Jack the Giant Killer

By: Charles de Lint

Narrated by: Taylor Meskimen

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

A faceless gang of bikers on a wild hunt through the streets of present-day Ottawa hurtles young Jacky Rowan across the threshold into the perilous land of Faerie. There, to her dismay, she is hailed as the Jack of Kinrowan, a once-and-future trickster hero whose lot is to save the Elven Courts from unimaginable evil.

©1987 Charles de Lint (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

a perfect urban faerie tale

de lint writes people so well. while staying within the rules of faerie tale logic he managed to present theee dimensional characters. a rare talent.

wonderful memories of this book!

I remember reading this book not long after it was first published and it was the first contemporary fantasy I remember reading. it was literally a magical transformation for me. the idea that the faerie kingdoms were just around the corner was a new thrill and I loved how DeLint brings it all to life.

and Taylor Meskimen does a fantastic job of storytelling! I will look for more titles she has read.

Great book; too much vocal fry

I don’t love vocal fry, And we’ll written books don’t need over-emoting. Not my favorite performance of a good book, but since I’ve already read it, the performance didn’t ruin the book for me.

One of the original urban fantasies

I read this when it was first published, and so did my kids. Now, it's in audio and very satisfying to listen to. There's evil and terror and joy and good.

One of may all time favorite

This title from Charles de Lint casts a web of mystery and always delights.

Great fairy adventure!!

Love the heroines courage and all the characters that support he journey! Very very magical!

A fine urban fantasy.

The story moved along very well. I did get confused between the reading of Jackie’s role and her friend.

Great take on fairy tale subjects

De Lint is one of my favorite authors. The way he weaves stories with the traditional folk characters is awesome. They are nothing else but modern day urban fairy stories. The world building here is a little lacking, Compared to his other stories, but well worth reading. The narator was ok. Kate Reading does a lot of De Lint's works and maybe I am unfairly comparing them.

Not for me, good for teen girls?

This story wasn’t for me but I believe it would be potentially inspirational for teenage girls.
Narrator does a good job but could speak a tad faster.

A young woman on the rebound takes on fairies

Charles de Lint’s Jack the Giant Killer takes a young women, ‘Jacky,’ from Ottowa while on the re-bound, witnesses the murder of a gnome. With the aid of a magic red cap, she is able to now visualize the fairy world and becomes involves in a turf war and the recovery of the daughter of a powerful fairy being held in a giant’s keep. With the aid of a close friend, she embarks on this quest that is touch and go most of the time, but she ends up becoming the mythical ‘jack, the giant-killer.’

De Lint offers a unique twist on the classical ‘jack and beanstalk’ tale with a ‘jacky’ sans beanstalk. There are parallels to the ‘real’ world with some of the ‘evil’ entities riding motorcycles (‘hell’s angels’ theme) as well as ‘bogans’ that are mean, nasty entities appearing as ‘winos’ in the real world.

The narration is good with reasonable character distinction. Pacing is smooth and a bit brisk making for a quick listen.