Customer Reviews

My Bonny Light Horseman (Bloody Jack Adventures)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mr. Meyer's books just keep getting better! This one, the 6th in the Bloody Jack series, is absolutely marvelous. What starts out to be a normal day for Jacky Faber ends up with her being captured yet again, and before you can even blink, the plot has thickened ten-fold, with the reappearance of Joseph Jared, Davy, and other characters. The guillotine, a classy cat-house in Paris, not to mention the great Napoleon Bonaparte, all come into Jacky's already complicated life. And as the subtitle suggests, both LOVE and WAR are intimately linked in this part of Jacky's story.

Naturally, the epilogue leaves the reader slightly suspended, already awaiting book 7 quite anxiously.

Do not be discouraged by the book's 400 something page count. What MLBH lacks for in pages, it makes up for in plot, drama, and classic Jacky-esque adventure.

It's a page-turner, to be sure.

<3

I am a huge fan of the Bloody Jack books, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on My Bonny Light Horseman. Unfortunately, this book lacked the sparkle of it's predecessors. A lot of previous plots were re-hashed. There were men falling in love with Jacky and her pretty much cheating on Jaimy for no reason while he's back in London waiting for her. It also contained some confusing bits, such as why is Jacky staying in the French army as a spy when it's obvious that there is no information concerning an invasion of England? Especially since there are already British spies in the same place Jacky is sent to. It seems like new characters were underdeveloped and in general things went by too quickly without much development. After the last book, which was very different, exciting, and engaging, I was incredibly disappointed with the latest offering. I gave it three stars because I still love Jacky, and I hope the next in the series will give me reason to stick with her.

The sixth installment of the Bloody Jack series, My Bonny Light Horseman, lives up to the high expectations of Jacky Faber fans. The brilliant L.A. Meyer continues to deliver a page turning, plot engrossing, swashbuckling, and landlubbing adventure! Those that are familiar with the series will be delighted to see old characters return and new ones added.
Those who are not familiar with Mr. Meyer's work will become instant fans after reading this adventure and will be compelled to start at the beginning of the series and read each novel in rapid succession, as there is no going back once you have discovered the extraordinarily diverting and endearing stories of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, Midshipman, Fine Lady, Lily of the West, Soldier, and Spy!

Yeah! Another book in the Bloody Jack series has come! All the other reviews tell you that this book is good -- you don't need me for that -- so I'll leave you with some stuff to look out for as you read this 6th installment.

1. This book is similar to the later books (ie, 4 and 5) in its style. what I mean: Meyer has a lot of flashbacks in this one. See, the chapter ends, and then the next one begins with a line that lets you know a situation has occurred and has been dealt with. Then Meyer begins a new paragraph and tells you that situation -- what happened between this chapter and the last. He also does more of that skipping-over technique: The good days he glosses over. (My favorite example of this: Jacky's adventures on the Pequod with Ishmael are barely mentioned, and only in a retrospective manner. Maybe Meyer will do some in-between book about those days and adventures, like Meg Cabot has done with her "Princess Diaries" series?)

2. The title: Arguments may ensue over whom it refers. Is it Jacky? Randall? Bardot? All three? Also, the subtitle "In love and war" I didn't like. A bit of a sell-out to our dear Jacky. Her life isn't just a romance novel, y'know. But I suppose the title is supposed to make you think of grand cliches -- you know, love and war go together in lots of them -- because Jacky is about to face war.

3. Speaking of love, WTF??? Jean-Paul's romance with our Puss in Boots is seriously unbelievable. And I MEAN it! It's VERY hard to find it believable. Hello, Jacky gets pretty hot and heavy with him, and it's not even a believable romance. Even worse, it's predictable! Right off the bat, when you first meet Jean-Paul, y'kow they're gonna go for it. And that is disappointing.

4. Another love story: Never realized how much J. Jared loved Jacky. I got the feeling that Meyer didn't either plan on it, but rather put it in because it sounded good. And it was. It's understandable that Meyer should decide that Jared really likes Jacky. I think Meyer didn't know where the series was going when he published the book in which Jared debuts. But although I trusted Jared's affections for Jacky in this book, I felt that Meyer should have planned ahead a bit, and given us more time to see Jared fall for Jacky in other books, or even in this one.

