- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; paperback / softback edition (18 Jun 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575085150
- ISBN-13: 978-0575085152
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 308,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Retribution Falls
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Review
"If masterful plotting were the book's only attribute, then Retribution Falls would still be a first-rate read. What makes it exceptional is the psychological insight rare in fast-paced, adventure SF. Frey is a fully-rounded character whose selfishness and duplicity undergo a gradual transformation as events cause him to reassess his motivations, as well as to appreciate the qualities of his crew, themselves fascinating individuals. On every level, Retribution Falls is a triumph." (Eric Brown THE GUARDIAN )
'Retribution Falls is the kind of old fashioned adventure I didn't think we were allowed to write any more, of freebooting privateers making their haphazard underhand way in a wondrous retro-future world. But Chris has dusted off the format and given it a sharp modern edge that makes for a fast exhilarating read' (Peter F. Hamilton )
'There's a neat combination of swashbuckling excitement and wisecracking patter with sometimes surprisingly hard-edged violence, moral ambiguity, and a cumulative depth. It pulls the neat trick of sucking you in with pure entertainment value, and delivering substance while you're not looking. Retribution Falls picks you up, and it whisks you swiftly and entertainingly along, and it sets you down with a big smile on your face' (Joe Abercrombie )
"Retribution Falls is all the pirate yarns, heist movies and spaghetti westerns you've ever seen. It's how Wooding tells it that makes the difference. The pace is furious, the action is full-screen, the style is sharp and polished, the air is full of whizzing bullets and strangled cries. What's not to like? About as good a telling of the old tale as you're likely to get." (Tom Holt SFX )
"This is a cracking, if rather derivative, adventure yarn." (Jonathan Wright BBC FOCUS )
"Retribution Falls is a rollicking good action-adventure yarn that absolutely doesn't take itself too seriously. from the first page to the last this is a book chock-full of dockside gunfights, aerial chases, dogfights and fist-fights and the pace is pretty relentless, slowing just enough to let you catch your breath between the action and that's why I loved it - it's FUN!" (SCI-FI LONDON )
"For the buccaneering spirit writ large across a realistic world of aerial technology, and some daemonic entities but little else of a genre form, this can only be highly recommended." (THE BOOK BAG )
"Occasionally a book comes along which takes the concept of fun and turns it up to 11. Retribution Falls is one such book. The story powers along at a relentless, page-turning pace." (THE WERTZONE BLOG )
'Anyone who likes to sympathise with rogues and shady characters, such as fans of Scott Lynchs Locke Lamora, will surely enjoy the reprobates of Retribution Falls. I am certainly looking forward to their continuing adventures' (Simon Appleby BOOKGEEKS )
"By the time the story ends, only the grimmest of readers won't be smiling (and/or punching the air). Sequel soon, please: the Ketty Jay's crew deserve to fly again." (TOTAL SCI FI )
"Retribution Falls is a rip-roaring full blown space-pirate adventure, SF with a touch of Fantasy, driven at a pace that scarcely leaves the reader time to deal with its implausibilities. It is a plot and character driven piece that opposes airships with machine guns, magic with science, betrayal with loyalty. It's also one of the best pieces of fun I've read in a long while." (Mark Yon SFF WORLD )
"Retribution Falls is a superb, ripping yarn. Great characters, tight plot, relentless pace, and a fascinating world full of promise for future instalments. Prepare to be entertained." (James Long SPECULATIVE HORIZONS )
"What's not to love in this book - fast action, great characters, great setting and superb one-liners? Highly, highly recommended and another notable sff novel of 09 for me." (FANTASY BOOK CRITIC )
"A thoroughly enjoyable read that I'd recommend to anyone who's after a does of rip roaring adventure. There's enough here for me to want to pick up the next book and see what Wooding has in store for us. (GRAEME'S FANTASY BOOK REVIEW )
"This is one of my favourite books ever! I've already recommended this book to my friends as I liked everything about it - the cover, the storyline and the characters." (TEEN TITLES )
'Retribution Falls is the kind of old fashioned adventure I didn't think we were allowed to write any more, of freebooting privateers making their haphazard underhand way in a wondrous retro-future world. But Chris has dusted off the format and given it a sharp modern edge that makes for a fast exhilarating read' (Peter F. Hamilton )
'There's a neat combination of swashbuckling excitement and wisecracking patter with sometimes surprisingly hard-edged violence, moral ambiguity, and a cumulative depth. It pulls the neat trick of sucking you in with pure entertainment value, and delivering substance while you're not looking. Retribution Falls picks you up, and it whisks you swiftly and entertainingly along, and it sets you down with a big smile on your face' (Joe Abercrombie )
"Retribution Falls is all the pirate yarns, heist movies and spaghetti westerns you've ever seen. It's how Wooding tells it that makes the difference. The pace is furious, the action is full-screen, the style is sharp and polished, the air is full of whizzing bullets and strangled cries. What's not to like? About as good a telling of the old tale as you're likely to get." (Tom Holt SFX )
"This is a cracking, if rather derivative, adventure yarn." (Jonathan Wright BBC FOCUS )
