Chris WoodingKirja-arvosteluja

It took me a little bit to get into this book but I ended up really liking it. It's not what I would usual go for and I'm glad that I gave it a try. The first chapters were kind of slow to me but once it picked up I couldn't put the book down.

Adventure

Uneven. Nothing close to Firefly but general theme. Character mysteries are good but really... uneven. This book is not really what is advertised. While been a little bit supposedly adventurously humorous in the beginning it quickly takes a dive in a sour shit hole of dark icky stuff that really never goes away. This is not a lighthearted adventure. Can't really help but say it again - there is unevenness of bad kind here. Metagaming kind.

Top notch adventure. This is the type of escapism I live for.

The Weavers’ grip on Saramyr’s rulers has grown ever more powerful, and all the while, the blight they have brought grows harsher. The land is slipping into civil war. In the mounting chaos, Kaiku and the orphaned heir-Empress must fight for their destiny and their survival, as Saramyr succumbs to the twisting of the Weave and the unknowable ambitions of the secretive Weavers.

Second book in the trilogy. I read the first book about 5 years ago and enjoyed it enough to keep an eye out for the other two books in the series (I generally avoid multi-book stories).

This is *almost* standalone, in that it's enjoyable to read having forgotten much of what happened in the previous book. It is however, not completely standalone, with relationships and groups established in the first book, that dont get explained again in this second book.

e.g. Who are The Red Order again and why are they trying to keep so hidden? That's not necessarily a fault of the book, more of the reader and the gap between books.

Meanwhile, different groups of rebels are split across the country (sorry, but a map is no good, when half the places mentioned in the story are not on it), making new friends and gathering intelligence against the Weavers. People driven to madness, Weavers are already mad and shown to be more than perverse, people are attracted to the Weave and try not to succumb. Overall an enjoyable book, and I must not wait so long to read the final book

First book in the "The Braided Path" trilogy.

Here the fantasy empire ruling the land of Saramyr has an oriental flavour, a level of technology that allows rifles and bombs and a communications system relying on magic--the sorcery of the dreaded, masked Weavers.

By manipulating the magical Weave of the world, a kind of fantasy cyberspace, Weavers can not only send messages over any distance but manipulate minds, fight intangibly and kill. The use of the Weaving, and their masks, makes the weavers eccentric and mad and have revolting habits such as raping and killing small children. All other forms of magic talent are denounced as Aberrant and the talent-owners condemned to death.

Rebellion brews among the Empire's people and powerful noble factions when it emerges that the Heir-Empress Lucia is Aberrant, with gentle powers of communication with birds and earth-spirits. Meanwhile another girl, Kaiku, is orphaned when her family is both poisoned by an unknown hand and attacked by "shin-shin" demons. Kaiku soon finds that she herself is dangerously Aberrant, apt to send out waves of uncontrollable fire.

Kaiku makes a quixotic journey with unusual companions, and, by use of the mask that is her sole inheritance, enters a protected place to discover the grim secret of what's slowly poisoning the land. It is not, as the Weavers insist, the existence of Aberrants but rather the weavers themselves.

Kaiku and her friends join the Red Order, a sisterhood of trained Aberrants, in a desperate effort to save Lucia from the general bloodshed of the inevitable Imperial coup. Many characters fail to survive for the backlash expected in volume two.

Pretty enjoyable fare, and certainly one I intend to seek out the sequel(s) to

Outstanding

This is truly one of my favourite books of 2019. I cannot wait to be immersed in the next book.

