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Summary: seasons of summer
Review: I thought that this book was great, exept for the ending, it was way too abrupt.... the plotline was really good though.i am VERY glad theres a sequel(did i spell that right?).i havent read it yet but i think that it will be a really good book and i cant wait to start it.
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Summary: Interesting start for a great saga
Review: I've now read all the books in the Kingdom saga, and I must say I enjoyed it very much. The great thing is, all the books are connected, and you can see character traits from previous books in the new characters! Jackaroo is an interestingly deep look at the life of the Innkeeper's daughter, and how her voyage to help people becomes very dangerous. She is a strong and good character, and the supporting characters have depth. I especially liked her relationship with her brother, who seems bratty at first but becomes better, and their servant, who turns out to be more than he appears to be.
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Summary: Don't despair! It gets better!
Review: If you can make it through the first half of this book, you'll love it. I read about five chapters when I first bought it, get bored, and threw it under the bed to age for a couple of years. When I finally did finish it, it became my second favorite book. Adventure, action, and emotional twists happen in this book, but you have to wade through a deceptively bland beginning to get to it. Read it twice and I promise you'll find stuff in it that fascinates you, even though you swear it wasn't there before.But, to the book itself - Voight has the most masterful control over her characters of any author I know. Gwen is practical, strong, sharp, and, as someone else says down here, "worth emulating." She does what we all dream of doing - become a hero: Jackaroo, who is something like our Robin Hood, only distinct in his own right. Only she finds out being a hero isn't as easy as she suspected. What I found interesting was the power of a legend, and how people could manipulate it to their purposes, but could never really control it. This book is a thinking book. The danger it presents is mainly not through action but through concepts. No matter what you're expecting, this book will probably deliever something different, unless you've read Voight before. But give it a chance - when I finally, did, I fell in love with it.
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Summary: Masks, stories, and freedom: a compelling blend
Review: In every time, in every place where the people are oppressed by a ruling class, there is a hero of the poor, an outlaw who rides outside the law and is yet its greatest champion. In old England it was Robin Hood. In Spaniard-ruled California it was Zorro. And here, in this unnamed kingdom ruled by a distant King and greedy Lords, it is Jackaroo. Jackaroo is the masked outlaw who rights wrongs, who saves true love, who comes to help the people in their worst times of need. Jackaroo is the name in every story, the hero of every tale. And Jackaroo, as Gwyn, the skeptical Innkeeper's Daughter, finds out, is not what he seems to be. Nor is anybody, as Gwyn discovers. Not the imperious Lord who winters at the Inn, not the silent servant Burl, not Gwyn's missing uncle Win...and not Gwyn herself. Beneath Jackaroo's mask, she is able to do the things that a law-abiding Kingdom girl would never be allowed--but which Gwyn has always dreamt of: being the savior of her people, actively fighting the Lords' injustice as opposed to passively accepting it, finally free of stifling tradition for the first time in sixteen years. But there is a price paid for the wearing of the mask: the heavy responsibility that comes with being a hero, and the sacrifice of herself that Gwyn must make to become Jackaroo. Jackaroo and the Kingdom are new but familiar, the feudal society vividly depicted and the characters sharply drawn and believable. Gwyn is strong-willed and far too intelligent for her position, Burl is steadfast and fully as intelligent beneath his slow smile, and Jackaroo--no matter which face he appears in--is the hero of every folktale. Voight's writing is compelling, making "Jackaroo" a page-turner to be read...and re-read...and read yet again. It's that good.
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Summary: It is one of three books that have influenced my life
Review: In Jackaroo, and in Gwyn, I found a hero worth emulating. She is her own person in a land where everyone follows tradition. Cynthia Voight creates a smooth tale that is outside a specific time and place in order to show the growth of a young woman who questions the society in which she lives. It is a tender book about life and growing up and love - love for yourself and love for others. Gwyn has been a hero of mine since I first read this book in junior high some eight-ten years ago, and every time I go home from college, I re-read it several times. And each time I do, I take away a new perspective not only on the book, but on my life as well.
