Bloody Jack

By: L. A. Meyer

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Life as a ship's boy aboard HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of 18th-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas. There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl. And she will have to use every bit of her spirit, wit, and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret. This could be the adventure of her life...if only she doesn't get caught.

Listen to the sequel, Curse of the Blue Tattoo.

©2003 L.A. Meyer (P)2007 Listen and Live Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Children's Titles - Ages 12+, 2008

A wonderful surprise!

I figured I give this a try based on the excellent reviews this work has received. I must admit that as an older male I had some trepidation. After all, this is a story about a girl and with a female narrator, which to date have not been spectacular.

What a pleasant surprise! The story was enthralling and covers various aspects of late 1700 England. The narrator really was excellent. She brought the characters to life through what can best be described as acting. She is the best female narrator I have encountered yet.

The story does have it's dark parts, and some material that would best be suited to the mature YA audience. There are also a few sillier parts, but hey, it's fiction, and these parts weren't too over the top.

This audible book comes with my highest recommendation if you enjoy great fiction coupled with outstanding narration.

Great book and performance!

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I appreciated the authors ability to describe tense and possibly gruesome events without delving into unnecessary graphic detail. I enjoyed the story, characters and narration.

Vivid and engaging

My daughter and I commute quite a bit and are always listening to one audio book or another. This was a welcome change from the endless spate of fantasy she's been into of late. The history, action, adventure, humor and and feminism appealed to us both. Kellgren did a brilliant job and really brought the whole thing vividly to life.

I agree there are several tense moments and this is not for younger children. My daughter is a mature and well-read 11 year old, so the sexual and violent references actually made made for good points of mother-daughter discussion, but this is not a book the less mature.

Love this series

I have listened to this entire series twice; Entertaining story and fantastic performance. I listen to a lot of audio books and Katherine’s Bloody Jack is entertaining without being distracting. Absolutely love it.

Suitable for kids, fun for adults

An excellent reader contributed to this adventure story. It stands on its own (no cliffhanger), but I'm looking forward to the next one.

Great fun if you can stand the narration

The premise and the plot are both are both clever and fun - if you don't mind just ignoring certain issues related to a ... er ... "maturing" woman on a ship with almost no sanitary facilities that have to do with reality. But if you can reign in your inner skeptical grownup, you'll have fun with this story. What you won't have fun with is the narration. She does a nice job with most of the voices and the accents, but the modulation of her voice is painful and when Jacky whines or screams at full volume, be prepared to snatch those earbuds out of your ears quickly, lest you be rendered deaf. I found it irritating and highly distracting.

Superb narration of a wonderful story

Kellgren deserves every bit of praise she receives for her multi-voiced narration that gains both charm and steam as she works through the harrowing beginnings of an orphan who is long on grit and talent but short on common sense. Kellgren has us careening along with Jackie on this wonderful ride. Heroes and villians are read with equal verve and the settings and scenery are described and read with such detail that visualizing the story, characters, and time made bloody Jack one of my favorite listens.

Bloody Brilliant!

Amazing narration and a thrilling story! A must listen for anyone who enjoys stories of heroes in the most unlikely of places.

Great listen

I enjoyed the voice so much and found myself pulled into each character. A good listen and entertaining!

Bloody good, I guess...

Found this in my library and couldn't for my life figure out why I bought it. Ages 11-13? It had been sitting in my library too long to return so - I read it.

And a fun yarn it was. Even for me who is waay off the target age group. The feel of late eighteenth century England is great. Street urchin life is VERY vivid. Ship life seems fairly authentic and well researched. "Jack" is an endearing and interesting character. Not regretting the read, even if the level of intimidation (threat of rape) and violence seemed excessive for 11-13 year old kids.

Kellgren is a fantastic narrator, even if she (as always) gets a bit carried away (read: frenzied) in the action sequences.