I have been reading the Bloody Jack series for at least ten years, and with its release last month, I have finally read the last book in the adventure: Wild Rover No More by L. A. Meyer, “the last recorded account of the life and times of Jacky Faber.” And we can be sure it really is the end–sadly, L. A. Meyer died this past summer, though I’m glad for him (and us!) that he was able to finish his series.

This final book was, as the series has always been, a lot of fun to read, with humor and hijinks galore.  It was also plagued by some of the same issues that I’ve seen in the last few books of the series.  So–I think I’ll talk a bit about the book, a bit about how it stands as the final conclusion, and then some thoughts on the series on a whole.

This book opens a few months after the conclusion of Boston Jacky, and the lingering crises of that book are tidied neatly away within just a few chapters.  New crises arise when Jacky is framed for espionage and must once again go on the run, fleeing Boston first for a job as a governess, and then to join the circus.  But the law is catching up to her, and soon her belief that she was always meant for hanging will be sorely tested. Continue reading “Book Review: Wild Rover No More” →

I know I read The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells some ten or fifteen years ago–and I must have completely forgotten it.  Frankly, if I had remembered it more clearly, I don’t think I would have reread it!  But since I did (well, listened to it on audio), I’m counting it as a read for R.I.P., as classic horror and certainly full of mists and mystery.

The story begins with a reclusive, bandaged man taking lodgings at an inn, there to work on a mysterious experiment.  It’s not much of a spoiler to say that the bandaged man eventually removes his bandages–and is completely invisible.  Unfortunately, he’s also a complete psychopath.  He wreaks a fair degree of havoc until he eventually runs into an old acquaintance, and sits down for an extended narration about how he became invisible, and his future plans to (more or less) conquer the world.

For the record, I like old books.  I really do.  I can handle a fair degree of slow writing, a fair amount of focus on random side characters, and even a plot that takes a little while to get going.  I just finished Shirley, a Charlotte Bronte novel that had all of those problems, and still enjoyed it immensely.  But The Invisible Man?  Sad to say, I found it pretty irredeemable. Continue reading “Book Review: The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells” →