Dear little Jacks. The third Longtreader child. The forgotten brother.
Anyone else a little disappointed with how little "page time" Jacks is given overall? He barely appears in The Green Ember, might as well not exist in Ember Falls, and is sadly sidelined in Ember's End. I will say, however, that I thought Jacks' role in Ember Rising was awesome. The younger brother of the Scribe of the Cause and Picket Packslayer is an ally and tool of Morbin Blackhawk and the Wrongtreaders? Yes, please. xD
But after Ember Rising, Jacks' role in the story really dwindles. For most of the book, he's just doing whatever his parents are doing. If Whittle's there, Jacks is there. And while that's fine, I really would've loved to see more on Jacks and how much he's grown since his Ember Rising days. And yes, I do realize and understand that S. D. Smith has such an impressively massive cast of characters that he can't give them all their fair share of story. But it still seems like Jacks should've been given a bit more attention than he was. I mean, he's Heather and Picket's little brother, not just a random youngling. Yet nobody ever seems to think or talk about him much, S. D. Smith included. He's given so little of the spotlight that, to be completely honest, there are times where I forget he exists. Not even kidding. xD
I guess I just really feel like there's more to be explored when it comes to Jacks. I'd loved to have seen a few chapters, or even an entire book, from Jacks' POV.
What do y'all think? Are you satisfied with what we got on Jacks, or would you liked to have seen more of him, like me? If S. D. Smith decided to do a mini-series on Jacks, what would you think?
Did Jacks just get "And Peggyed?"
Yes, he was very easily turned away from the Wrongtreaders. Maybe they told him what Morbin did to ones his age. Or maybe they took him to seventh district and forced him to leave.
True. Didn’t it say in the epilogue that jacks had become a teacher? I think so.
I personally never really considered it. I wouldn't have objected to more, but I didn't mind how little there was. Jacks was still a relatively little kid, which is why his only power in EF was that of informing. There just isn't much he could have done in EE. Come to think of it, one scene I would have liked would be a scene with just Picket and Jacks some time in the (chronologically) early stage of the epilogue. Then again, the epilogue was pretty packed as well.
You know, this and other thoughts make me think of an old opinion of mine. I personally figured we’d get two books after Ember Rising: one to resolve the issue of the Terralains, and the other to wrap up the series. Now, I love Ember’s End as we got it, but getting two books would have allowed more time for focus on some characters who were a tad neglected.
In addition to Jacks and the Weavers-who I have mentioned before and will undoubtedly mention again-there’s a number of others I can think of. The Commandant, Harmony, Lord Felson, Weezie-wouldn’t have minded more time with any of them. Might have been nice if Cole and Heyna had gotten to do more too. And, as had been noted elsewhere, it would have been nice to get some more character development of the various villains.
Of course, if that last bit had involved more creepy dragon breath drug scenes, I could have done without it.
I hope we get one...
Awwwww. I totally forgot about you, Jacks. I'm so sorry. 😭 I really need to read EE again. It's all a blur honestly.
We know its like Jacks fell off the face of the earth...
I thought he was awesome in ER, but I would have liked him to be in EE a little more. I think he only had one speaking part. O can’t blame S.D. Smith though because Jacks is the little brother. He was a baby in book one and then randomly introduced again in ER.