Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding REVIEW

Started: 12/02/22

Finished: 21/02/22

Spoilers: No.

I wanted to pick this up after reading and loving The Ember Blade last year. Once I discovered the author had a four-book series about steampunk sky pirates, the first of which involves a heist, I was sold.

From very early on in this book, I felt fairly confident this was going to be a 5 star read. When you know, you know. It's a feeling. Something just clicks.

Characters

The character work is so strong here. From the get-go it becomes very clear that the crew of the Ketty Jay are all fantastic. They each have a distinct voice and unique personality that really helps make each one stand out against the others. They also all have their own skill sets, meaning no character is wasted and everyone brings something valuable to the table.

Aboard the Ketty Jay, we have:

Frey - captain

Malvery - doctor

Crake - daemonist

Jez - navigator

Silo - engineer

Pinn - pilot

Harkins - pilot

Bess - a golem

Slag - the cat who likes to torment Harkins by sleeping on his face at night.

Each character has their own arc and those arcs are so beautifully fulfilled. They all have an established fear or misbelief that they overcome and grow from and I found the execution one of the most satisfying I've ever read.

Even Slag has an interesting story has he battles against the rats aboard the Ketty Jay. This is added more for laughs than as a compelling storyline but I still love how even Slag has his own shit going on, and it's all very important to him.

I really loved Malvery's arc. His fears were very naturally established as a way to show him opening up and being vulnerable. I had no inkling at the time that he'd have to face this fear and either overcome it or not. That being said, I would've liked to have actually seen Malvery face this head-on rather than hear about it second-hand from Crake afterwards. I was pretty invested in witnessing Malvery overcome his fear and was a little disappointed when I didn't get to experience that growth with him. But I'm not mad about it or anything. I'm merely impressed the author managed to squeeze in as much foresight as he managed.

Every single character is wonderful. I'd be here for hours if I spoke in detail about each of them. There isn't a weak character among them and I enjoyed every POV. I would've been happy with just the sheer amount of growth Frey experiences, but the fact that all of these characters had some major growth is incredible and a credit to how good a writer Chris Wooding is.

Frey is the perfect blend of morally grey antihero and lovable rogue. Basically, my two favourite character archetypes ever. He's like Jack Sparrow of the skies except not quite as naturally proficient with a cutlass. He's clever and scheming, witty, remorselessly womanizing, and obsessed with his ship. But much like Jack Sparrow, he's got a heart of gold, despite how he tells himself he'd happily betray everyone for his own gains, deep down we know he can't do it. The plot does a serious number on him but he's not without agency either. Once he has a personal epiphany and realises he's done being a punching bag, he very much takes matters into his own hands. He's a glorious swashbuckler in every sense of the word. I love him.

Plot

Steampunk sky pirates pulling a diamond heist. Was there ever a more perfect combination of words?

For a long time I've been trying to find a book to fill the Gentlemen Bastards shaped hole in my life. This book is exactly what I've looking for for years.

There aren't many books where I know within the first 50 pages That I've found something special. This book is something truly remarkable and criminally underrated.

Opening on a life or death action sequence, the tone is immediately set at a break-neck speed, and the pacing doesn't slow much from there. This book is a fucking whirlwind. Or rather, a perfect storm. The crew of the Ketty Jay are really in the shit, and it'll take all their witty and scheming to get out of it. The pacing is fantastic. Even the quieter moments as we get to know the crew and learn their backstories and the many things each one is personally running from, the story never lags, never bores. There's just enough information supplied to draw the reader in and invest our time without getting bogged down in info-dumps.

The plot of this book can only be described as exhilarating. It's the kind of book that puts the biggest, goofiest grin on your face whilst reading.

Setting

This book does no babying. There's not a spot of exposition, no terms are explained. We just get dropped straight into the action and learn everything we need to know about this world on the go. It's so wonderful and makes every piece of dialogue feel natural.

The concept of daemonism was also fascinating and very well explained. Through frequencies and wavelengths, and echo chambers, power of daeomns can be captured and used to power machinery, weapons, and other inventions. It's all very cool and unique. We're not told how it works, we're shown. We get a massive chunk of world-building and character conflict/development in one scene and it's marvellously effective.

If there are any fantasy writers out there who want to learn how to world-build in the most natural way, pick up this book.

Writing Style

A fucking master class in storytelling and craft. The writing is just perfect. Every sentence dazzles and adds some new and fascinating piece of information to the story. Not a single word is wasted in this book.

I honestly believe Chris Wooding is one of the most talented writers I've read. He has such a natural way of building character within his prose. Painting a vivid scene down to the smallest details without it ever feeling bogged down with descriptions and observations. It's smooth and fluid. The writing just carries you along from page to page and before you know it, you've read five chapters.

Like The Ember Blade, this is a multi-POV book, and like The Ember Blade, I enjoyed every one of them. Chris Wooding sure knows how to write strong multi-POV stories and manage to get me invested in every perspective. I think I'll even go as far to say he's a master at it.

Bravo, Chris Wooding, you clever, clever bastard. Bravo.

Final Impression

Easily one of the best books I've read this year, and also ever, tbh. There's honestly not a single thing I didn't like about this book. It's so close to perfect it's scary. This is definitely a new favourite, easily lifting itself into my top five favourite books. And excitingly, there're still three more in the series. I've already started the next book because honestly, was there any ever doubt I would?

How does one go about joining the crew of the Ketty Jay? Sign me the fuck up.