Summary from GoodReads:

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 eighteenth-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. . . .

My Review:

Pirates! Orphans! Cockney Accents!  This book has it all!

I loved this first-person narrative of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy.  Orphaned, Mary is left to her own devices, beginning with the avoidance of certain disreputable folks who might take advantage of her reading skills, the acceptance into a “gang” of her own, her advance received from a character who’s primary source of incoming is delivering corpses to the doctors for their research and finally ending with Mary posing as a boy to get aboard a ship, specifically, the HMS Dolphin.

.. And so the adventure begins.  And this is a pirate adventure, to be sure.  No holds are barred by Meyer in this tale.  Religion, Abuse, both physical and sexual, sex, maturity, all themes that are talked about openly making this not necessarily a story for the younger end of the YA readers.  I found the adventures on the open sea and the depiction of the characters to be spot on and lively, each complete with his or her own back story and filled with personality.

The only issue I had with the book was the “kite” incident toward the end, it seemed a bit improbable and felt, to me, as if Meyer was stretching things out a bit because he didn’t know any other way to come to a good conclusion.  But even that wasn’t too bad, just improbable.

Fun, fun book filled with adventure.  If you are as big a fan of pirate stories as I am, I’d definitely recommend checking it out. I’m just thrilled it’s a series!

Check out these review(s):

Shylock Books

Bookworming in the 21st Century