The Blooding of Jack Absolute [Paperback]

GA Henty wrote historical novels for boys based on incidents in military history such as "With Peterborough in Spain" and "Cornet of Horse". The usual pattern was some misfortune caused a young lad to have to leave home and join the forces where, after giving an educational spectator view of great men and great events and surviving many escapades he returned made good.

This book follows that basic outline, but, unlike Henty would not make a Sunday School prize. Jack Absolute is a teenage scholar at Westminster School whose extra mural activities are drinking, gambling and wenching. He falls foul of the noble patron of his mistress and has to join the army in North America, where the war with French and their native allies is at a low ebb, to escape the consequences.

There he is present at the Siege of Quebec with General Wolfe. Later he is captured by Red Indians and survives the famous St Francis raid by the American Rangers only to have to spend a harsh winter in a cave with only a Mohawk warrior, a dead bear and a copy of Hamlet for company.

The story is told with great verve and humour and the narrative powers along. Despite the somewhat grim subject matter it is a fun read. A great breadth of subjects is covered, but nothing is skimped - the author is to be commended for his research. That I am eager to start on the sequel "Jack Abolute" must say something.

In summation daring escapades, interesting historical and geographical background, wicked villains and just enough humour. BUT not for the innocent...

As has been said before, this is the "prequel" to the Captain Jack Absolute series by Canadian author C. C. Humphreys. The story takes place between 1752 and 1760. At the beginning of the novel we discover that young Jack grows up illiterate, unhappy, and abused by his uncle Duncan "Druncan" Absolute and his bullying cousin Craster in Cornwall, England. Through spunk and chance, young Jack escapes his tormentors, is reunited with his real parents (Sir James "Mad Jamie" and Lady Absolute) who send him to be educated as a gentleman at Westminster School. In London, he learns more than just the declension of Latin nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. Jack becomes a first rate cricketer, billiards player, punch drinker, and womanizer. The latter causes him to run for his life from a jealous Lord Melbury and into the arms of the British Army. I won't spoil the action and fun that follows, but will say that readers of this excellent series find out how Jack meets his Mohawk friend Ate, becomes a spy, and survives many harrowing experiences in the New World, including the Battle between the French under the Marquis de Montcalm and the British commanded by General Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham (Quebec, Canada 1759). This is a terrific book full of adventure and derring-do. A real page turner.

I would have given this book 5 stars except for a few irritating historical inaccuracies, e.g., the British soldiers facing the French in battle were not referred to as "the thin red line" (p. 283) until almost one hundred years later during the Crimean War at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Nitpicking, I know, but attention to small details such as the above makes for a better book, I think.

Excellent book! Even Better than the sequel "Jack Absolute", which is great too. Very powerful characters and exciting story line which begins with Jack as a school boy and leads on to his role in the British siege of Quebec. It has a good balance of historical fact and thrilling fiction with war, rivalry and romance you will find it hard to put down.