At this point in the series, readers should know what to expect, which is what this delivers. I've been disappointed by Jacky's casual promiscuity in the later books, which would make me reluctant to recommend the series to a tween or innocent teen, such as some of my nieces, despite the quality of the earlier books. ( )

Jack is back! And I'm so glad she is. In this book Jackie is whisked away to the Caribbean to look for buried treasure, buried hundreds of feet under water that is, in the sunken ship the Santa Magdalena. There is a good deal of Mr. Fletcher in this book, always good, as well as Higgins, Davy, Tink, and Joannie. Some new characters, including Aunt Jemimah, a slave Jacky frees. The pirates, including Flaco, are brought back into the story and Jacky will behave just like Jacky around them. One of my new favorites in the series, following the older Jacky books, where she's out at see on a ship and Jaimy's near by. This book wasn't as confusing as some of the others and was easy to follow. Definite page turner and a wonderful addition to the series. ( )

I think perhaps this book in the series should have been titled "Jumping the Shark" instead of "Rapture of the Deep". I adored the first six books and devoured them over the course of just a few months, but this, the seventh, was a disappointment.

One character in particular prevented me from enjoying the book. While the woman herself is a fine addition to the story, the handling of her by the author was extremely racially insensitive. This character is a large, older, female slave named Auntie Jemima. I wish L.A. Meyer had done some research before choosing to name this character. Even reading the article on Wikipedia would have informed him how ignorant and inappropriate his choice was.

While I enjoyed the nods and subtle winks to other literary works which appeared earlier in the series, in this book they seemed out of place and broke the fourth wall. For example, naming a bar in 1800s Cuba "Ric's Cafe Americain" seemed like a completely out-of-context reference to Casablanca, a movie most of his young adult audience hasn't seen, which is set in Morocco the 1940s.

The sexual harassment and attempted rape scenes, ever-escalating throughout the series, finally crossed the line of gratuity and crassness into something unfit for the young adult age group. The scene itself could have been excused if there had been any emotional or moral examination of the event, but there is none.

Along with these bizarre additions of cringe-inducing scenes, a lot of the characters I loved in earlier books got very little "page time". I am thinking specifically of Higgins, who was diluted into a gay Jeeves wannabe, replete with with a "knob polishing" pun. (I kid you not.)

The book is not without its enjoyable parts -- I loved the use of the diving bell and Jacky's interactions with the scientists on board. Meyer's wonderful ability to describe sea battles was not diminished.

My love for the series up to this point means I will likely still seek out the next book, but I will certainly do so with much less excitement and enthusiasm than I did when I heard "Rapture of the Deep" was being published. If the eighth book does not return to the quality seen in the other Bloody Jack books, I will abandon the series. ( )

Sometimes it's difficult for me to write a review for a book that I truly love. Though I finished Rapture of the Deep several days ago, I have put off saying anything about it here at LibraryThing because I'm not really sure that I can formulate a proper review at all (admittedly, my reviews are generally rambly things anyway, so I guess this won't be too different from the norm).

So, I really truly love Rapture of the Deep. It's another Bloody Jack Adventure, so as with the rest of the series, it follows a set of tropes such as "historical fiction, but with plenty of anachronisms" and "Jacky and Jaimy are in love and thisclose to each other, but kept apart by fate and also the British Navy, as usual". Jacky gets naked in front of people, does stunts that no sane person would ever do, gets into trouble with pirates and a Spanish warship, &c. &c. Nothing new, really.

Well, actually, I guess I lie. There is something new in this book: at the very beginning, there is to be a wedding. Jacky's wedding. After the end of My Bonny Light Horseman, when Jacky dives into the ocean from a cliff in France, in order to swim out to the Nancy B. Alsop who lies at sea, the reader can probably expect that something of the sort will occur. After all, Jaimy is on the Nancy B., too, and the two of them will finally be able to be together for some days without interference from anyone except maybe the crew and Higgins.

Not to spoil anyone, but the tropes I mentioned earlier, and how fate (and maybe the British Navy) always come between the two lovebirds before they can get together properly? Yeah, nothing changes with regards to that in Rapture. I love the way it comes up and the way everybody in the book reacts to it (also the rules put in place regarding it by the powers that be). I feel like the characters were snickering with evil glee as soon as Jacky stepped out of the room, and that does warm the dark side of my heart.

Some of the details surrounding those opening bits bugged me, though, on account of being very modern, as in not even in the cultural language until after Queen Victoria. It wasn't enough to ruin the book, but I had trouble really getting into the story until after that plot bit got tied up, because the anachronism was a little too much for me (and I do willingly overlook other anachronisms that I notice, and those that I don't notice, even if sometimes I enumerate them with some exasperation).

After that, though, the book was ten kinds of fantastic. Not quite enough to be my favorite of the series (Mississippi Jack still holds that position), but it's way way up there. Jacky goes on an expedition near Key West to recover some Spanish treasure, because the Navy is going broke what with the war against Napoleon, and of all things, her first home-at-sea the HMS Dolphin follows her down to provide protection and to pick up the gold. This makes for some really great story, because of who, exactly, is on the ship, and also the conflicts that come up with a giant Spanish warship and some pirates.

Speaking of, I really love the scenes in Havana. Jacky, despite being a bleeding heart with a lot of modern sensibilities, loves cockfighting. And guess what is a popular sport in Havana. There's also an old pirate friend from her Emerald days in the Caribbean - like most of the male friends Jacky has, he's a little bit in love with her, and having Jaimy not too far away gives these scenes a little bit of something extra.

There were some genuinely frightening scenes in this novel, mostly to do with the flora and fauna that Jacky and her friends encounter in Key West and the surrounding waters. There were also some really funny scenes, so I guess it all works out to be pretty fantastic.

I love this book, and I think that other fans of the series will love it, too. It definitely requires familiarity with the other books to fully appreciate, though, since so much of the backstory that makes it work isn't really completely given. ( )

Rapture of the Deep is the newest addition to the Bloody Jack adventures by L.A. Meyer. This time we find our heroine and her fearless friends in the Caribbean Sea around Cuba and the Florida Keys hunting for Spanish gold...on the orders of King George. Several old friends and foes show up in this edition, as well as some great new characters including Jemima, a former slave now employed as ships cook for Faber Shipping Worldwide, and the jolly rogue and pirate Flaco Jimenez. Fun and exciting, with several tall tales from the Deep South told by Jemima thrown in for spice. Readers who fell in love with the sailor (and sometimes pirate) Jacky will love this edition. ( )