I last left Jacky Faber free from the vicious slaveship Bloodhound only to be taken into British custody just as she was about to reunite with Jaimy Fletcher. Luckily, a masterful performance by the faithful Higgins gets her out of that bind. Unfortunately, she can’t hide out in her beloved Boston with all the authorities swarming about so she heads out to the wild frontier where man knows no law nor sheriff.

Meyer takes a break from warships and schooners to have Jacky covet a schooner turned showboat that she can sail down the Missippi River with her crew, Higgins, Jim and Katy Deere. He paints a colorful cast of characters that illustrate the variety of the unknown frontier in the 1800s. From the tall-tale, muscleman Mike Fink whom she quickly makes enemies with after she steals his boat, the crazy God-talking slave-catching hillbilly Bea family, a revival preacher that sells “medicinals,” showgirls and more. As she makes up her new crew she gets into plenty of wild adventures, especially with the family when she makes it clear how much she abhor slavery and they clearly abhor abolitionists.

But suffice to say, even though there is plenty of danger from rogue natives, rogue British officers, and hostile frontiersmen, there is also plenty of fun. Meyer uses her skill in historical research and description to create a lovely revenue of brimstone preaching and fiddling/dancing which Jacky adores to show-off. She even makes up her own play!

Plus there’s several historical characters that show up like Bird Woman aka Sacagawea, Tepeki better known as Pocohontas, the Lafiette brothers and more. It’s here that Meyer makes a point about the British fueling Native hostility against Americans, and the Americans hardly treat Natives well either. Like slavers, Jacky can hardly abide those who treat others cruelly.

However, we also see Jacky at her merciless. Granted, the men she takes no mercy on are attempted rapists and murderers and bigots, so they deserve some of their own medicine but it demonstrates how far Jacky will go to punish a man who has done wrong. It is fearsome considering how tender-hearted she usually is.

Speaking of merciless, it is a wonder how Jacky will react when she finds out what Jaimy has been up to. Usually Meyer gives Jaimy a few one page epistolary chapters longing for Jacky but here he almost gets equal POV. Since Jacky’s daring escape, Jaimy sets off to follow her through the wild frontier. Here, he is brought to dark Jaimy as he gets ambushed and jailed and beat up several times, releasing the anger and need for vengence that is usually button-up underneath his formal British exterior. He even grows a beard!
He also gets a girlfriend in the form of one Clementine Jukes who saves him from the highwaymen who left him for dead and he inadvertedly saves her from her abusive father. And may have promised himself as her protector and husband with all those responsibilites that entails if you get my innuendo. While Jacky has gotten herself in some hot flirtation with men over her adventures, including this one with a roguish officer, she never went that far so it’ll be interesting to see how their reunion goes when the second Mrs. Fletcher appears in the wings.

Overall, this is one of the wildest adventues Jacky sets herself on. Almost five stories in one as she goes down the Mississippi River with her colorful crew showing off the best and the worst of the American west that would fit in with the tallest of tall tales.