Mary's parents die of illness in 18th c. London, and she ends up a street orphan who must beg and steal to survive. But when she gets the chance to start a new life at sea, she jumps at the chance to earn money, be fed regularly, see far-off places, and hunt for pirates. The only problem is, she needs to keep her gender a secret... She enjoys her life at sea tremendously as Jacky Farber, ship's boy, but trouble starts to happen as she grows older and falls in love with one of her fellow ship's boys...

The story is told in the first person, and Jacky's narration is a rather strong dialect that takes a bit of getting used to. Meyer does a good job of painting a realistic picture of both life on the streets and life at sea, without either glossing over the setting or bogging into too many technical details. Jacky is a likeable heroine, all the more admirable because she recognizes that she cannot keep up her deception forever: just long enough to get to an ideal port and then desert. With her background as a street urchin, she has a formidable arsenal of life skills that serve her well and she makes it through her adventures in a believable, realistic way. A near-rape makes this a book for older readers. Though the ending brings this chapter of her life to a close, it is not particularly satisfying... which is probably why there are two more volumes about Jacky's further adventures.

Catspaw is now king of the goblins, and is prepared to marry Miranda, who has been raised all her life to be a King's Wife. After all, goblin kings need to marry humans or elves in order to keep their magic strong. But just before their wedding, Catspaw is summoned to the Truce Circle--- and discovers that a powerful elf lord has been gathering the wandering elvish tribes to himself. In exchange for peace from raids during Catspaw's reign, and the return of the elves' magic books, the elf lord will give him an elf bride. And he finds an elf with such powerful magic that he has no choice but to take her as the King's Wife. Furious, with no place amongst the humans and no place amongst the goblins, Miranda runs away... and finds a place as the elves' captive. But Catspaw won't let one of is subjects be taken hostage so easily...

A very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. At first, I was disappointed that so many of the main characters from the past two books had such light roles here. But I warmed to the new cast pretty quickly. Both of the previous books touched on xenophobia,  presumptions about people you have never met, and racism in general. But this book gives hope that maybe-- for a generation, at least-- the goblins and the elves might be able to overcome their prejudices against each other. The final three chapters made for an extremely fulfilling climax.

Libby Dodge has been sent to Sherborn Women's Prison in 1914 to serve her time and make reparations to society for her crimes. She has been assigned to work the laundry with her friend and protectress, Ma McCreary (doing time for chopping up her abusive husband). They pass the time singing--- and their voices bring them to the attention of Mrs. Wilkinson, the new prison chaplain, who believes in these newfangled ideas about "rehabilitation, and wants to form a prison choir. Their performance of Handel's famous Halleluljah Chorus for the Easter service was so well-received, Mrs. Wilkinson is allowed to lead the inmates in a production of The Pirates of Penzance, which helps unite all of the ladies in a common goal... and helps Libby discover a new future for herself.

Already being familiar with G&S and The Pirates of Penzance helped make the book more enjoyable--- it let me give context to the quotes, I knew the parts that the ladies had been given to play, and I was able to hear the lyrics as music rather than mere words. (If you're not familiar with it, either listen to the audio CD or watch one of the two versions available on VHS at the library. It's funny.) I enjoyed being able to see all these characters, whose charges ranged from murder to burglary to arson to prostitution and more, find something to be passionate about during their bleak pre-WWI imprisonment. The part that really made this interesting was because the story was inspired by an actual newspaper clipping about women in the historical Sherborn Women's Prison putting on an actual G&S performance. The story is a light, easy read--- I was able to breeze through in less than two hours. If you like the idea of a bunch of misfits being able to pull together into a functioning theatre company, complete with all the disasters and near-disasters that go with it, you'll probably enjoy this book as well.

In 14th c. England, a dragon has been ravaging the countryside. It had been thought that the last of the dragons had been killed off decades before, but a single dragon's egg had escaped the slaughter, and the young dragon is now wreaking havoc and destroying villages. Jude, a peasant boy, returns home to find his family killed and his tiny hamlet burned and razed. He joins up with a traveling band of entertainers, befriends Jing-wei, a Chinese orphan who is displayed in their freak show on account of her exotic looks, religion, and tiny bound feet; and the two end up running away together. But Jude cannot run forever; eventually, the two of them must hunt down the dragon themselves and kill it, so that it can no longer cause harm to others.

The story is told in a first-person narrative. Jude and Jing-wei have taken a monastery up on its hospitality, and Jude is dictating his adventures to Brother Benedict, a scribe. Because of the nature of the format, it's not difficult to guess that Jude and Jing-wei will be successful... but it does make it a nice way to say how people go back to their ordinary lives after having finished a great adventure. Even though the voice telling the story was Jude, the main force driving the hunting of the dragon was Jing-wei. It was nice to have the role of dragon-slayer given to a female character, and it was done in a believable manner. Due to her nationality, Jing-wei was able to bring elements into play that aren't normally included in dragon-slaying stories. The chapters are short and self-contained because each chapter is a session with Brother Benedict, so it might be a good book for reading a chapter a night aloud. The book was a little youngish--- fifth and sixth-graders might enjoy it.

Her mother is a famous writer, and Sage is also obsessed with her desire to write. Unfortunately for her best friend, George, Sage is not overly burdened with talent. She writes page after page of historical romance, though having no grasp of either history or real-life romance. And all of her stories revolve around various permutations of the same characters: her beautiful heroine, Angelica, and her one-eyed lover with an eyepatch. George suffers quietly through Sage's reading sessions--- after all, they've been best friends forever, and he does have a crush on her--- but when she decides to submit her perfect novel into the school's writing contest, he feels compelled to leap into action to save her from public humiliation...

This book was a quick and easy read. Though some might tire of the constant inclusions from Sage's romance chapters, I thought they were fun to read and try to figure out all the errors that were included. (Seminole Indians living on the plains? Performing CPR on someone who has choked on food? Pioneers with Band-Aids?) And her way-over-the-top descriptions had me laughing out loud a few times. The book wasn't particularly deep or surprising, for those who prefer their teen romances to have more grit and angst, but it was funny and enjoyable.

The Hollow Kingdom focused primarily on Kate, the elder sister. Now, several years have passed, and the focus shifts to Emily, the younger sister. Emily is happy living in Marak's caverns, and is satisfied with her life of taking care of the goblin nursery. But goblins grow up faster than humans do, and she accidentally turns down her best friend's marriage proposal. Seylin is crushed and decides to leave to find the elves; even though he is genetically a goblin, his looks are overwhelmingly elvish, and he wants to find others of his kind. But the elves he finds aren't anything like what he had imagined... they have lost their magic, lost their history, and lost their culture. Will Seylin be able to get past his disillusionment about the nearly-extinct elves? Will Emily be able to find him to clear up the misunderstanding? And will Marak raid the little band for brides and doom the elves in an effort to save his own people?

There is little suspense in this installment of the trilogy, but it was still a nice visit to familiar characters. My favorite part was the depiction of the band of elves--- if there's any post-apocalyptic elvish fiction, this is it. But primarily, this story is the bridge between Marak's reign and Catspaw's, setting things up for the third installment.