2.5 Stars

3.5 stars
My experience with Chris Wooding is his Ketty Jay series, which I adored, and his graphic novel Pandemonium, also a blast. Both of them were infused with just the sort of snarky humor I like. The tone of The Ember Blade is heavier, more old school fantasy—serious, descriptive, and long on the journeying. There’s plenty of action mixed in, and a nice blend of companions is gradually formed over the course of the book.
It didn’t suck me in right away, and it took me a while to feel much for the characters. The point where things picked up for me is when I got some other character POVs besides Aren and Cade’s. I’m typically a fan of the single first-person POV, but the multi-character, third-person POV worked better in this book. I don’t think I would have wanted to exclusively be in Aren’s head the whole time (and he seems the likely choice if Wooding had limited the narration to one character).
I was very glad this book completed an adventure within a larger series arc. I can’t abide cliffhangers. Besides setting the stage for the Ossian rebellion, Wooding left a few mysteries to explore in future books. I’m very curious about what’s happening to the Sards, and I wonder if that will figure heavily in the plot of the next book.
Parts of the journey were a slog—probably my least favorite was the group’s time in Skavengard, which had a strong Mines of Moria vibe and just felt really drawn out. I enjoyed the book a lot more when that part was over.
The book felt more like a 3-star read for me until about the halfway point, and I found it hard to put down in the last third or so. It’s a long book, and one I might have dumped if it had been by an author I didn’t already love, but I’m glad I stayed with it. I liked a lot more than I didn’t, and I’m curious what will be the focus of book 2, amidst the larger story of rebellion and potential war.

4.5 stars.
That was a super way to wrap up the series.
The swashbuckling Ketty Jay books are up there on my list of favorites. I think the best way to recommend it is to say if you like Firefly, you will probably like these books. They're not in space, but the vibe is similar, with a crew that might be even rougher around the edges than Captain Malcolm Reynolds' crew.
The books are imaginative and action-packed. The battles in this one went a little long for me, and I thought all the narrow escapes with death all around but not even one crew member dying was a little too easy, but the writing was as witty as ever, and parts of it even made me cry, like Silo's speech to the captain toward the end.

None of us weren't nothin' on our own, but 'cause of you, we shook the damn world!...We a losin' hand, Cap'n', but you the Ace of Skulls.

Samandra Bree was more blunt.

Not bad for a bunch of reprobates with a galaxy of personality disorders.

If you haven't tried this series yet, you're missing out.

Advance copy from NetGalley. 2.5 stars

I have loved everything I've read by Chris Wooding until this book. It wasn't horrible, but I never really got on board with the premise, and didn't ever feel invested in the characters.

Instead of this one, I would recommend picking up his Ketty Jay series or his graphic novel Pandemonium. I still plan to read his other books. The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray will probably be the next one I try, as it's been repeatedly recommended to me.

Didn't put me off Chris Wooding, but it wouldn't be what I'd recommend to anyone who wanted to see what he can do.

This latest installment in the Ketty Jay series left me both satisfied and hungry for more. I love how Chris Wooding started out with a group of ne'er-do-wells, their partnership in crime their only tie to one another, and over the course of the three books, developed them into a crew. The way the characters grow and come to discover their loyalty to each other is one of my favorite things about this series.
Since that alone might make it sound rather boring, allow me to add that Wooding writes great action scenes, with a deftness and humor that makes these books such a treat to read. Some scenes are so wonderful they beg to be read out loud.
From the ending, it looks like the crew of the Ketty Jay has lots of adventures to come. I just hope his American publisher (or an American publisher, if he's currently without) starts getting these out a little faster. I could only find the UK edition of this one.

Delightful. I'm ready for the next one.

I loved this book but I was also majorly creeped out by it. The idea of being manipulated by a writer of the story..ugh. But it was very well written and very imaginative. There was a creepy fairytale mood which persisted through the tale and the main character, Poison was interesting and I grew to really admire her. Great read.

Lost interest.

If you are a Browncoat who is lost in lamentations over the cancellation of Firefly, this is the book for you. I’m not saying it will replace the crew of Serenity, but it will go a long way to filled the void, and feed the need for a good pirate/cowboy steampunk western.

