Returning to Tales of the Ketty Jay (four book series), by Chris Wooding

I did an individual ‘returning’ blog of the first entry (Retribution Falls) to see whether that book lived up to my lofty memories, and was delighted it did so.

While also reading other things at the same, I opted to finish off the entire four part series, and it’s fantastic to renew my acquaintance with a story that remains every bit as engaging and fun as it was the first time I read it.

Although this is a series review I’ll do my best to minimise spoilers and just give an overall picture.

The story follows Darian Frey, captain of the Ketty Jay, and his crew of freebooters and misfits. A spot of drunkenness, a dash of drug abuse, and a few very dark secrets pepper the plot. Some of these are critical for personal character stories (every crew member gets at least a little development) or affect the plot itself. There’s a plausible realism to the needling between various characters (poor old Harkins gets teased a lot, and the idiot Pinn is routinely mocked). 

Because the series is only four books there’s enough space for developing the cast and moving along the world (the crew are involved in some pretty significant events) but not so much it ever gets bloated. The story moves along quickly for the most part but isn’t afraid to take its time when called for, and while I wished there had been more to read that’s a sign the author made a smart call rather than returning to the well until it ran dry.

The setting is a fictional, steampunk world in which airships have two engines, one using aerium for lift and another set burning standard fuel for propulsion. The war between Vardia and Samarla ended recently, with the ‘Sammies’ lacking much aerium but otherwise a menacing threat. We learn stuff from inference and plot-relevant conversation which helps paint a much broader world, though details are not info-dumped. Frey and company are mostly Vardians, but his engineer is the taciturn Silo, a former slave from Samarla.

There’s a fair amount of violence, and while there’s frisky time that’s mostly implied and forms a hazy watercolour rather than being explicit. There’s a lot of humour throughout which works very well indeed, sometimes in direct jokes between characters, sometimes by shifting the perspective to an imbecile and offering a moron’s view of the world. All the characters have their flaws, and their talents, and it both humanises them and makes for better interactions and storytelling.

 

In short, I had very fond memories of Tales of the Ketty Jay and the series more than lived up to them. I can’t recommend them enough.

 

I’ve got the four books in physical form but upon checking you can buy the series as a single e-book from Amazon. I’d advocate downloading the sample for that (which should be sizeable) just to check it’s up your street, and then buying it. The last book is just shy of 500 pages, the first is around 450, so the whole lot is around 2,000 pages.

 

Thaddeus

Returning to Retribution Falls: Tales of the Ketty Jay (book one), by Chris Wooding

  

It’s been over a decade since I last read Retribution Falls, reviewed here. I always had fond memories of it, and decided to revisit the series. Would time have changed my mind? 

No. In fact, it was even better than I remembered. Already sinking my teeth heartily into the daring meal of adventure, engaging characters, and a very well put together plot (cunning twists that make sense in the world that’s established), this was perfect when the UK decided to cosplay as Jamaica on a hot day. Unable to work, I spent hours more reading than usual and read three-quarters of the book over a two day period.

It was great, just what I needed, and eminently enjoyable. The steampunk (if I’m referring to the right genre, with lever-action shotguns, airships, and a mix of gas, oil, and electrical lighting) genre is not one I read too much, Emperor’s Edge probably being the only other series that falls into the category but the world is very well realised and comes across effortlessly. Likewise, while Frey, the captain, is the main character every crewman is fleshed out and a couple (Jez and Crake) are especially well-developed.

There’s wry humour amid a serious story, dramatic twists and turns alongside character development. It’s a cracking book and a great start to a fantastic series. It’ll be interesting for me to re-read my own review from some time ago, but right now I’m very glad that, as I try and clear out old books, I hung onto the Tales of the Ketty Jay series. It’s top stuff.

 

Thaddeus

Review: The Ace of Skulls, by Chris Wooding

The Ace of Skulls is the fourth and final book in The Tales of the Ketty Jay.

Every time I buy a new Ketty Jay story it’s an enjoyable read. After the first they’ve been a cross between the comfortable familiarity of old slippers and a surprise as I remember just how entertaining they are.

