The Legend of Black Jack

First off, I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book and review it! Also, thank you to A.R. Whitman, who sent en email to say thank you for reading his book.

This was a pure fantasy book, with great world building and unique characters. That being said, I would like to give the warning now that this book does not have romance or a specific plot, so if you require this in your fantasy reads, this may not be the book for you. The protagonist is Jack, a 14-year old genius, who’s life takes a turn after an unfortunate circumstance. This has to be one of the only books where the main character in a fantasy world does not have brute strength, and instead relies on his intellect and intentions to get what he wants.

The pacing at the beginning and end of the novel was really good - I would say it dragged a little bit around the middle for me. The ending was a nice surprise and overall the writing style is entertaining! Also, the illustrations and quotes included before every chapter are beautiful and really enhances the story. Overall, this was a great fantasy coming-of-age story.

This is a great fantasy coming of age story, with amazing illustrations! Without spoiling anything, The storytelling is greatly built, fast-paced and descriptive, with dialog that makes reading very enjoyable!! The characters are unique and mysterious. I highly recommend this book to fantasy lovers!!

Thank you NetGalley, Nepenthe House, and Andrew Robert Witham for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC

The Legend of Jack Black

[Blurb goes here]

If you're looking for your next great read, this is it. I'm not a fan of fantasy fiction, still this adventure wrapped me in its little finger, and didn't let me go. I was caught in its net in the first few pages. What kept me glued to the story was not only the adventure itself, it was also the way it's written. The detailed descriptions, the world building. I'll be on the look out for more books by this author, and also for further chapters in the Black Jack series.

Thank you Netgalley, for the free copy!

Jack is exceptionally smart who can remember anything he hears or reads, which makes him a bit of a genius, but no one cares. Since the death of his parents, Jack has been alone. All he has left is his desire to absorb as much information as possible.

Eventually, he realizes he wants to become a doctor, so while normal teens do normal teen things, Jack is reading any medical book he can get his hands on. Little did he know how valuable this knowledge would become for him.

One night, a monster enters his room and kidnaps Jack. Before he knows it, Jack Swift is spirited to another reality where there’s a desperate need for a doctor and they are all looking to teenage Jack for answers. Overwhelmed, Jack has some decisions to make.

The story continues as Jack tries to find his way in another world very different from his own where war is raging and he can’t read the local language (which for a boy who is used to knowing things, it’s a problem he can’t quite get over). He meets a beautiful girl whose heart belongs to another, and befriends a mix match of individuals that are as colorful and intriguing as the strange world he finds himself in.

Jack is pushed to his limits as he learns to survive in this new world of magik and monsters, and along the way
he finds himself becoming something more than just a teenage boy as the stories of The Legend of Black Jack follow him wherever he goes.

This story was such a treat as was full of such wonder and fantastic world building. I found myself easily wrapped up in Jack's life, and once I reached the end, I wanted the story to keep on going. The well done illustrations that were scattered through the book made this journey even more delightful!

Actual rating: 4.5.

First off, I’ll start by saying thanks to Andy (A. R. Witham) for reaching out and offering up his book for review! I might not have picked this book up had he not, and then I’d be missing out!

The Legend of Black Jack is at its heart, the story of a young boy with a knack for medicine going on one hell of an adventure. From the first page to the last, this story truly is the legend of Black Jack from exploring archaeological sites as a Chief to the saviour of Keymark. This book really did read like you were reading about a mythical figure.

I’ll be honest and say I stopped reading YA for gritter, heavier stories recently. And whilst The Legend of Black Jack stood well as YA, it did offer more for those that could understand the nuances of it, which I appreciated. The coming of age story was also a breath of fresh air against the heavier themes of previous reads.

This book looks like it’d be beautiful to own in hard copy too. It’s full of gorgeous illustrations that perfectly encapsulate the scenes from the book; one that particularly struck me is a gorgeous coloured image featuring the silhouette of a demon. You’ll know it when you see it.

The Legend of Black Jack is full of characters, full of life, full of wonders and full of twists! At some points, I’d say there was almost too much. Too many characters, too many fantastical elements to marvel at. It’s a fine line between an amazing fantasy story and feeling a little much. The Legend of Black Jack is right on that line for me, occasionally tipping over it as we jump from pirate ships to burning towns, to undead armies and chromatic samurai-type knights. It really has something for everyone.

There’s also a lot here for the keen-eyed among us. If you’re the sort of person who likes spotting little (or big) Easter Eggs and then getting annoyed when something is revealed at the end that you missed but you should’ve figured out. Then this story is also for you. I’m still annoyed I didn’t see one of the big reveals coming. Although that’s certainly not the fault of the book. I could say it’s because I started this book and put it down for a month before finishing it. But in reality, I was just missing all the signs that were left. I’d love to see if others figured it out before the end!

Once you get past everything though, there’s a really great story here; a story of a young boy who loves his Father. And what more could you want than that?

While this is an action-packed read, it's the unique twists and characters which really make this one shine.

Jack has always been special and been able to remember anything and everything without a second thought. When he accidentally causes his father's death, he does find a home with a surgeon for, at least, a few years until being shoved off into a never-ending shuffle of foster care. When a speaking-rhino kidnaps him from his bedroom and pulls him through a gateway into a magical world, everything as he knows it is tossed onto its head.

This is a very original tale, which allows fantasy and imagination to take flight in a very exciting way. I loved the characters, each one carrying such unique personalities and attributes that it was impossible to to like or hate them. It's a vivid tale in the world building as well, and has Jack traveling through very different situations and scenes. This originality combined with the well-written and flowing style, makes it an easy and enjoyable read.

