History Literature / JackelianSeries

* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: Omar defeats the villain of ''Jack Cloudie'' by throwing a knife, not at his opponent, but at the rope that holds the gate to a corral of untamed draks closed. Released, the ferocious reptiles spare Omar, who smells like a drak-rider, but hungrily tear the villain to pieces.

* MilesGloriosus: Omar from ''Jack Cloudie'' can barely speak a word ''without'' bragging, although the narrative reveals how much of this conduct is insecure self-justification.

* TheMagicGoesAway]: The laws of (meta)physics are said to have changed since ancient times, with the Black-Oil Horde's petroleum-powered vehicles and gunpowder weapons being non-functional in the current era. Electricity, implied to have once been safely utilized, has become so unpredictable and dangerous -- on par with it being ''radioactive'' -- that only the terminally-reckless or the transaction-engine operators of Jago still risk being near it.

The ''Jackelian Series'' is a series of ScienceFantasy novels written by English author Creator/StephenHunt. The series is comprised of ''Literature/TheCourtOfTheAir'', ''The Kingdom Beyond the Waves'', ''The Rise of the Iron Moon'', ''Secrets of the Fire Sea'', ''Jack Cloudie'' and ''From the Deep of the Dark''. All the novels are set in the same universe, but with a rotating cast of characters in each book.

The novels are set in and around the Kingdom of Jackals, a steampunk Kingdom with shades of Victorian Britain and Gilded-Age America. An economic and military powerhouse, Jackals is beset on all sides by enemies within and without. To protect Jackals, the founders of the Jackelian Parliament created the Court of the Air, an elite spy organization so secret that few who hear of it actually believe it exists. Despite their best efforts, threats to Jackals and even the world loom large.

* FictionalEarth: ''Possibly'' the case, as implied by a smattering of references to artifacts, lost cities, and age-old beliefs ... but if it ''is'' Earth, it's so far into the future that ''even long-vanished Camlantis'' only knew of our own era from sparse archaeological evidence.

* YouAreNumberSix: Steammen have two names, a common-use one and a secret numerical code known only to themselves and King Steam. The latter is spoken publicly only at their funeral. Slats have numbers instead of names, being mass produced in vats.

%%* BellyMouth: Old Three-Eye.

%%* GenderBender: This trope is the key to the conspiracy at work in Cassarabia from ''Jack Cloudie''.%%How?
%%* GeneticMemory

* {{Transflormation}}: A rather [[HumanResources grim]] form serves as a food source in ''The Court of the Air.'' Womb mages in Cassarabia use this as a punishment for crimes ranging from a girl fleeing an ArrangedMarriage to treachery; the latter is why the Caliph Eternal's decorative "orchard" has no actual trees in it, just this trope's victims.

** In ''The Rise of the Iron Moon'', [[spoiler:the leaders of the AlienInvasionaren't aliens at all: they're an ancient, nigh-omnipotent race of ''humans'' who'd left Jackals' Earth a barren waste, invaded another planet, and are now coming ''back'' to ravage their now-recovered homeworld because they've used ''that'' one up too.]]

* TheAce: Business tycoon, aeronautical designer, and [[spoiler: UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans OmnicidalManiac]] Abraham Quest.

The ''Jackelian Series'' is a series of ScienceFantasy novels written by English author Creator/StephenHunt. The series is comprised of ''The Court of the Air'', ''The Kingdom Beyond the Waves'', ''The Rise of the Iron Moon'', ''Secrets of the Fire Sea'', ''Jack Cloudie'' and ''From the Deep of the Dark''. All the novels are set in the same universe, but with a rotating cast of characters in each book.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Molly Templar, Amelia Harsh, Purity Drake, Hannah Conquest to name just a few.

