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Title:Jackaroo
Author: Cynthia Voight
Genre: Low magic fantasy
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: An innkeeper's daughter's life changes after being snowbound with a nobleman's son and the costume of a legendary Robin Hood-type.
Thoughts: A friend of mine deeply imprinted on this book as a child, and I can certainly see why. I suspect that my being older has robbed it of some of its power, but it's still an enjoyable read.
This is really more of an alt-history than a standard fantasy--we've got noblemen and a kingdom and the trappings of a Robin Hood-ish legend that have no real moorings in reality, but without any other fantasy elements. Really, it's a historical story without the need to confine to history.
And oh, it's so very much the thing to make a slightly marginalized teenage girl swoon. There's the feeling of being an outsider, as the protagonist realizes that her dreams and concerns don't align with her family's. There's the confirmation that she's special, along with the victory of leading a secret double life. There's the love interest which I pegged from the beginning, despite the fact that it catches the protagonist completely off guard at the end.
Some of the world-building doesn't make a terrible amount of sense to me. Apparently widows and widowers can't remarry, because reasons. And girls who have their fathers declare that they intend not to marry can then go shack up with widowers and have all the duties of being a wife without any privileges because...reasons? The politics of the Earl's succession is equally muddled, although at least that has the justification of the fact it seems muddled to the peasants themselves, and that's whose perspective we're taking.
But overall, it's an engaging book with a nice bit of swashbuckling and a side of wish fulfillment.
Author: Cynthia Voight
Genre: Low magic fantasy
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: An innkeeper's daughter's life changes after being snowbound with a nobleman's son and the costume of a legendary Robin Hood-type.
Thoughts: A friend of mine deeply imprinted on this book as a child, and I can certainly see why. I suspect that my being older has robbed it of some of its power, but it's still an enjoyable read.
This is really more of an alt-history than a standard fantasy--we've got noblemen and a kingdom and the trappings of a Robin Hood-ish legend that have no real moorings in reality, but without any other fantasy elements. Really, it's a historical story without the need to confine to history.
And oh, it's so very much the thing to make a slightly marginalized teenage girl swoon. There's the feeling of being an outsider, as the protagonist realizes that her dreams and concerns don't align with her family's. There's the confirmation that she's special, along with the victory of leading a secret double life. There's the love interest which I pegged from the beginning, despite the fact that it catches the protagonist completely off guard at the end.
Some of the world-building doesn't make a terrible amount of sense to me. Apparently widows and widowers can't remarry, because reasons. And girls who have their fathers declare that they intend not to marry can then go shack up with widowers and have all the duties of being a wife without any privileges because...reasons? The politics of the Earl's succession is equally muddled, although at least that has the justification of the fact it seems muddled to the peasants themselves, and that's whose perspective we're taking.
But overall, it's an engaging book with a nice bit of swashbuckling and a side of wish fulfillment.
