Airships » Cybermage

Curse of the Mummy meets the Air Pirates

The colorful crew of the Ketty Jay is back for a third installment of the tale named The Iron Jackal. Captain Frey is famous after the happenings in book two and although he enjoys the advantage it gives with the ladies it makes it hard to fly under the radar as an air pirate.

The series is best described as retro futuristic steampunk about the competent but unlucky crew of the airship Ketty Jay. They usually get involved in some money making scheme that unfolds in unexpected ways with great repercussions in the world around them. Lately they uncovered secrets about a cult that threatens to throw the country into civil war. The story usually has multiple main characters but the cast is limited and the focus is mainly on one or two in each book, which I like.

This time the caper goes off as planed but giving Frey a mysterious box and tell him not to open it might not be the smartest thing. You can probably figure where things head after that.

Frey’s charming maybe-affair with the deadly Trinica continues to unfold with many ups and downs. He is totally clueless in a way I enjoy to read and I say that as a man. Frey continues his development from selfish narcissist towards something more human in this novel. I really like the characters Chris Wooding has made. This time Frey and one of the pilots gets more room to develop.

Jez the half-mane is my favorite character. I have a soft spot for female protagonist with exotic powers which is especially true this time as Jez does a River Tam on the opposition at one time. You Firefly lovers will know what I mean when you read it the rest should go see Firefly and then read the book. It has a lot in common with the Tales of the Ketty Jay. Jez is not as prominent here as before but there are interesting developments for her too.

The best words to describe The Iron Jackal are Curse of the Mummy meets the Air Pirates. It is a fun action filled romp I greatly enjoyed. Chris you have made it again and I love your new book!

Book Information

The Iron Jackal (Tale of the Ketty Jay 3) by Chris Wooding (Gollancz 2011) – Amazon US | UK

Things are finally looking good for Captain Frey and his crew. The Ketty Jay has been fixed up good as new. They’ve got their first taste of fortune and fame. And, just for once, nobody is trying to kill them. Even Trinica Dracken, Frey’s ex-fiancee and long-time nemesis, has given up her quest for revenge. In fact, she’s offered them a job – one that will take them deep into the desert heart of Samarla, the land of their ancient enemies. To a place where the secrets of the past lie in wait for the unwary. Secrets that might very well cost Frey everything. Join the crew of the Ketty Jay on their greatest adventure yet: a story of mayhem and mischief, roof-top chases and death-defying races, murderous daemons, psychopathic golems and a particularly cranky cat. The first time was to clear his name. The second time was for money. This time, Frey’s in a race against the clock for the ultimate prize: to save his own life.

Title: Clementine

Series: Clockwork Century 2
Author: Cherie Priest
Genre: Steampunk
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Copy: bought it myself

Order from: Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

Maria Isabella Boyd’s success as a Confederate spy has made her too famous for further espionage work, and now her employment options are slim. Exiled, widowed, and on the brink of poverty…she reluctantly goes to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago.

Adding insult to injury, her first big assignment is commissioned by the Union Army. In short, a federally sponsored transport dirigible is being violently pursued across the Rockies and Uncle Sam isn’t pleased. The Clementine is carrying a top secret load of military essentials, essentials which must be delivered to Louisville, Kentucky, without delay.

Intelligence suggests that the unrelenting pursuer is a runaway slave who’s been wanted by authorities on both sides of the Mason-Dixon for fifteen years. In that time, Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey has felonied his way back and forth across the continent, leaving a trail of broken banks, stolen war machines, and illegally distributed weaponry from sea to shining sea.

And now it s Maria’s job to go get him. He’s dangerous quarry and she’s a dangerous woman, but when forces conspire against them both, they take a chance and form an alliance. She joins his crew, and he uses her connections. She follows his orders. He takes her advice. And somebody, somewhere, is going to rue the day he crossed either one of them

I feel like a kid again when I read Cherie Priest’s wonderful clockwork tales. There is something soulful and handmade about the whole genre modern people is attracted to and it is the perfect excuse to indulge in airships, air pirates, secret weapons and the civil war era. Priest does more than feeding my juvenile delight in adventures, she also touches on racial issues, moral and loyalty conflicts. The characters do think about things like that in a way that feels very ‘period’ and natural. The story takes place to a background of an extended civil war where racism is very much alive and a white woman traveling with three black men has some issues.