"Retribution Falls is a rollicking good action-adventure yarn that absolutely doesn't take itself too seriously. from the first page to the last this is a book chock-full of dockside gunfights, aerial chases, dogfights and fist-fights and the pace is pretty relentless, slowing just enough to let you catch your breath between the action and that's why I loved it - it's FUN!" (SCI-FI LONDON )
"For the buccaneering spirit writ large across a realistic world of aerial technology, and some daemonic entities but little else of a genre form, this can only be highly recommended." (THE BOOK BAG )
"Occasionally a book comes along which takes the concept of fun and turns it up to 11. Retribution Falls is one such book. The story powers along at a relentless, page-turning pace." (THE WERTZONE BLOG )
'Anyone who likes to sympathise with rogues and shady characters, such as fans of Scott Lynchs Locke Lamora, will surely enjoy the reprobates of Retribution Falls. I am certainly looking forward to their continuing adventures' (Simon Appleby BOOKGEEKS )
"By the time the story ends, only the grimmest of readers won't be smiling (and/or punching the air). Sequel soon, please: the Ketty Jay's crew deserve to fly again." (TOTAL SCI FI )
"Retribution Falls is a rip-roaring full blown space-pirate adventure, SF with a touch of Fantasy, driven at a pace that scarcely leaves the reader time to deal with its implausibilities. It is a plot and character driven piece that opposes airships with machine guns, magic with science, betrayal with loyalty. It's also one of the best pieces of fun I've read in a long while." (Mark Yon SFF WORLD )
"Retribution Falls is a superb, ripping yarn. Great characters, tight plot, relentless pace, and a fascinating world full of promise for future instalments. Prepare to be entertained." (James Long SPECULATIVE HORIZONS )
"What's not to love in this book - fast action, great characters, great setting and superb one-liners? Highly, highly recommended and another notable sff novel of 09 for me." (FANTASY BOOK CRITIC )
"A thoroughly enjoyable read that I'd recommend to anyone who's after a does of rip roaring adventure. There's enough here for me to want to pick up the next book and see what Wooding has in store for us. (GRAEME'S FANTASY BOOK REVIEW )
"This is one of my favourite books ever! I've already recommended this book to my friends as I liked everything about it - the cover, the storyline and the characters." (TEEN TITLES )
Book Description
A fast, furious, tongue-in-cheek SF romp.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Retribution Falls is the first novel in The Tales of the Ketty Jay, which promises to be a series of semi-stand-alone novels set in the same world and focusing on the crew of the airship Ketty Jay and its crew of miscreants and scoundrels. If I had to provide a quick soundbite for this it would be Firefly meets Crimson Skies, with a dash of Locke Lamora sprinkled on top.
Darian Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, a battered old freighter which he keeps running by the skin of his teeth, by accepting jobs on the dubious side of the law and trying not to get into too much trouble. When Frey is offered the chance of a lifetime - an easy theft in return for a massive fortune - he overrides his common sense and accepts the job. When it goes hideously wrong and a lot of people die, Frey realises he has been set up, and must prove his innocence even though he and his crew are now Public Enemy #1. Frey's quest to redeem himself takes him and his crew through multiple aerial dogfights, double-crosses, high society soirees and lowlife gambling dens. At the same time we get to know his crew, from the troubled new navigator harbouring a dark secret to the former aristocrat-turned-demon-summoner to the alcoholic ship's surgeon to the powerful and dangerous metal thing they keep in the hold...
Occasionally a book comes along which takes the concept of fun and turns it up to 11. Retribution Falls is one such book. The story powers along at a relentless, page-turning pace. The characters are a diverse and fascinating bunch and Wooding uses skillful economy in getting into their backstories and motivations quickly and convincingly without bogging the story down in unnecessary detail. The world of Vardia is a fascinating one as well, with its diverse landmasses, the dark, forbidding storms that wrack the planet, and a wide range of cultures and people. There are certainly a tremendous number of concepts introduced in this book that aren't followed up on, leaving open a large number of possibilities for future adventures with this crew.
What makes the book refreshingly different from so many fantasies is the setting and tech-level. Airships are the primary method of transportation and the cavalry charges and duels of traditional epic fantasy are here replaced by frigate broadsides and intense dogfights. The technology of the airships and how they work is depicted convincingly, and the battles are great fun and a nice change of pace for a fantasy novel.
As I said before, the book is 'FUN' but at the same time it is not lightweight. Some of the characters are carrying real demons around with them and Wooding doesn't wimp out of some the bad things they've done or had done to them. There are also some genuinely unsettling moments (one flashback sequence to an arctic location is pretty disturbing, which is all the more impressive since we know the character involved survives), and hints of greater, darker threats out in the world which could come into play in later books.
Retribution Falls (*****) is an accomplished and enjoyable novel, and hopefully the start of many adventures for this crew. The novel will be published on 18 June 2009 in the UK in hardcover and tradeback, and the tradeback will be available in the USA via Amazon after that date as well.
