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A review by jorsie
The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding
3.0
All right, I've had enough of Captain Darian Frey. I plan on reading The Iron Jackal eventually, as well as The Ace of Skulls upon its release in September, but Frey can shove his daemon-thralled cutlass up his arse. Why are these books even about him? With such a great character in Grayther Crake, Chris Wooding truly doesn't need to allot quite so many pages to Frey and his warped sense of heroism.
Frey isn't letting Samandra Bree get anything. She does not need his allowance. Bree could kill him with her pinky finger, as she's proven several times over. On a related topic, what is up with Frey's demented need to save Trinica Dracken and force her into the damsel-in-distress role? She loudly and clearly doesn't need his help, either. Chapters 27 and 31 give the reader extended conversations between Frey and Dracken, yet Frey's incredibly long overdue talk with his crew is skipped over in favor of one of those conversations. I'm invested in this series for the crew of the Ketty Jay, not Frey's failed romances. His obsession with Dracken, along with the reckless abandonment of his crew, is unsettling. It deeply frustrated me that The Black Lung Captain turned into a Tale of Frey/Dracken instead of a Tale of the Ketty Jay.
Also of note: The entire climax of the book is one, giant deus ex machina made up of a dozen little deus ex machinas. Not once did I feel that the characters were in danger of losing anything, least of all their lives.
As I opened my review of Retribution Falls, the character of Crake is still, quite simply, the best. His character arc is five-star quality. Crake's mental deterioration was heartbreaking and his attempt to fix things even more so. Why Wooding devoted the last third of the book to Frey/Dracken over Frey/Crake is beyond me. Frey desperately needs—and wants—Crake on his crew, yet he rarely acknowledges the daemonist on page. After the devotion to Crake's storyline in the first 300 pages, I would've liked more a follow-through in the last 250.
Crake and Jez continue to be my favorites among the crew of the Ketty Jay. Silo and Malvery grew on me quite a bit, although both of them remain very peripheral characters. Humor is in abundance, and the dialogue is as sharp and witty as ever—two huge drawing points of the series for me. Despite its faults and its questionable depictions of love, The Black Lung Captain is fun and easy to like.
Frey and his crew stood with [the Century Knights]. [...] Maybe it was because he needed to do something honorable. [...] Or maybe—and more likely—it was just because Samandra Bree was damned cute and he didn't like the idea of letting her get her face eaten by a Mane. (Chapter 37)
Frey isn't letting Samandra Bree get anything. She does not need his allowance. Bree could kill him with her pinky finger, as she's proven several times over. On a related topic, what is up with Frey's demented need to save Trinica Dracken and force her into the damsel-in-distress role? She loudly and clearly doesn't need his help, either. Chapters 27 and 31 give the reader extended conversations between Frey and Dracken, yet Frey's incredibly long overdue talk with his crew is skipped over in favor of one of those conversations. I'm invested in this series for the crew of the Ketty Jay, not Frey's failed romances. His obsession with Dracken, along with the reckless abandonment of his crew, is unsettling. It deeply frustrated me that The Black Lung Captain turned into a Tale of Frey/Dracken instead of a Tale of the Ketty Jay.
Also of note: The entire climax of the book is one, giant deus ex machina made up of a dozen little deus ex machinas. Not once did I feel that the characters were in danger of losing anything, least of all their lives.
Spoiler
Grist's death, however, was badass as all hell.As I opened my review of Retribution Falls, the character of Crake is still, quite simply, the best. His character arc is five-star quality. Crake's mental deterioration was heartbreaking and his attempt to fix things even more so. Why Wooding devoted the last third of the book to Frey/Dracken over Frey/Crake is beyond me. Frey desperately needs—and wants—Crake on his crew, yet he rarely acknowledges the daemonist on page. After the devotion to Crake's storyline in the first 300 pages, I would've liked more a follow-through in the last 250.
Crake and Jez continue to be my favorites among the crew of the Ketty Jay. Silo and Malvery grew on me quite a bit, although both of them remain very peripheral characters. Humor is in abundance, and the dialogue is as sharp and witty as ever—two huge drawing points of the series for me. Despite its faults and its questionable depictions of love, The Black Lung Captain is fun and easy to like.