Book Review: The Black Lung Captain

It's no secret around these parts that I enjoyed Retribution Falls.  Shit, it even won an award (or something) as one of the top books that I read in 2011.  With serious cred like that to kick off the series, it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on the next installment in The Tales of the Ketty Jay series and took another dip into the waters of bucklepunk mayhem.

The Black Lung Captain picks up about a year after the events of Retribution Falls and finds the crew of the Ketty Jay stuck in the same old ruts.  Crake is still wallowing in guilt and shame from actions in his past; Jez is still feeling lonely because she can't share her big secret with the crew; Harkins is still afraid of everything under the sun, including Slag the psycho cat; Pinn is still  pining over his sweetie; Malvery is still a slobby drunk; Silo is still fixing shit in the engine room; and Frey is still trying to figure out how to carve out a happy life for himself.

Oh, and the crew is broke.

Well, lucky (or unlucky?) for the crew of the Ketty Jay, they are soon approached with a tempting offer that involves a bit of risk, and high reward.  This job offer comes in the from of one explorer by the name of Rodley Hobb and one gruff looking, cigar chomping captain by the name of Harvin Grist.  The two require the help of Frey's crew, namely the deamonist, Crake, to help unlock a magically protected door.  Of course, the door is part of a downed ship in the middle of a far off mysterious and dangerous rain forest.

This is exactly the kind of job Frey and his crew excel at, however, not all is as it seems. Before too long, Frey and crew are wishing they had someone as insightful as Pete to deliver this wonderful piece of advice:



Unfortunately for Captain Frey he soon discovers that he's in way over his head and is forced to take desperate actions to make things right.  With powerful bedfellows and old enemies helping him out Frey must lock down his fortune before his whole crew falls apart.

Aside from being ridiculously fun and entertaining, the most amazing quality of The Black Lung Captain is that it is an even better book than Retribution Falls.  Chris Wooding has taken pretty much every element that made the first novel great and kicked it up a notch.  An impressive feat.

The characters that populate this novel have definitely reached that point where they stop feeling like characters and more like old friends.  Wooding wasn't content to just rest on the character development he had in the first novel.  Instead he added more layers to each member of the crew, and further fleshed out their past, and their inner feelings and demons.  Wooding also develops a few side characters as well, which makes the story feel bigger, and gives the reader the sense that the events will have ramifications that spread beyond Frey and his crew.

Another quality of The Black Lung Captain that I love, and the same goes for Retribution Falls, is how much fun these books are.  Wooding has found the perfect balance between action, characters, plot, humor, and drama.  It all magically comes together to make one fantastically great read.  I really think a book this fun and this engaging is a rare find, yet Wooding has written two gems so far.

I do however, have one gripe.  Maybe it's the fantasy lover in me, but I really wish there was a map included here.  Only because I struggle with the scale and distance of places.  I don't know how fast the airships can travel, so it is hard to judge how far away places are or how big the land is they are covering.  This little gripe doesn't really do anything to decrease my enjoyment, I just wonder about the mechanics.

So, if you haven't pulled the trigger on this series yet, I really think you should.  The Tales of the Ketty Jay novels are some of the best on the shelves these days.

Grade: A

2011 Books of the Year

In terms of sheer volume, 2011 was a pretty average year of reading for me, but when it comes down to quality, this was one of my best years in recent memory.  What made the year so damn special is that I read two books that became immediate all-time favorites.  It has been a while since I’ve read one book in a year that I’d consider an all-time favorite, so to nab two in a year is an extremely special treat for me.  In terms of my reading habits, I more or less stuck to my secret goal of alternating between books and graphic novels. That pattern did fall apart a bit towards the end of the year, when I got crunched for time and certain “must read” titles sat unread on the shelf.  All things considered, the fact that I managed to read about 40 titles, all while attending school full time, and working part time is a number I am pretty pleased with.

