Wooding, Chris: Retribution Falls
Retribution Falls (2009)
Written by: Chris Wooding
Genre: Steampunk Fantasy
Pages: 74/461 (Trade Paperback)
Series: Book One (Tales of The Ketty Jay)
Disclaimer: this book was received from the publisher via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program
Why I Read It: Ever since reading Chris Wooding's Poison and thoroughly enjoying it, I've had my eye on this author. I hadn't yet picked up anything new, but when I originally heard of Retribution Falls, I wanted it ASAP. Yes, you can blame Stephen Martiniere's beautiful cover. But still! Beautiful cover + an author I'd already read and enjoyed = good things, right? But at the time, Retribution Falls was only available in the UK, so I had to wait. And wait. And then the instant I saw the book for review on LibraryThing Early Reviewers, I nabbed it! Took two months to arrive, mind you, but as soon as it came in the mail, I started reading . . .
The premise: ganked from BN.com: Sky piracy is a bit out of Darian Frey’s league. Fate has not been kind to the captain of the airship Ketty Jay -- or his motley crew. They are all running from something. Crake is a daemonist in hiding, traveling with an armored golem and burdened by guilt. Jez is the new navigator, desperate to keep her secret from the rest of the crew. Malvery is a disgraced doctor, drinking himself to death. So when an opportunity arises to steal a chest of gems from a vulnerable airship, Frey can’t pass it up. It’s an easy take -- and the payoff will finally make him a rich man.
But when the attack goes horribly wrong, Frey suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in Vardia, trailed by bounty hunters, the elite Century Knights, and the dread queen of the skies, Trinica Dracken. Frey realizes that they’ve been set up to take a fall but doesn’t know the endgame. And the ultimate answer for captain and crew may lie in the legendary hidden pirate town of Retribution Falls. That’s if they can get there without getting blown out of the sky.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: It's a DNF, so no spoilers. Read on to figure out why I couldn't finish the book.
My Rating: Not My Cup of Tea (DNF)
This really saddens me, because I really was looking forward to this book. But I knew I was in trouble when I grabbed a sticky note and wrote: "This feels like something I'd rather watch in a movie than read in a book" and stuck it on page 60. Why did I feel this way? Because I'm getting (what seems to me) a minor character's POV of a dogfight, which immediately makes me think of all those fun, adventurous space operas like Star Wars, Avatar (which isn't space opera, but has dog fights), Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. These are not bad things, but in these films/television shows, you often see dogfights from the POV of secondary or minor characters that you meet for two minutes before they die. While exciting to watch, I'm not that emotionally invested, you know?
But once I made that comparison to something I'd rather watch than read, my interest dialed down to absolute zero. The following page gave me this juicy tidbit:
"This ain't your lucky day," he muttered as he lined his enemy up in his sights. He believed true heroes always said something dry and chilling before they killed anybody. Then he pressed down on his guns. (page 62)
Then I got to Chapter Seven, and in a move that should've amused ME of all people, the author chose to show us the aftermath of the dogfight from the POV of the ship's cat.
Yes, their cat.
Yes, I should've been vastly amused by this, and I would have, IF AND ONLY IF I was already completely enamored of the book by this point (page 68). But I wasn't. I almost put the book down right then and there, but I kept going, because not only did I get this book to review for LibraryThing, but I'm also cross-posting this review at Dreams & Speculation. I can't have a DNF! So I soldiered on.
But I only lasted to page 74, where we're in the Captain's POV and he's alone in his room, reflecting on a job that didn't go as planned, and looking at himself in the mirror to describe to himself (and therefore us) all of his wonderful attributes.
Here's the thing: this book is meant to be enjoyed by someone who wants a light, adventurous, steampunk-meets-magic-meets-Firefly kind of book. This is the kind of book for readers who don't want something to take itself too easily, for readers who appreciate and even desire a wee bit of cheese/camp in their fiction, because if it's not there, what's the point? Clearly, this is not my cup of tea. And what made this book so disappointing for me is how much I enjoyed Wooding's Poison, but upon reflection, I shouldn't be surprised: the bulk of his backlist is YA, and in some ways, I don't think Wooding moved very far away from his target audience in terms of style (except for adult references like needing to sleep with the new female crew mate; ironic, because I recall feeling his YA was a little more adult-oriented. Who knew?). I don't want to insult adult readers who love this by saying that this book is best enjoyed by teenaged boys. That'd be totally unfair. But I will say that I think teenaged boys would probably be the best target audience for this book. Them, or readers who just want to sit down, shut their brains off, and read a book that feels like a movie instead. There's nothing wrong with that.
But it's just not my cup of tea. Not for this particular mash-up, at least. Oh well, maybe next time.
Cover Commentary: I love, love, LOVE this cover! Of course, anything by Stephen Martiniere pretty much does it for me, and this is no different. However, I want to be sad, just a wee bit. Compare the US cover (featured at the top of the post), to the original UK version (click here): for starters, I far prefer the font work on the UK version. Having it in the middle really catches my eye, and the choice of font is just really appealing to me. Second, note how in the UK version, there's a man standing on the platform. Now look at the US version. No man! I wonder why that was changed? I can get mucking around with font placement: putting the author name and title in the middle bisects the art, though the font choice for the US version is yawn-tastic (at least for the title) and looks like something I'd do in PhotoShop (me not being a professional graphic designer); but why get rid of the man? No clue, but while I like the artwork itself, I prefer the UK cover.
Next up: Shady Lady by Ann Aguirre