Retribution Falls

I had a feeling I was going to like this one, based on several fundamental details: airships, pirates, double-crosses. golems, and magically-infused steampunk-like technology. Then there's the Firefly comparison - the crew is just similar enough to the crew of the Serenity to warm your heart if you're a fan of that, but still different enough that they don't feel redundant.

Some people on here seem to give their 5 stars exclusively to books that supposedly change their lives and amounts awesome when mentioned in a serious conversation. There is nothing wrong with that, but I can't help just handing them out to books that were a fuckton of pure FUN in my opinion. This book is like that. Yes, you can say it's not the most original thing ever written by anyone, but I like to think of it as just... comfortably familiar, not boring and lamely cliché. What it does, it does well.
I have to point out that I've not seen Serenity (not really a sci-fi show fan, sorry), so Retribution Falls reminded me of anime instead, mostly Cowboy Bebop, Baccano!, with a tiny bit of FMA. The violence was stylized in a way that it really wasn't shocking or hard to read, and the same goes for all the angsty backstories of the characters. If you want something with plenty of action, without it being too too dark, this is a pretty safe bet in my opinion.
The characters are morally ambiguous enough to be kind of fun and honestly, I find them pretty much impossible to not like. My personal favourites were Crake (rich boy turned pirate because of a professional mistake) and Harkins (war veteran with a ton of issues).
Honestly, even though I have approximately 0 experience with steampunk, if it's like this, I think we will be good friends. Will definitely continue with the series, will recommend to my friends (aka throw it at their faces, sorry).
10/10, pure AWESOME

Executive Summary: Well, maybe I can enjoy Steampunk after all. I definitely plan on continuing with this series.

Full Review
I've been slow with reading the last month or two. This book was no different. That's not it's fault though. I found it every enjoyable the whole way.

When I did finally have some time over this holiday weekend to read, instead of reading 75-100 pages like I had planned, I ended up reading nearly half the book in one sitting.

Steampunk has never really appealed to me. I haven't read a lot of it as a result. The little I have read was alright, but didn't leave me itching to read more.

This one got added to the pile because someone (I forget who now) said it's a bit like Firefly or the Expanse books. It's really not though. The only real similarity with either series is that it's about a crew aboard a ship who aren't loyal to anyone but themselves. In some ways this makes it like Cowboy Bebop, but I find those characters instantly a lot more likeable than these.

And in this book, themselves is not so much each other as to their own self. I didn't like the captain (or most of the crew for that matter) very much at the start. They grew on me as the book went on.

The characters are all fairly interesting and different enough, just not the sort of people I'd want to hang around with. All of them have things in their past they'd like to keep there. The Ketty Jay is the perfect place for that. You don't ask about my past, and I won't ask about yours.

So more a crew full of strangers all running from their past. Darian Frey is no James Holden, and or even a Malcolm Reynolds. He only cares about his ship, and not the people on it.

This book serves like an origin story of sorts. You not only meet the characters and learn of their past, but things end in a lot different place than when it starts. It was a fun ride to get there too.

I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of this series when I have more time.

A middling fun airships-and-piracy story, as written by a four year old with a box of crayons.

The broad outlines of the story are fine if utterly unremarkable. The details are handled with the finesse of a drunk Parkinson's patient – backstory is presented over 90% of the way through the book just in time to become critically important, which is about the level of craftsmanship you can expect from Wooding. People don't say things, they grin them, or bellow them, or some other verb picked from Bartlett's Familiar Fantasy Tropes. Everyone acts exactly as you'd expect them to, according to the designs on the cardboard from which they're cut.

Not the worst thing around. I've certainly read worse. But not particularly worth your time, attention, or money.

Considering this is about a crew with very different people and members who have to learn to trust eachother and it's all just very pirate-y... I didn't love it. It's very Firefly-esque (sometimes eye rollingly so), but I didn't come to care for the characters as much. I found Jez and Bess to be pretty interesting, as well as Crake, but that's all still to an extent. Enjoyable book overall, even if it took me way longer to finish than it should have, but I wouldn't say it convinced me to check out its sequel.

As you read the reviews for this book you will find plenty of references to Firefly and its crew. If like me you have always wondered if Firefly would have made a good fantasy series keep wondering because Retribution falls actually falls far away from the tree. Primarily this is because its written for in a YA style for an adult audience and that my friend is the end of the story. I got to 60% of it before I called it quits. There is still a huge opportunity in this space though!

Well that was a lot of fun!

I really enjoyed the story and the way the characters were developed, with their back stories coming throughout the book. Frey is someone you love to hate, but I think he makes a good main character. I think it's interesting that most of the characters were ones that you don't really want to like e.g. Crake, Malvery, Frey... they've all got horrid stuff going on in their pasts. However throughout the story you end up rooting for them, you don't want them to die, you're mourning their losses, you're cheering with them.

I gave it 4 stars (probably more like 4.5) instead of 5 just because at times I felt it was a little bit clunky. I wasn't a huge fan of the gallows scene where Frey is about to get the chop, the Century Knights came bustling in, and Frey is able to outline the whole conspiracy, then off they go leading the navy and the navy attack it just seemed a little bit too simple!

I would definitely like to see what happens later in the series, as I hear the next ones are even better!

Truly swashbuckling, it's a fun, somewhat steampunk somewhat fantasy romp. It's quick, it's fast, it's funny, and I was glad to get back into this book again. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed it, to be honest.

The writing is a bit wonky — there's some stilted dialogue, things are fantastical or unrealistic, but it's a book that doesn't take itself too seriously and I appreciate it.