Jacky Faber - beggar, sailor, musician, jockey, painter, fine lady, pirate, girl - has finally been captured by her old enemy, the British Intelligence Service. After faking her death, they send her off to France. Napoleon is well on his way to conquering the world, and Jacky herself has been sent to spy on him. Jacky is better at being a spy than anyone expected, and in just a few weeks finds herself - disguised as a boy again - working as a messenger for Napoleon himself...
Entertainment: ★★★★
Another exciting, fun installment in an excellent series.
Plot: ★★★
Meyer loves to use fortuitous coincidences - miraculous occurrences surround Jacky, defying the laws of time, space and probability. I don't really like stories made up of a series of wonderful coincidences. However, to be fair, only about half Jacky's luck is really luck - the other half she works hard for and makes for herself. So in the end I was pretty neutral about the plot: a lot of coincidences I didn't really like, but also some romance, some adventure, and some excitement that I really did like.
Characters: ★★★★
I love Jacky to death - she's one of my favorite protagonists of all time. I do take minor issue with the fact that nearly every male character either falls in love with her or is willing to die to protect her, but I'm willing to look over that because Jacky's just plain awesome. She makes an effort to be good - and all she wants, really, is to live a good, simple, quiet life - but when adventure happens to her she takes it in stride, makes the best of the situation, and has a good time.
Writing: ★★★★
Meyer does an excellent job of painting pictures with words - as cliche as that sounds - and really brings the story to life.
End Result: four stars. A good book, definitely worth your time.
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