The beginning starts with Jack as a seven-year-old, and then zooms through the years until he reaches fourteen. While this one is sold as a young adult read, the writing style and Jack's character slide into the upper middle grade/tween category very well. Jack's decisions and thought processes also settle in this age group nicely. The action stays high the entire way through, keeping the pacing high. There is enough depth to keep Jack interesting, but most of the time, he is battling to get through and survive...or just figuring things out. On that end, this isn't as much character driven as plot drive. Jack is thrown, especially in the first half, from situation into situation without much doing on his own. It does make for an interesting coming-of-age, but I still recommend this one for fantasy friends who love a good story and are on the look-out to go beyond the cliches, which flood the genre today.
I received an ARC through Netgalley and was surprised at how unique this one is.

I received this as an ARC via Instagram / Netgalley.This is my honest review of the arc I received.

Spoiler Free-

The first few chapters were honestly very slow going for me, it felt reminiscent to a 90’s male protagonist film, where it fast forwards to their older self, who is jaded and somehow gets the girl. But oh my god. As soon as Jack was taken away, this book…just exploded into colour for me. I haven’t felt like this in a long time. The settings, were exquisitely WRITTEN. Like Matthew Mercer level descriptions, (If you haven’t heard Matthew Mercer describe a setting, you need to), the diversity in this book is spectacular. And I was just absolutely entranced! This may actually top Narnia for me. I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it!

Thank you to Net Galley and to the publisher and author for granting me an advanced copy of this book for review!

The Legend of Black Jack is the debut novel by Emmy winning A.R. Witham and bearing that in mind, the quality of the writing is remarkable, expertly bringing this fantasy to life. I absolutely loved this book - it sucked me in from the start and I found it really difficult to put down.

There is an amazingly varied cast of fully fleshed-out characters, imaginative storytelling combined with the inclusion of songs, literary quotes at the beginning of chapters and wonderful illustrations, which all serve to turn this book into something truly magical. I was hooked from the moment the ‘monster’ appeared in fourteen year old Jack’s bedroom and kidnapped him away from his tragic beginnings as an orphaned foster kid living with a real monster of an alcoholic foster mother:

“He had entered a state of fixed fascination with his kidnapper. The thing had come out of a nightmare, chucked him out the window like a bag of garbage, changed into a lizard (and back again before his very eyes), protected him from a fall that should have killed him, and come out of it all without a scratch. The monster, Jack thought, was miraculous.”

The amazing level of descriptive detail transports the reader into their own imagination with ease and every scene is so easy to visualize. The magical world of Keymark, which Jack is taken to via a portal, is full of everything a young reader of fantasy could ask for: pirates; a dragon; pixies; a traitorous villain with an army of venomous creatures; a beautiful heroine and oodles of swashbuckling bravery and derring-do. Aimed at a middle grade/young adult audience, there is also wholesome advice given from time to time, such as from Jack’s father:

“Do it with your whole heart, his calm voice said. Sometimes you’ll succeed and sometimes you’ll fail. But never let anyone say you didn’t give it your best.”

There is also heroic advice from one of the Border Knights, Abraham Qin:

“If you die today, then die well.”

What I found really ingenious was that the main character started off in Chicago, in our own world having voraciously devoured a whole host of encyclopedias and watched a surgeon perform a large number of surgeries. Thanks to his amazing eidetic memory, this fourteen year old boy is an expert on many scientific principles and even able to perform surgery from memory. When he enters the fabulous world of Keymark he has the power of science at his fingertips which is able to cause awe amongst the people he meets who are only accustomed to ‘majik’. Jack is able to draw upon his encyclopedic knowledge to teach a blue gecko American Sign Language in order to communicate with him, to use Galileo’s theories about gravity and the French invention of the parachute made from silk in order to aid his escape from a relentless demon that is hunting him.

His ability to remember the chemical formula for gunpowder allows him to help fight off a whole army of monstrous creatures.

My favourite character among the unlikely companions drawn to Jack’s side during his adventure was the roguish pirate, Rooker Flynn, who begins to respect Jack the more he gets to know him, rather than dismissing him as a young ‘boychick’. Rooker is very down to Earth and quite deliciously disgusting at times:

“Rooker put up a pot of coffee, took off his boots, and went to work on his calloused feet, shredding the dead skin off with a cheese grater. “Ahh,” he sighed happily. “Ya want this when I’m done?” “No. Disgusting. Thanks.” “

We see the power of teamwork come into play as the adventure continues. The main premise of the novel is one of good versus evil with the noble Paladine Knight, Valerian Tsai out to defeat the evil Necrórceror. Jack and his companions each has a skill necessary to make their plan work - alone none of them would have succeeded. This is a great positive message for the younger readers of this book.

I really liked the idea of the dog, Shadow, the embodiment of Jack’s Fear who begins as a puppy and gradually grows larger until almost a wolf as Jack becomes more and more fearful. Despite his fear accompanying him everywhere, Jack never gives up. His courage and determination are relentless and he also continues to have Hope:

“Hope is a dangerous thing. It can keep a man going when all seems lost, can keep him standing, keep him fighting. But when nothing is left but despair, nothing but blackness and panic and the promise of death, the tiniest sliver of hope—the narrowest thread—can seem as solid as a steel cable. That thread bears the illusion of stability, of substance, of strength, but it is only a fool’s fantasy. Hope is delicate. Hope is fragile. And a man can grip it too tightly.“

This action-packed novel is a relentless, rollicking and rambunctious romp and a roller-coaster thrill ride. It is very cinematic and I can easily imagine it becoming a blockbuster summer vacation movie one day. I cannot recommend it more highly!