The Ace of Skulls continues and concludes the adventures of Captain Darian Frey and his crew of assorted misfits and oddities. Civil war has gripped Vardia as religious fanatics fight the old order for dominance. Frey is determined to keep out of the war, but the war is determined to make him and his crew part of it.

He finds himself hopelessly entangled in the struggle for Vardia’s destiny, whilst conflicting loyalties and misfortune threaten to tear apart his crew. Patriotism versus pragmatism and loves lost and found weigh in the scales and the ultimate result of the war depends on Frey and his crew.

I read this much more quickly than expected, and really enjoyed it. The story’s packed with twists and turns, the character development of the crew continues (I’d strongly advise getting Retribution Falls, the first book, and then The Black Lung Captain and The Iron Jackal before this).

As usual, the writing style’s lively, engaging and fast-paced. The crew enables a large number of POVs, and it’s particularly good to see how they’ve changed (or not) over the course of the four books.

Although I’d love to read more Tales of the Ketty Jay, I agree with Chris Wooding’s reasoning (click here to read it). It’s easy for a series to just go on for too long. As it stands, I recommend each of the four books and the series as a whole. I love grimdark as much as the next man, but sometimes it’s nice to have a light-hearted rollicking adventure, particularly one with such an interesting world and collection of characters as the Tales of the Ketty Jay.

Thaddeus

Review: The Iron Jackal (Tales of the Ketty Jay) by Chris Wooding

This is the third book in the Tales of the Ketty Jay. Although they’re pretty much self-contained stories I would advocate reading them in order as there are some references to past events, and it fits with the progression of various characters.

The Iron Jackal sees Frey and his crew of assorted miscreants and psychologically defective lunatics in the unusual position of being famous, fairly well-off and with a ship that actually works. Naturally, this doesn’t last long and Frey finds himself plunged into a race against time to save his own neck.

Rather bizarrely, this book reminded me a bit of when I was reading The Outlaws of the Marsh. Whilst brilliant, The Outlaws of the Marsh is an ancient Chinese mega-novel of over 2,200 pages and has little in common with Tales of the Ketty Jay (although both do feature rather violent criminals who are mostly good). Eventually I realised that it was the great sense of familiarity with the characters that reminded me of the ancient book. During the months it took me to finish The Outlaws of the Marsh I grew to like a few characters quite a lot (Wu Song, Sagacious Lu and Li Kui especially) and got a similar feeling reading The Iron Jackal.

One of the series’ great strengths is the fact that the entire crew is made up of characters who are three-dimensional and have realistic dreams, ambitions and flaws. Even better, they have genuinely believable relationships to one another and they actually do develop and change over the course of the books.

The Iron Jackal is no exception and a number of characters have some more of their past history revealed or are developed a bit more.

The central premise of the plot is sound, although I found the storyline to be of secondary interest behind the significant character development that occurred throughout the book. The pace was pretty lively, and there were quite a few nice scenes of considerable bullet-ridden destruction.

The back cover reveals some quotes from sci-fi organs and authors, which mildly surprised me as I’d always thought of Tales of the Ketty Jay as being fantasy. The tech level is similar to an alternative reality late 19^th or early 20^th century (revolvers, rifles, airships, rail and so forth) but there’s also daemonism, which is a scientific take on magic.

It’s an old-fashioned rollicking adventure, a ripping yarn of theft, adventure, deceit and misfortune which I thoroughly recommend.

I’m fairly sure I read that the 4^th book had been written, so presumably that’ll be out relatively shortly.

Thaddeus

The Basket of Thaddeus

I’ve just finished the second of three volumes of Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and have gotten about three-quarters through a modern fantasy book I’ve been reading. I tend not to be without a book for long, so I’ve started looking ahead to future purchases and releases.

Found it quite difficult to decide on any immediate purchases. There are some good prospects, with Restorer of the World: The Emperor Aurelian by John White and Gladiator: The Roman Fighter’s (Unofficial) Manual by Philip Matyszak standing out on the history side.