5. The anti-war message. In the more recent books, Jacky becomes more philosophical, and her simple, strong statements on why she can't understand war (try, "I don't know nuthin' 'bout nuthin'," or something like that) ring true. I might have to highlight or underline the better ones, I like them so. Unfortunately, I think that Jacky could've been believable without all that absolute hate of war. I agree with her philosophy, but Meyer almost goes over the top with he histrionics about not fighting and Jean-Pail and Randall getting along and love. Her philosophy: good. The way it is presented: Only okay.

6. I want more Amy!!!!!!!!!!! She could've been brought in at the beginning of the book, at least. Glad to hear she is still publishing, though.

7. Jacky's near-death situations are over the top as usual (in a good way), but are becoming a bit too predictable. Just as occurs in the fifth book, every time Jacky is about to die, her would-be murderer gets killed or attacked instead by a friend. Maybe Meyer thinks that this is the only way out the situation. If so, he should change the situation so her near-death experiences aren't so predicable. To be fair, the guillotine situation WAS different, but after that, it was straight back to the usual.

8. Her nightmares. In all the books so far, I believe, Jacky has had bad nightmares. But I feel like in this book and in the fifth Meyer takes it to a new level, and it's kinda annoying. Yes, Jacky has faced more peril in later books, so more reason to have nightmares, right? But I think he over does it.

9. This book is good, and it's got lots of history. The historian in me delights in reading about the battle and Marshal Ney on Wikipedia and other sites. And in books, of course.

10. L. A. Meyer's site is [..]. It's a nice site. Check it out. Lookin' forward to "Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy"! That's all, folks.

Another book of non-stop adventure with Jacky...but this book has more emotional depth than the other books, which is appropriate as Jacky is growing up, and learning more about conflicting loyalties and love.

The Royal Navy has finally caught up with Jacky...and installed her in Napoleon's France as a spy. Only it's a good idea when recruting spies, to make sure they're adequately motivated. When Jacky becomes an officer in the Grand Armee, she does as good a job for France as she had been doing for England or herself.

Meyer does his usual plays on names--Jacky's nom de guerre is Jacqueline Bouvier and the bonny light horseman, her brother-in-arms, is Captain Bardot. As usual, I assume I've missed as many as I've caught.

Jacky has another not-quite-consummated love affair in this book, with a young French officer/spy for the English named Jean-Paul. This affair also seems to have more depth than the previous affairs Jacky has had; her heart still seems to belong to her fiance Jaimy but neither one of them seem capable of fidelity in absence--I'm looking forward to what Meyer does with this relationship in the next book.

These books are similar in many ways to the Flashman books. Jacky is both younger and kinder than Flashman. They're both picaresque, but the Bloody Jack books are lighter and more fun, with a touch of Hornblower.

I finished reading MY BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN, the sixth book in the "Bloody Jack" series, a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to commenting on it. The other reviewers here have basically written about the plot and characters, so I won't repeat what has already been said.

In this tale of the further adventures and misadventures of our dear Miss Jacky, she finds herself again at the mercy of the Royal Navy's Intelligence Department. She is to be sent to spy on the Grand Army of Napoleon in France. Posing as Mademoiselle Jacqueline Ophelia Bouvier (Jacqui O.? H'mmm That sounds familiar for some reason.) a dancer/seductress/spy with Madame Pelletier's troupe "Les Petites Gamines" in Paris, and then as a Cadet courier with Napoleon's Grand Army in France and Germany, charged with training a squad of raw enlistees knicknamed "The Clodhoppers," since they are all clumsy farmboys. She again involves herself in many dangers and narrow escapes...all exciting and great fun. Jacqui/Jacky still dreams about her true love Jaimy Fletcher back in London, but is also interested in a handsome young French officer named Jean-Paul de Valdon. One reviewer here was disappointed that Jacky was being unfaithful to Jaimy. Au contraire...Jacky was just being herself, a young lady who happens to like the company of handsome young men who are attracted to her. She was and always will be a fun-loving flirt. But, as always, she retains her virtue and deep love for Jaimy.