This is a standalone story that share Clementine, Captain Hainey and his crew with Priest’s first Clockwork Novel Boneshaker.

Clementine has a good balance between fast pace and good character development. The characters also have a good balance between strengths and vulnerabilities. Both Hainey and Boyd are formidable characters all by themselves. They don’t take crap from anyone. It is a delight to read them interact with each other, I got goose bumps. They do clash in a good way. But they come across as real humans even if they are not to be crossed.

My Clementine is a beautiful print by Subterranean press with cover art by Jon Foster. I read the whole book in one go the same night I got it, I could not stop. Now I can’t wait until I get Dreadnought next month.

Clockwork Century
1. Boneshaker (Tor)

Formidable Female Protagonists in Science Fiction Part 19 August 20, 2010
13 SF Books for the rest of 2010 July 5, 2010

Share|

Title: Retribution Falls
Series: Tales of the Ketty Jay 1
Author: Chris Wooding [homepage]
Genre: Steampunk
Hardback: 384 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (2009)

Order by: Amazon US | UK | sfbok

Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, leader of a small and highly dysfunctional band of layabouts. An inveterate womaniser and rogue, he and his gang make a living on the wrong side of the law, avoiding the heavily armed flying frigates of the Coalition Navy. With their trio of ragged fighter craft, they run contraband, rob airships and generally make a nuisance of themselves. So a hot tip on a cargo freighter loaded with valuables seems like a great prospect for an easy heist and a fast buck. Until the heist goes wrong, and the freighter explodes. Suddenly Frey isn’t just a nuisance anymore – he’s public enemy number one, with the Coalition Navy on his tail and contractors hired to take him down. But Frey knows something they don’t. That freighter was rigged to blow, and Frey has been framed to take the fall. If he wants to prove it, he’s going to have to catch the real culprit. He must face liars and lovers, dogfights and gunfights, Dukes and daemons. It’s going to take all his criminal talents to prove he’s not the criminal they think he is …

I remembered sneaking a glimpse at my first pirate movie while my parents thought me sleeping. It was exciting until they caught me looking. I think it was something with Errol Flynn and Captain Frey here has the same kind of Errolesque attitude without being a gentleman about it . In a way this tale is about extraordinary accidental team-building with Captain Frey, who at first only sees the crew as a means to keep the Kitty Jay running but that change over time both for him and for his assorted crew of misfits. I like the way the story builds up depth as it moves along and we get to know the characters.

The characters are all charming quirky refugees from society. There is the haunted daemonist, his hard hitting daemon possessed suit of armor with a personality of her own, the alcoholic doctor afraid to do surgery, the former slave engineer, and two outrider fighter pilots one pining for his sweetheart at home and the other a coward outside the cockpit. We learn to know them when Jez their new navigator signs on. She has a dark secret of her own, that’s why she ended up where she is.

Frey is not the most competent Captain around but he is persistent and charming. The plot is maybe not the most original but it is mighty fun to read. It contains airship battles, conspiracies, daring rescues, vengeful former fiancées, mystic artifacts and a secret pirate lair. One of the most entertaining scenes in the book is when Captain Frey visits his former fiancée in the monastery her father forced her into to obtain information. The characters are well developed and interesting especially Jez.

The Victorian retro-future world comes alive around the characters and makes me want to know more about the Coalition, their enemies and their history. The world building is not extensive but effective for the story. I hope we will learn more in future books. Chris Wooding is a new to me author and I am mighty impressed with Retribution Falls. It is a well balanced fun adventure tale that makes me want to read more by Chris.

I am half way through the next standalone sequel The Black Lung Captain and I am still as impressed. A review will be forthcoming.

Share|