay, Ianto!