The ''Jackelian Series'' is a series of ScienceFantasy novels written by English author Creator/StephenHunt. The Series is comprised of ''The Court Of The Air'', ''The Kingdom Beyond the Waves'', ''The Rise of the Iron Moon'', ''Secrets of the Fire Sea'', ''Jack Cloudie'' and ''From the Deep of the Dark''. All the novels are set in the same universe, but with a rotating cast of characters in each book.

* AbusivePrecursors: [[spoiler: The leaders of the AlienInvasion in ''The Rise Of The Iron Moon'' aren't aliens at all: they're an ancient, nigh-omnipotent race of ''humans'' who'd left Jackals' Earth a barren waste, invaded another planet, and are now coming ''back'' to ravage their now-recovered homeworld because they've used ''that'' one up too.]]

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Amelia Harsh

* BellyMouth: Old Three-Eye.

* ColdBloodedTorture: Used to manipulate flesh-metallers in ''The Court of the Air''

* CrystalDragonJesus: The Circlist Church doesn't believe in gods, yet it ''does'' have parsons, archbishops, confessionals and sermons ... they just confess to ''irrational'' thoughts, not sinful ones. The defunct Child of Light faith from pre-Commonshare Quatershift has Christian overtones. Cassarabia has some of the motifs of Crystal Dragon Islam, and the faith of the steammen has Crystal Dragon Vodou elements.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: Camlantis had this reputation. [[spoiler: And apparently lived up to it for a good long time ... at least, until their civil war.]]

* FantasticRacism: The otherwise-moral steammen have no tolerance for dead or damaged steammen whose bodies have been "contaminated" by human-crafted or siltempter replacement parts. Such "desecrations" are shunned if they refuse to commit suicide as social pressure dictates. "Mutables" - mu-bodies who achieve consciousness through repeated use, rather than being designed by King Steam - aren't very welcomed either.

* [[spoiler: GenderBender]]: This trope is the key to the conspiracy at work in Cassarabia from ''Jack Cloudie''.
* GeneticMemory

* KingInTheMountain: Invoked in an allusion

* TheMagnificent

* MonsterShapedMountain: The Great Face on Kaliban.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Hannah from ''Fire Sea'' is introduced as the daughter of Amelia's companion who'd died early in ''Beyond the Waves''. There's no hint in the former that he'd had a family, not even when Amelia receives his dying words.

* [[TheMagicGoesAway The Science Goes Away]]: The laws of (meta)physics are said to have changed since ancient times, with the Black-Oil Horde's petroleum-powered vehicles and gunpowder weapons being non-functional in the current era. Electricity, implied to have once been safely utilized, has become so unpredictable and dangerous - on par with it being ''radioactive'' - that only the terminally-reckless or the transaction-engine operators of Jago still risk being near it.

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: Jackals defends itself with the Royal Aeronautic Navy, or RAN. In ''Jack Cloudie'', Cassarabia threatens to overturn the balance of power by launching an airship-navy of its own.

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* AllOfThem: Used word-for-word by one of Quest's minions to say how many lashlites are attacking.

* CursedItem: The Joshua Egg from ''Fire Sea'' is a multi-layered mathematical puzzle that requires a computer to crack it. Decrypting a layer of the Egg reveals information that Hannah's party needs, but also destroys the calculating device - valve-based, {{Clockpunk}}, or whatever - that cracked it.

* AmazonBrigade: The Catosian City States have all women armies.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Abraham Quest sincerely cares about the plight of the world. That's why he decides to put it out of it's misery and rebuild the world in his image.

* TinyHeadedBehemoth: Old Three-Eye, a female ''Kilasaurus max'' as tall as a tower, has an incongruously-tiny lizard head at the end of her neck. The huge mincing-machine maw [[BellyMouth in her abdomen]] more than makes up for its meager size.

* TinyHeadedBehemoth: Old Three-Eye, a female ''Killosaurus max'' as tall as a tower, has an incongruously-tiny lizard head at the end of her neck. The huge mincing-machine maw [[BellyMouth in her abdomen]] more than makes up for its meager size.