Reviews

The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding

anywiebs's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a great last book for the series. It is captivating, fast paced and gbringing every character to their limits and back again. So good after the disappointing Iron Jackal.
Highly recommend the series despite its ups and downs for the characters and adventures.

pavram's review against another edition

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5.0

perf.

5

christophertd's review against another edition

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4.0

An excellent end to a good series. Suitably messy finale, with most ends tied up.

krash9924's review against another edition

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5.0

Wooding decided to end this series on his terms, and I must say his terms were fantastic. Wooding upped the stakes in this book forcing our beloved characters to make decisions with both global and personal implications. The book delivers a very satisfying ending with the typical humor, action and emotional moments we have come to expect. This series never forgot its roots of humor, piracy,and the value of camaraderie. I wish the tales of Ketty Jay weren't over but am so glad I took the journey with them

bookaneer's review against another edition

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4.0

I don't want to say goodbye to this series. Definitely one of the most fun literary adventures I have in years. It has some flaws, but the series got heart.

argentrabe's review

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adventurous

3.0

books17's review against another edition

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4.0

Give me more, give me more!!

I swear to god, no pulpy, actiony adventure steampunk series should wrench my heart as hard as the Ketty Jay novels do. This goddamn book had me on the edge of tears several times.

Chris Wooding I implore you, more Ketty Jay. I know it's probably a terrible idea, Ace of Skulls is a fantastic and satisfying conclusion to the series, but I want more anyway.

Please.

I'll do your dishes forever.

sequence19's review against another edition

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5.0

Exhaustively enjoyable. There's resolution for everyone in the crew, not all of it good (for them). There are a lot of worrying moments which means that I spent a lot of time being scared for the crew. The civil war among the Vards finally goes all out, Awakeners vs. The Coalition. Honestly I am exhausted from reading it, but in a good way. Having finished the series I would still highly recommend reading it.

belmonte's review against another edition

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4.0

So at first I wanted to give this book 5 stars then 3 stars and now I have finally settled for 4 stars.

I loved the action and the banter between the characters. The story was fast paced, funny, and delightfully violent. However, I couldn't care less for the romance, and I believe Jez deserved more. Her story line was the one I was most invested in but it felt like she was put aside and at times even forgotten.

All in all 4 stars.
#JusticeforJez

mackle13's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5

This series has maintained a pretty consistent quality overall - it's enjoyable and entertaining. Not great, but definitely worth the read. It has a sort of Firefly with magic vibe to it - and it kept this vibe throughout the series, but it got better after the first book because it felt less forced and the characters started to come more into their own.

It shifts perspectives throughout the stories, from each of the crew and a few others, but it never gets really hard to follow and none of the perspectives outstay their welcome. If anything, there are a few which could probably stand to linger a bit longer. (On that note, I'd like to see more of Samandra, as she became one of my favorite characters in the series, and I really enjoy her and Crake together.)

One of my favorite moments from the book is with Samandra and Frey and Bess. (Need to get lines from the book.)

And I'll even say that this book improved on one of my main issues from the last book - which was that the action was overly detailed and I felt like more attention was being paid to the specifics of every action which made it difficult to get caught up in the feel of the moment. This book was much better in that regard, and the pacing, overall, was good.

My one real quibble with this book is that it was a bit unrealistic that
Spoilereveryone survives. I mean, not a single main or likable or repeat character seemed to ever die. There were times that we thought they were dead. Times where we thought they might be at risk. But as the book progressed and it became clear that no one 'important' was going to die, it kid of lost some tension.


That said, I did find myself warm and fuzzy with the ending, and all the threads were tied up (sometimes a bit too neatly, perhaps), but it felt like a really good and satisying conclusion to the series, overall.