The individual crew members of the Ketty Jay are introduced to the reader one by one, with each revealing their story, apart from the Captain. To say he was a work in progress would be an understatement as his character was developed and grew and the novel progressed. Most of all the characters are loveable on the Ketty Jay, maybe not so much their motives and reasoning at some points, but they each have something about them that will have the reader wanting to learn more about them and join them on their adventures; Id’ join them if we could leave the Captain behind as I just could not warm to him and thought him to be a bit of a spineless human being. As in all the good adventure stories the villains, are well just that, villains. From the description of these characters, right down to the personalities they each have there is nothing that could have the reader mistaking them for being anything else than what they are...baddies.

Although, in my opinion, the story takes a while to get underway this is not a bad thing, as in these ‘slow’ moments is where the set-up for the adventure begins and when it starts it definitely moves along at a cracking pace and does not disappoint at all. Through great writing the Author is able to provide a perfect balance of sadness alongside humour and wraps it all up in the form of shenanigans. There is magic, gun play, sword fights and daemons; so enough of everything to appeal to most reader.

I would highly recommend this novel to all Browncoats, steampunk fans and lovers of the type of adventure novels that are so hard to come by today. I will definitely be reading the remaining ‘Tales of the Ketty Jay’ novels.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/09/10/review-retribution-falls-tales-of-the-kett...





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

En lättläst ungdomsdystopi. Skönt med en LL-bok för ungdomar som inte handlar om 1. Kille på glid eller 2. Tjej med självskadebeteende, men lite väl tydlig sensmoral kan jag tycka.

What a good, middle grade horror book. I can even see this appealing to high school boys with its mix of text and graphic novel.

A nice read, with enjoyable characters and great action. The general premise of the book - a ship with a dysfunctional crew under a charismatic but flawed captain - isn't exactly new, and there is a lot of setup due to the fact that this is the introduction to the world. However, all these things are executed well and the mix between fantasy, adventure and steampunk elements really worked for me.

I will say this for "The Fade," the world it depicts is a vibrant, original, and enthralling masterpiece of worldbuilding. Never before have I seen such a thing as a dark fantasy set in the underground of an alien moon, and it is this which attracted me to the book in the first place. While the wonderful setting was everything I wanted, it was the only thing that kept me reading.

The main character of this book, Orna, is meant to be a deadly spy and assassin. She does not come off as such. Throughout the course of the book, I found Orna to be a miserable, whiny, and disgustingly emotionally encumbered character that I could not begin to like or to relate to. Pardon me if I spoil a little bit, but in the beginning of the book, Orna is thrown into an enemy prison, and is so stricken with the death of her husband, Rynn, that she can't bring herself to even attempt escape. Pathetic. That's not all she does; all through this book whenever there's a triumphal swell in the action, Orna has to ruin it with some new tidbit of her despicable weakness of character. Another example: Later in the book, Orna has to opportunity to watch a group of enemy soldiers die a horrible death. I won't say how, but it was very graphic and very satisfying, and while I was laughing with delight, Orna had to go and think something like, "Not even the Gurta deserve that..." What?! After all they've done, she can still feel such weakness? Disgraceful!

I won't elaborate on this one, either, but the character of Orna's husband Rynn is explored through the many flashbacks, and for a while he was my favorite character in the book. Wouldn't you know it, Wooding ruins him as a character, too. For your information, Orna was involved.

In brief, the setting is great, but the story told therein is nothing special, and the main character is one of the worst I've read of in some time. I would not recommend it.

I love Chris Wooding, but this is one of his lessor efforts, unfortunately.

I love that Rail's selfishness and hardness is balanced by Moa's kindness and soft heart, AND that they're not a couple (Rail does mention it, but it's a foregone hope), even though they didn't really go through much development. I really really wish we had more of an experience with the true danger and unpredictability of the chaos storms - the one we did experience didn't really do much, and they left before we could see the effects of the biggest one yet!

Perfectly Mad Max-like, as I expected, and a thrilling ride from Wooding.

***Reasons I want to read this book:***
1. the cover.
2. I saw the word heist.

Great book. Character development progressing nicely. Next book already on hold at the library.

It's Steampunk Firefly/Serenity with a little bit of Full Metal Alchemist thrown in.