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. ( )

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...





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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. ( )