Darian Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, a battered old freighter which he keeps running by the skin of his teeth, by accepting jobs on the dubious side of the law and trying not to get into too much trouble. When Frey is offered the chance of a lifetime - an easy theft in return for a massive fortune - he overrides his common sense and accepts the job. When it goes hideously wrong and a lot of people die, Frey realises he has been set up, and must prove his innocence even though he and his crew are now Public Enemy #1. Frey's quest to redeem himself takes him and his crew through multiple aerial dogfights, double-crosses, high society soirees and lowlife gambling dens. At the same time we get to know his crew, from the troubled new navigator harbouring a dark secret to the former aristocrat-turned-demon-summoner to the alcoholic ship's surgeon to the powerful and dangerous metal thing they keep in the hold...
Occasionally a book comes along which takes the concept of fun and turns it up to 11. Retribution Falls is one such book. The story powers along at a relentless, page-turning pace. The characters are a diverse and fascinating bunch and Wooding uses skillful economy in getting into their backstories and motivations quickly and convincingly without bogging the story down in unnecessary detail. The world of Vardia is a fascinating one as well, with its diverse landmasses, the dark, forbidding storms that wrack the planet, and a wide range of cultures and people. There are certainly a tremendous number of concepts introduced in this book that aren't followed up on, leaving open a large number of possibilities for future adventures with this crew.
What makes the book refreshingly different from so many fantasies is the setting and tech-level. Airships are the primary method of transportation and the cavalry charges and duels of traditional epic fantasy are here replaced by frigate broadsides and intense dogfights. The technology of the airships and how they work is depicted convincingly, and the battles are great fun and a nice change of pace for a fantasy novel.
As I said before, the book is 'FUN' but at the same time it is not lightweight. Some of the characters are carrying real demons around with them and Wooding doesn't wimp out of some the bad things they've done or had done to them. There are also some genuinely unsettling moments (one flashback sequence to an arctic location is pretty disturbing, which is all the more impressive since we know the character involved survives), and hints of greater, darker threats out in the world which could come into play in later books.
Retribution Falls (*****) is an accomplished and enjoyable novel, and hopefully the start of many adventures for this crew. The novel will be published on 18 June 2009 in the UK in hardcover and tradeback, and the tradeback will be available in the USA via Amazon after that date as well.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is pretty self contained as a story but the first thing I thought of on finishing it was, 'When is the next one coming out?' There's no way I'm finished with the intricate, loveable yet dysfunctional cast of characters, nor with the interesting world of airships and politics and pirates. As a totally entertaining, fast-paced novel that still manages to be thoughtful and very well written, Retribution Falls doesn't fall short in the slightest.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This a futuristic, wild west style mystery much like a caper/heist story with elements of WWII dog fight action thrown in. Fun and games all the way as a disparate gang of rogues set out to put right a wrong or two. With interesting back stories being related on the way and further mysteries still to be revealed you will immediately want to pick up the second volume in this series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Get past Firefly and enjoy
Yes, like other reviewers I spent several chapters spluttering in outrage at the blatant similarities to Firefly, but persevered and ended up thoroughly enjoying this book. Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. Sawyer
unputdownable!
very enjoyable read and the follow-up books are just as good. Characters developed well in the second and the third books and Wooding has a pacy style. Read more
Published 5 months ago by jay
Fast paced, action packed, loved it
What is there not to love about this book? It's difficult to find another book to compare this too, to give you an idea what to expect, maybe think Star Wars crossed with Pirates... Read more
Published 6 months ago by M. Harding
Good idea, poor execution
I started reading Retribution Falls, but about halfway through I gave up. There are too many characters sketched far too shallowly making it difficult (or impossible) to... Read more
Published 7 months ago by S. Hartwell
A heck of a lot of fun!
I've always loved Chris Wooding's books ever since I first discovered his Broken Sky series in my local library as a child, and his works have just kept getting better and better. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Rebecca
secrets, spies and pirates ayes.
"Its a fantasy version of Firefly" said the friend who loaned me this. The style and setting feel undeniably familiar and I found that at first i was trying to superimpose firefly... Read more
Published 10 months ago by D. J. Ketchin
Restored my faith in 'Steampunk'!
I love the IDEA of steampunk, but for that past year almost everything I've read in the genre has felt dull or disappointing. Read more
Published 10 months ago by J. Scott
Rollicking good read
When I'm reading this series it's like Firefly meets Deathstalker, it's cracking good stuff that makes you laugh out loud with pleasure. Read more
Published 11 months ago by blackbour
retribution falls
A most enjoyable read. It was a mix of Firefly meets steam punk meets Indiana Jones
Darian Frey is the captain of a ship that doesn't quite operate within the law, he and his... Read more
Darian Frey is the captain of a ship that doesn't quite operate within the law, he and his... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Book Addict
good book.
a good book, the story is ok, kind of what you expect from the blurb; plenty of dodgy characters getting away with stuff by the skin of their teeth. Read more
Published 14 months ago by ross
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