So without further ado, I give you the Battle Hymns 2011 Top 5 Books of the Year….

TOP 5 BOOKS of the YEAR:

#5. Moxyland: When I reviewed Moxyland back in April I said it rekindled my love of reading because it felt so incredibly fresh and so clean.  That sentiment still stands because even 8 months later, it still feels the same thinking back on it. 

Moxyland represents two major deviations from my normal reading, for one, it is a science fiction book, a genre I don't dabble in too often, though it appears maybe I should.  Secondly, it is a book written by a woman.  Its a bit embarrassing to admit but I don't tend to read too much stuff by female authors...there's no good explanation why, but I don't.  Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that Moxyland is not my "usual" read, and yet it is one of the best books I've read all year.  So my pearl of wisdom is this: it pays to read outside of your comfort zone on occasion.  

If you haven't had a chance to give Lauren Beukes' stuff a shot yet, I urge you.  I haven't read Zoo City but have heard lots of great things, and I was very impressed with Beukes' effort in the Vertigo Strange Adventures anthology comic.

#4. Retribution Falls:  Hooray for Bucklepunk!  

There's almost no chance Chris Wooding had me in mind when he wrote Retribution Falls but damn if it doesn't seem like he had a little Battle Hymns devil sitting on his right shoulder whispering plot and character advice into his ear while he  toiled away at the manuscript.  This novel has all the makings of a hit: great characters, non-stop action and shenanigans, intriguing characters, and a great plot too.  Hard to argue with all that.

Kudos to Wooding for creating a world that is a nice blend of science and fantasy with engaging, dastardly characters who, despite their shadiness and checkered pasts, are easy and fun to root for.  This is one of those books I couldn't put down simply because it was so much fun to read.  I wanna be a crew member on the Ketty Jay.

  

#3. The Heroes: Joe Abercrombie is a favorite fantasy author of mine, so it is always a pleasure to read one of his books.  However, never before has that pleasure been so um, pleasurable.  

With The Heroes I feel like it all came together for Joe here.  With the story taking place over the course of a few short days in one small area, the scope is much more narrow, and I think that tighter focus made his writing sharper and the story stronger.  

All the things you'd expect from a Joe Abercrombie novel are here:  mixed loyalties, backstabs, betrayals, messy politics, messy battles, messy wounds, characters of ill repute, and much much more.  You can't go too far wrong with any of Abercrombie's stuff, but for my money this is his best effort yet.  

#2. Replay: This title is definitely one that snuck up on me.  Prior to October of this year, I had never even heard of Replay, let alone had any desire to read it, but here it stands at the number two spot.  Not too shabby. 

 So how did I find Replay?

Well, after reading ThePrestige and Mythago Wood both decent to AH-maaaaaaaaa-zing reads, and both recipients of the World Fantasy Award, I figured I’d scour the list of past winners and see if anything else tickled my fancy.  That’s how I met Replay.  We went out for coffee, rode the bus together a few times, had lunch, next thing you know, we’re in bed together.  (Just thought I’d let you know when and where I do most of my reading…)

If you like time travel, Groundhog Day, a realistic romance story, and a book that makes you think, ask questions of your life, and entertains, than Replay is your book.  Mega-highly recommended. 

#1. The Prestige:  Picking my number one book of the year was an incredibly easy task.  For as much as I enjoyed the other titles on this list, The Prestige easily rules them all. 

This is one of those rare, absolutely amazing books.  The characters are phenomenal, the plotting is fantastic, and the story is one that will give you plenty to think about long after you’ve read the final words.  I think what I love the most about The Prestige  is that it practically begs to be read and re-read over and over again.  There is a large degree of unreliable narration, and half-truths being flung around that it can be very difficult to figure out what really happened. 

With dual narrators, and plenty of lies and deceit, I’m not totally sure I even know what went down, but I know I loved every page of The Prestige and I’m already thinking about when I should read it again.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to give this one a read, I urge you to make it happen.  This is one of best books I’ve ever read. 