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Summary: cohesive, finely tuned
Review: It was only when I reached university and re-read this book that I realized how subtly drawn and complete Voigt's characters were. Where a less observant reader quickly bored of Voigt's dwelling on descriptions of everyday phenomena, I finally noticed what interaction was revealed, and what depth each character portrayal went to. By the book's end I was thoroughly engaged in the characters' lives, perceptions, and feelings, and could only applaud the plot restraint Voigt demonstrated in pacing out and finally finishing this novel. It remains one of my favourites.
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Summary: JACKAROO- a review from a 13 year old
Review: Jackaroo is a very good book. It is about a girl named Gwyn, who is an innkeepers daugher, who has known about the stories of Jackaroo since she was a child. She doubts that they could ever exist. But when she finds Jackaroo's clothing hidden deep inside a cupboard inside her family friends' hut, she begins to wonder...
Meanwhile, things are getting worse where Gwyn lives. She has many problems. She knows a boy named Cam, who she slightly likes. He is very lazy, and finally Gwyn doesnt love him anymore. Her father makes an announcement that Gwyn will never marry. Also, the conditions in Gwyn's country is getting worse. Soldiers are preparing for a war and the Lords of the kingdom are taxing more than ever. The people are starting to steal from each other.
Somehow, Gwyn knows what she has to do. The spirit of Jackaroo comes to her, and she puts on Jackaroo's clothes and rides out to do good. But she learns that even though she can do many good things, even Jackaroo cannot right every wrong in the world. Not even Jackaroo.
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Summary: A Supberb Story
Review: Most books for young adults seem to emphasize the word young. It almost seems that someone under age twenty is expected to be unable to comprehend thoughtful characters, intensive plots, and mature topics. Every time I turn around, I hear a mother ranting that her son can't tell the difference between real life and a story with a flying car or that children should not be exposed through stories to broken families or death. Luckily, authors such as Cynthia Voigt dare to assume that teenagers can and will think. For us, there are books such as Jackaroo. In Jackaroo, Gwynn lives in a kingdom suffering from poverty and violence. Both starving peasants and the bored soldiers sent to protect them will turn to their swords to settle any situation. As winter comes, misery runs rampant. Gwynn finds that even a family friend, whom she can remember as young and lively, has turned somber. The elderly woman's husband was thrown out of the army after an accident left him lame. Then, several rogues descend upon their home and, after stealing their goods, murders their dog and leaves his bloody carcass in the snow for the old woman to find. But even in the face of such dispair, there is something that keeps the townspeople going - their stories. One of the stories is the tale of Jackaroo, a daring hero who fights for the people's sake. Interesting circumstances land Gwynn and the son of a lord at the home of Old Meg, the late spindler whom her family had befriended. Here, Gwynn makes an astonishing discovery that will force her to reexamine the world in which she lives. She learns what bravery is, what people are like, and what a true hero is. These lessons have their basis in reality, though the kingdom in which Gwynn lives is a product of Ms. Voigt's imagination. With her awesome writing talents, Cynthia Voigt transforms this fanciful kingdom into a world and a time period that seem to have a place in the history of our own world. This is the type of book that can be read again and again without ever being boring.
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Summary: cool book
Review: Some people said this book was boring and they spent pages on the description of what kind of soup she was eating, but I frankly don't remember that and I think it is a really really good book! It's interesting, for one thing. For another thing, nobody dies. OK, so some people do die, but I've noticed that in a majority of fantasy books some main character is killed by the forces of evil but not in this book. Sure, a few people die (like of old age who weren't main character) and whatshisname gets hung, but they weren't that important to the story. It ends happily ever after and I like that, too...
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Summary: Jackaroo
Review: The book I read was Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt. I think this was a great book and have never read anything like it before. I like it because it is full of mystery, action, and it's funny too. It takes place at an Inn in a small village. Gwyn, the innkeepers daughter, has a sharp tonge and doesn't want to get married to anyone in the village. She feels bad for everyone who can't have what she has. So after a few tales about Jackaroo, a fabled charater like Robin Hood, the people of the town have more hope to survive through their lives. Gwyn doesn't beleive in Jackaroo, but it's Jackaroo who helps her when she needs help. This is a great book, especially with Gwyn's way of gettig in and out of trouble. I would reccomend this book to both kids and adults. You should read it too!!
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