A review by trike
Retribution Falls, by Chris Wooding
4.0
I picked up Retribution Falls because someone had likened it to Joss Whedon's brilliant Firefly, and that isn't entirely incorrect.
There are significant differences in the details, to be sure. Rather than Science Fiction Space Opera, Retribution Falls is a Steampunk Fantasy that is confined to one small continent on a planet. There is a magic skeleton key, an enchanted cutlass, a monstrous golem and guest appearances by demons and perhaps a zombie. (That last one isn't particularly clear.) There are even a version of the Reavers, but they are minor figures in the backstory and seem slightly demonic in origin.
The airship Ketty Jay is similar to Serenity, and her motley crew comprised of runaways and roustabouts, felons and freebooters does resemble the cast of Whedon's series. The most significant difference for me was that this crew is led not by an analogue to Malcolm Reynolds, a good man turned hard, but by Jayne Cobb, a thug who discovers some empathy for others. Darian Frey is incredibly hard to like; he is selfish, petty and has little sense of honor. As we come to understand him he does have some redemption, but he's still kind of a dick.
All of those comparisons aside, the story itself is quite good. The arcs of the characters are interesting, the world Wooding has created is intriguing, and the plot moves right along as one event logically leads to the next.
I particularly enjoyed how the captain and crew of the Ketty Jay go from being reactive to proactive, stepping up from minor piracy to big league intrigue, yet still suffer from their innate incompetency. Aside from the ship's engineer, the former slave Silo, and the ship's cat, the irascible Slag, none of these people are really good at what they do. It's only once they take on the sort-of-qualified navigator Jez that they stop bumbling around as much. (The arrival of Jez sets up one of the best lines early in the book, for the crew tends to go through navigators the way Spinal Tap goes through drummers.)
There's adventure a-plenty, turnabouts, a couple of twists and some terrific action scenes. Plus a little romance on the side. I was able to see some of the background stuff coming and a couple of the twists were telegraphed, but those weren't enough to severely damage my enjoyment.
All in all an enjoyable adventure tale.
There are significant differences in the details, to be sure. Rather than Science Fiction Space Opera, Retribution Falls is a Steampunk Fantasy that is confined to one small continent on a planet. There is a magic skeleton key, an enchanted cutlass, a monstrous golem and guest appearances by demons and perhaps a zombie. (That last one isn't particularly clear.) There are even a version of the Reavers, but they are minor figures in the backstory and seem slightly demonic in origin.
The airship Ketty Jay is similar to Serenity, and her motley crew comprised of runaways and roustabouts, felons and freebooters does resemble the cast of Whedon's series. The most significant difference for me was that this crew is led not by an analogue to Malcolm Reynolds, a good man turned hard, but by Jayne Cobb, a thug who discovers some empathy for others. Darian Frey is incredibly hard to like; he is selfish, petty and has little sense of honor. As we come to understand him he does have some redemption, but he's still kind of a dick.
All of those comparisons aside, the story itself is quite good. The arcs of the characters are interesting, the world Wooding has created is intriguing, and the plot moves right along as one event logically leads to the next.
I particularly enjoyed how the captain and crew of the Ketty Jay go from being reactive to proactive, stepping up from minor piracy to big league intrigue, yet still suffer from their innate incompetency. Aside from the ship's engineer, the former slave Silo, and the ship's cat, the irascible Slag, none of these people are really good at what they do. It's only once they take on the sort-of-qualified navigator Jez that they stop bumbling around as much. (The arrival of Jez sets up one of the best lines early in the book, for the crew tends to go through navigators the way Spinal Tap goes through drummers.)
There's adventure a-plenty, turnabouts, a couple of twists and some terrific action scenes. Plus a little romance on the side. I was able to see some of the background stuff coming and a couple of the twists were telegraphed, but those weren't enough to severely damage my enjoyment.
All in all an enjoyable adventure tale.