However, I’m not really in a historical mood, perhaps because I’m deeply ensconced in Gibbon’s excellent work and want a slight change. Already released are a large number of tempting tales of fantastical escapades, including Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies (the follow up to the slow-starting but thrilling The Lies of Locke Lamora) and lots of stuff by Brandson Sanderson (I haven’t read his work yet but it sounds good).

In terms of games, there’s one excellent future release (Skyrim, and here I must berate the filthy mind of a certain Joe Abercrombie for his unique take on the name) but a yawning chasm of a wait for it to come out in November.

The picture’s rather rosier for books. Next month (the 12^th, specifically) sees the long awaited release of A Dance With Dragons, the latest instalment in the epic A Song of Ice and Fire Series penned by the delightful George RR Martin. I’ll be pre-ordering that in the near future.

After that, 20^th October sees the release of The Iron Jackal, by Chris Wooding. This is a Tales of the Ketty Jay book, the third, and follows the adventures of assorted misfits, drunkards and psychologically unstable characters aboard the eponymous airship. Unlike A Song of Ice and Fire, which is a bit like epic fantasy mixed with Roman/Byzantine-style power struggles, the Tales of the Ketty Jay are in a more technologically advanced world with bullets and aircraft. Wooding does a great job of mixing arcane powers with a more scientific world and I’ll certainly buy The Iron Jackal at some point.

In November Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch, will be out. It follows The Lies of Locke Lamora which, after a somewhat slow and steady start, was a gripping read.

Now all I need to do is acquire the money with which to make the aforementioned purchases…

Thaddeus

The Black Lung Captain review

This is the second in the Tales of the Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding, the first being Retribution Falls. It follows the same collection of dysfunctional miscreants as they commit petty crimes and occasionally do the right thing.

There’s a lot to be said about the good things in the book. The pace is generally rapid and exciting, without veering into frenetic chaos. With the exception of the alcoholic doctor Malvery all the charismatic crewmembers (and Pinn) are developed significantly. Plot twists festoon the story like barnacles on an abandoned ship.

As well as the Ketty Jay crew the familiar faces of some Century Knights and the devious Trinica Dracken make a reappearance, joined by the new character of chain-smoking Captain Grist.

The pace is generally fast, although it slows to merely average speed in the middle, and the author does a great job of seamlessly dovetailing the main plot with a number of significant subplots.

Once again, the world of the Ketty Jay is a delight to read about. Rifles, airships, daemonism and the like make it more original than most fantasy worlds and there’s a nice sense of grubby realism.

The storyline focuses upon a downed Mane ship and the treasures laying in wait for those who brave the dangerous island it was wrecked upon. More than that I won’t say, save that the plot lets us learn more about the Manes.

I’ve checked Mr. Wooding’s official website and am glad to report that third and fourth books in the series are coming soon. The sooner the better, I think.

Thaddeus

Review: Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay 1), by Chris Wooding

I read this last year, and have bought (but not yet read) the second book, The Black Lung Captain. Retribution Falls is a refreshingly high tempo book set in a world radically different to the standard sword and sorcery of fantasy.

Airships are common, there’s a more rational/scientific approach to magic and the weapon of choice is the gun rather than the broadsword.

The story follows the dysfunctional collection of waifs and strays that comprise the crew of the Ketty Jay, including an alcoholic, a dabbler in diabolical arts and a mighty metal harbinger of woe. The new navigator is probably the crewmember that most approaches normality, although normal she is not.

Frey, captain of the Ketty Jay, partakes of all manner of unsavoury pursuits, including smuggling and the like. When a tip-off he gets turns out to be a set-up, he ends up becoming the quarry of every decent, law-abiding chap. Using a combination of slyness, low cunning and blind luck, he and his crew of misfits attempt to evade capture and reveal the truth.

I raced through this book, and enjoyed learning more about the interesting crew. Generally, I prefer grey characters to ultra-heroic or cackling creatures of pure evil, and the crew of the Ketty Jay come with their fair share of vices, and the odd virtue.

All that stopped me from buying the sequel immediately was my ever-growing list of books-to-be-read. It’s a lighter book than most I read, and definitely faster, but none the worse for that. The characters are fun and interact well, the world is original and interesting, and it’s the sort of book that isn’t read so much as devoured in a day or two.

Thaddeus