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iariaI finished the Jacky Faber series and just wanted to get down a couple thoughts on it. I really enjoyed them and I can't wait till the next book.
I don’t understand why there isn’t more talk/recs for this series because they are really fun and Jacky’s fabulous and so are most of the secondary characters. I really like the way that the books deal with gender and race and class and sexuality (Jacky is very progressive in a largely conservative time). The books aren’t just full of white characters with an occasional non-white character in the background but rather have an expanding cast of characters of many different races. I love how full of female characters and female relationships most of the books are (minus the first). I love how they deal with female characters. I like that class issues aren’t just black and white. I love that there are gay characters in the books.
• Jacky’s habit of jumping into situations/doing things without thinking drives me crazy and I want to shake her and tell her to think first but overall she’s a great character. She is so competent and yet still makes mistakes and learns from them.
• Platonically, I love Higgins and Jacky’s relationship so much. And Amy and Jacky, though I also ship them a bit (there’s a reason that Amy keeps putting off the idea of marrying Ezra and her name is clearly Jacky!).
• Romantically, I am still pretty surprised that Jacky/Jaimy have lasted the whole series and appears to be truly end game (though the last book did seem to indicate that Jacky was realising that she isn’t ready or even doesn’t want marriage.) I like Jaimy but I just don’t ship him with Jacky at all. While he loves her I don’t think he understands her or sees her for who she really is. And after eight books if he is still thinking of her as delicate/vulnerable and someone who needs to be protected I don’t think he’s ever going to understand who she is. Plus he has this fantasy where they’re going to get married and she’ll become this housewife/hostess and mother and will ‘settle down’ and while Jacky does address this just before their almost wedding I don’t think it really was resolved. I just don’t think they would be happy together at all.
Now to be fair the way he’s dealt with Jacky making out with scores of people, and running into those people and even seeing it himself, has been surprisingly accepting and lacking in the jealousy infused anger I would have expected. That’s a point to him. But not enough that I think a marriage will work. If they got married he would totally expect her to never kiss anyone else again and this is Jacky and she can’t seem to help it! It would all end in tears. (I was actually hoping that Jaimy would hook up with Clementine in Mississippi Jack. I feel like they would have made a better couple.)
• Jacky is bisexual – an actual canon bisexual which is awesome – and is someone who I think isn’t cut out for a monogamous lifestyle. I just can’t imagine Jacky married to one person regardless of who that person is. Sure, she loves Jaimy but she loves a number of people and she really loves making out with people (and the implication I got is that she has had sex before just not vaginal yet). Jacky would flourish in a poly, open relationship but I think a strictly monogamous marriage would be horrible for her. I’m hoping that ambiguous bit at the end of the last book indicates that she’s realising that she isn’t a marrying type of person.
Back to the bi stuff – we’ve only gotten slight hits that Jacky could be bi in previous books – her scenes with Mam’selle Claudelle, the kiss with Clarissa – but the latest book made it fact, complete with implied sex and I was really pleased about that.
• Shipping-wise: Jacky/Clarissa became my favourite pairing after In The Belly of the Bloodhound and as of the latest book (Lorelei Lee) Cheng Shih/Jacky are my favourite pairing. I love Cheng Shih and I really hope we get to meet her again. (Hell, I’d love to read some books about her adventures.) I also like Jacky/Amy, Jacky/Jared, and Jacky/Flaco. I’m pretty much all about the Jacky pairings.
• One annoying thing about the series is the way the author keeps pairing up pretty much every background/supporting character with another supporting character.
I don’t understand why there isn’t more talk/recs for this series because they are really fun and Jacky’s fabulous and so are most of the secondary characters. I really like the way that the books deal with gender and race and class and sexuality (Jacky is very progressive in a largely conservative time). The books aren’t just full of white characters with an occasional non-white character in the background but rather have an expanding cast of characters of many different races. I love how full of female characters and female relationships most of the books are (minus the first). I love how they deal with female characters. I like that class issues aren’t just black and white. I love that there are gay characters in the books.
• Jacky’s habit of jumping into situations/doing things without thinking drives me crazy and I want to shake her and tell her to think first but overall she’s a great character. She is so competent and yet still makes mistakes and learns from them.
• Platonically, I love Higgins and Jacky’s relationship so much. And Amy and Jacky, though I also ship them a bit (there’s a reason that Amy keeps putting off the idea of marrying Ezra and her name is clearly Jacky!).
• Romantically, I am still pretty surprised that Jacky/Jaimy have lasted the whole series and appears to be truly end game (though the last book did seem to indicate that Jacky was realising that she isn’t ready or even doesn’t want marriage.) I like Jaimy but I just don’t ship him with Jacky at all. While he loves her I don’t think he understands her or sees her for who she really is. And after eight books if he is still thinking of her as delicate/vulnerable and someone who needs to be protected I don’t think he’s ever going to understand who she is. Plus he has this fantasy where they’re going to get married and she’ll become this housewife/hostess and mother and will ‘settle down’ and while Jacky does address this just before their almost wedding I don’t think it really was resolved. I just don’t think they would be happy together at all.
Now to be fair the way he’s dealt with Jacky making out with scores of people, and running into those people and even seeing it himself, has been surprisingly accepting and lacking in the jealousy infused anger I would have expected. That’s a point to him. But not enough that I think a marriage will work. If they got married he would totally expect her to never kiss anyone else again and this is Jacky and she can’t seem to help it! It would all end in tears. (I was actually hoping that Jaimy would hook up with Clementine in Mississippi Jack. I feel like they would have made a better couple.)
• Jacky is bisexual – an actual canon bisexual which is awesome – and is someone who I think isn’t cut out for a monogamous lifestyle. I just can’t imagine Jacky married to one person regardless of who that person is. Sure, she loves Jaimy but she loves a number of people and she really loves making out with people (and the implication I got is that she has had sex before just not vaginal yet). Jacky would flourish in a poly, open relationship but I think a strictly monogamous marriage would be horrible for her. I’m hoping that ambiguous bit at the end of the last book indicates that she’s realising that she isn’t a marrying type of person.
Back to the bi stuff – we’ve only gotten slight hits that Jacky could be bi in previous books – her scenes with Mam’selle Claudelle, the kiss with Clarissa – but the latest book made it fact, complete with implied sex and I was really pleased about that.
• Shipping-wise: Jacky/Clarissa became my favourite pairing after In The Belly of the Bloodhound and as of the latest book (Lorelei Lee) Cheng Shih/Jacky are my favourite pairing. I love Cheng Shih and I really hope we get to meet her again. (Hell, I’d love to read some books about her adventures.) I also like Jacky/Amy, Jacky/Jared, and Jacky/Flaco. I’m pretty much all about the Jacky pairings.
• One annoying thing about the series is the way the author keeps pairing up pretty much every background/supporting character with another supporting character.
