David Mostyn

Taking the format of a redemption-adventure story, this illustrated novel is a charming little romp through Victorian London. It's missing Pullman's grand mythological themes, but it serves as a good introduction to his history-tinged style of storytelling.

Yeah, one star. I feel a little bad, because this book did not actively anger me. However, I didn't like anything about it.

My book club selected this, because: Golden Compass! Sally Lockhart! Yeah!
We haven't had our meeting yet, so I don't know what everyone else thought of it, but I was quite disappointed.

The plot is very slight, and hackneyed in a Dickens-lite kinda way. Three siblings must escape from a horrible orphanage, and find themselves in need of help from a mysterious show more benefactor.

Don't get me wrong, cliche or not, I like orphan stories! But these orphans just seemed wussy and kind of annoying (but only kind-of. They didn't have enough personality to be particularly annoying). The story didn't have any original twists to set it apart. Even for a middle-grades book, it seemed rather shallow.

The 'humorous' bits seemed aimed at older readers than the book's target audience, but weren't particularly funny.

I did not find the illustrations aesthetically appealing. (All the people, as drawn, resemble unattractive, doughy peanuts.)

And, worst of all, Spring-Heeled Jack - a quite fascinating Victorian urban legend - here is not portrayed as an enigmatic villain, but seems more like just some random adult do-gooder who fortuitously shows up to save some kids who weren't spunky enough to save themselves.

Plodding and predictable.

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Subtitled "A Story of Bravery and Evil" it is part prose and part illustrated graphic novel style. Three orphans (Rose, Lily and Ned) escape from their orphanage where they are living in retty grim conditions. They are looking to buy passage on a boat headed for America, but along the way are threatened by master villian Jack the Knife. He is after their locket to sell and has no qualms about kidnapping one of the siblings.

Out of the fog comes Spring-Heeled Jack. He looks like the devil and show more has springs in his heels allowing him to leap about. He is a catcher of criminals and evil doers and sets out to rescue Ned. Ned has also picked up an abused dog as a pet called Spangle which has the same idea as Jack. The first priority is making sure Lily and Rose are safe before going after Ned, so Jack leaves them in the care of Polly who works in a local pub. Whilst Jack is off trying to save Ned, the owners of the orphanage are also trying to find the three children as they also want the locket. It turns out they only get paid if their orphange is full and so they are three children down which gives them more motivation to find the children.

Lots of twists and turns with many tiny details observed, this was a light hearted and fun read. The art fit the story really well and I liked the shift between prose and graphic novel format. There are also quotes at the beginning of each chapter from a diverse range of novels which Pullman uses as his first line opening each chapter. I like the idea of a Victorian superhero that also made people fear him, his deeds were often straddling the line of doing good and punnishing the evil which can make some incomfortable. I hope to read more of his children's fiction in the near future. show less

Spring-Heeled Jack is a fun, clever, and warm-hearted mash-up of many of our perceptions about the streets of Victorian England.