The main character in the Blood Jack series is Mary "Jacky" Faber. The picture to the right is Emilie de Ravin who, though older than Jacky in most of the books, would actually make a decent Jacky if they ever decided to turn it into, say, a TV series or a movie. I much prefer TV series. It could be pretty awesome...
Slight spoilers ahead. Whoops.
Of course, nobody ever calls her Mary; everybody always calls her Jacky. (Or later, Puss-in-Boots. Or La Belle Fille sans Merci. Or Princess Pretty Bottom. But she doesn't really like the last one.) Or Bloody Jack.
I mean, let's face it. Out of any female character I have ever encountered, Jacky is undoubtedly the most kick ass. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter? Pshh. Alexa Tarabotti from Soulless? Awesome, but no. Katniss from The Hunger Games?
Okay, maybe Katniss could beat her in a fight, but Jacky's still the better character.
She grew up on the streets of London - the entire first book is written in her Cockney accent; they become less accented as she becomes more educated. She lives with a gang of kids that steal and trick their way into surviving. Once she realizes that's not how she wants to live, she joins a crew, disguised as a boy. And she actually manages not only to successfully pull it off (at least for a while), but to fall in love with one of the ship's boys, have that same ship's boy fall for her, get a tattoo, undermine the entire way the ship works every now and then, and never lose one inch of her personality.
She's fearless, but worries; she's flirty, but innocent; she's smart and witty, but trusting; she's a bloody pirate, yet most of the British navy loves her.
She's completely contradictory, and yet she's completely awesome and real. After all, people are rather contradictory, are we not?
And how can you deny somebody who says this?
A girl what's born for hangin' ain't likely to be drowned.
Okay, it sounds ridiculous and morbid when you're just looking at it. And she's rather worried when she says it - it's her first time going on a ship.
But look at what it means. A girl that's destined for something - in her case, being a kick ass female pirate captain - isn't likely to have anything happen that will stop her destiny. It is, after all, her destiny.
I'm not doing her justice at all, you know. Read the books! She's just... GAH! Amazing. (L.A. Meyer, have I mentioned how much I love you for creating her?)
And look, look, look! FAN ART. (Click to bring you to the source.)