I've already given away some of the story and will leave it up to the reader of this excellent novel to enjoy the whole book for himself. This is a wonderful novel in a marvelous series and I recommend it highly. Vive Jacky! Vive L. A. Meyer!

yes, i love jacky. but there are plenty of reviewers going on about how wonderful the series is, so i felt it my duty to add a new angle. while i love out heroine, i agree with the other reviewer that mentioned how repetetive the plot is becoming. more almost-dying, and another cookie-cutter love affair with another dashing young man (whose only original quality is being french). the book had its good bits, but i had to mark it down for how straight-up disappointing it was.it is SUCH a let down after the spectacular 5th installment, lacking the multi-layered plot, interesting new characters, and length that i had expected of it after the previous installments. i had also thought this might give a new angle to jacky's and jaimy's relationship: after years apart, are they really still a perfect match? will we see a newer, deeper aspect to their relationship? will jaimy finally meet his darling's MANY beaus and what will ensue? will they really break up, or finally tie the knot?finally, in my opinion, the book failed in giving its readers the satisfying ending they deserved. not just for the book, but for the series.
i am still left, steaming, with my questions, and hoping the next book will finally resolve things and give a better adventure than this one did.
i sincerely hope that the seventh book will match up to the greatness of its OTHER predecessors, and not to my lowered expectations.

The series is great. I love how we see characters here and there in different books because Jacky is just so personable and has so many friends! The stories are unique and exciting and her character is one of a kind!
This book however, was a major disappointment. It felt rushed and felt forced. If the author was feeling writer's block, I'd prefer him to take a year off than force out another book. There was not nearly as much character development. I can tell because I don't remember the friends (or enemies) Jacky made in this book like I do the others. They all felt flat. I think the author may have been trying to get back to the original story of jacky- dressing up and going undercover. I don't know why he didn't spend as much time on it. There were few close calls or anything interesting. I feel a lot more could've been done with Jacky the spy. The book seemed... like a fish out of water. Perhaps it was so weak because Jacky was on land. It does not suit her for part of her luck is escaping into the sea or into the rigging and there was just one muddy surface in the scenes of this novel. Also, can we PLEASE have some Jacky/Jaimy interaction? Isn't this dragging it on way too long? I mean really, one book where they adventure together again, THEN go back to the whole sadly forced to be separete theme. I liked the idea of Jacky as a spy and back to her originally hiding in plain sight trick, but I felt it wasn't well developed and the whole mess wasn't the type of thing Jacky would usually get into. She's suited to... a different type of mess. Less government and more pirates and scallywags. Oh well. Hopefully some conclusions will finally start being drawn in the upcoming 2 or 3 books.

This was a new author for me and the first book took some getting used to. I didn't like the "cockney talk" it was hard to read. I hung in and finally got to a part of the book where it was easier to read (Jackie got out of the streets)and I really enjoyed the story. I have read all 6 books in order in this 8 book series so far and I plan to read them all. The 400+ pages go so fast and the stories are great.

I really liked this book, the 6th in the series. I was just turned on to the series a few months ago. After buying a used copy of Bloody Jack from Amazon and devouring it, I ran to the closest book store and bought a stack, from Blue Tattoo to Missippi Jack. I was lucky to always have the next installment, as each book ends leaving the reader begging for more. By the time I got to Miss. Jack, I felt like it was mere required reading. Just how long can Jacky and Jaimy chase each other, and realistically can their love survive? I bought the Horseman the day it came out, mainly to just follow through, genuinely hoping it would be the end. Well, it sure didn't take long for me to change my mind. This was not required reading, This was exciting-can't-wait-to-get-home-and read kind of stuff. I loved this book, probably more than any others. I was so happy to see Joseph Jared again. What a man. And I liked these adventures. I won't give too much away, but there is so much excitement. She wins hearts, she wins more medals. Jacky wins it all. Now, I am sad to have it over. I want a Puss-in-Boots tattoo.