Honorable Mention:

The Dark Tower: It was a pretty awesome achievement to finish out Stephen King’s Dark Tower series this year, and I thought the series couldn’t have had a more fitting ending.  I’m very excited for 2012’s addition to the series.

20^th Century Ghosts: Got a little father/son thang going here…Simply put, I was very impressed with Joe Hill’s debut short story collection.  With each story you get a different brand of horror, and each one is amazing.  

Review: Retribution Falls

Retribution Falls is one of those books that I've had my eye on for a long time, thanks to lots of high praise getting heaped all over it from all corners of the web.  I'm always leery when the hype is high going into a book, but every now and then I get a gut feeling that a book will be good.

This was one of those books.

I was pretty much sucked in from the get go with this novel.  It starts with a tense hostage situation, some ballsy roulette of the Russian variety, and a daring escape.  If the first ten pages or so don't capture your interest, there is a good chance this book isn't for you, but really I don't see how those pages could fail to capture even the stuffiest of readers.

Once escapes are made we meet the cast of characters who populate the novel and also serve as the crew for the Ketty Jay, an air ship of dubious repute. The crew, a kaleidoscopic mix of humanity, all seem to share a need to stay out of sight, and keep their pasts firmly behind them.  Darian Frey is the captain, mostly in title, as he runs a loose ship and is more likely to drink, gamble and wench than he is to give orders.  Malvery is the ship doctor with disgrace in his past, drinking to forget. Crake is a man of noble birth, skilled in the arts of daemonism. He too is running from a dark past, but his taveling companion is an armored golem.  Jez, the navigator, startlingly capable at her job, has a dark secret she'd like to keep quiet.  The rest of the crew which includes an engineer, and a couple out-flier pilots are equally imperfect in their own unique ways.

With the crew of the Ketty Jay on the run, and in need of some cash, Frey jumps at the first job opportunity which is seemingly too good to pass up.  The job -which promises a chest of gems as the pay off- requires a small act of piracy, but seems exceedingly routine and easy.   Frey's instincts may have shouted TRAP! but the promise of easy riches and a life of luxury are too hard to pass up.  When the attack goes horribly wrong  Frey and his crew find themselves wanted, and on the run from bounty hunters, and Century Knights.  Not exactly the low profile they had hoped to maintain.  As the Ketty Jay races for safety, they must also race to discover who set them up, and more importantly: Why?

At this point in the review I should make the obligatory comparison between Retribution Falls and Firefly, thus maintaining my geek cred.......................yeah, I must have missed that show when it was on back in 2002.  I don't think I even owned a TV back then.  You know what though, I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed Retribution Falls so much is that it didn't remind me of anything else.  Retribution Falls is one of those genre busters that is hard to pin down.  For what it's worth, I would say it is more science fantasy than it is steampunk.  I couldn't instantly categorize it, and I liked that.  A lot.

The characters were all varying shades of gray and for the most part, acted like actual people, not larger than life heroic figures.  Though I was more likely to find myself amused at their shitty luck than fretting over their dire predicaments, I related to and appreciated each crew member in a variety of different ways.

Not only is this a book of non-stop action, adventure and mayhem, but it's also a book with a solid sense of humor.  Though the humor element was touted elsewhere, I personally feel that the geek crowd is an easy crowd to get a laugh out of, so I sorta doubted I'd have the same experience.  It takes a rare book to get me laughing, but Retribution Falls got quite a few chuckles out of me.  Guess that'll teach me to be such Doubting Donald.

I could carry on about plot, and prose, but that would most definitely lead to more gushing about this wonderful novel.  For me, the key factors that made Retribution Falls stand out are the cast of characters, the exciting plot, and the genre busting feel of the whole she-bang.  For real, this book is great in lots of different ways, and is definitely worth a read.  Highly Recommended.

Grade: A