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sequence19's review against another edition
5.0
A continuing example of how to make an entire book series excellent. Throughout we learn a little bit more about the crew as our heroes try to cure Captain Frey of an ancient daemonic curse. Serious secrets come to light about the Awakeners (the major religious group in this fictional world), and the Ketty Jay acquires a new crew member. Lots of intense gunplay, a little more backstory for the crew, and the Captain does his best (which isn't great) at leading his crew wisely and making smart decisions. Overall pretty great, the characters feel fleshed out, especially Silo, who had been more in the background for the first two books.
selfwinding's review against another edition
3.0
The previous installment in the series had me much more excited, though this one started strong, taking the Ketty Jay crew to yet another corner of their fictional world. By far one of the strongest elements of this series is the world building and that each new installment develops another area of the world. The first two focus primarily on Vardia and Yortland, and this one takes the crew into Samarla where we get to learn more about Samarlans, Murthians, and Dakkadians. That part I enjoyed immensely.
One of the weaknesses of this book is that the timeline is supposed to be short—Frey has about two weeks to return the cursed blade to where it came from—and there is an absolutely unbelievable number of tasks for them to do within that time frame. Some of the side missions are interesting and fun—I particularly enjoyed the Harkin's race in the Firecrow—but the entire time I was reading it I was thinking, "Wow, this is just like the narrative drag that is the podrace in Phantom Menance and Naboo in Attack of the Clones," neither of which are associations I think any author hopes to inspire. So, some pacing issues in this one to be sure.
I appreciate that this novel gives more character development and backstory for Silo. He's been one of my favorite characters, so I really enjoyed getting to know more about his history and seeing Frey treat him like a human. Speaking of Frey and humans, he's continuing to develop into one! The character growth for Frey in this novel is at times a little heavy-handed, but welcome especially considering where he started from in the first novel. (Frey's relationship with Trinica continues to be concerning, especially in regards to his respecting her choices, but ultimately The Iron Jackal ends in a place I was comfortable with.)
My one major complaint: NOT ENOUGH JEZ. Jez, I miss you.
One of the weaknesses of this book is that the timeline is supposed to be short—Frey has about two weeks to return the cursed blade to where it came from—and there is an absolutely unbelievable number of tasks for them to do within that time frame. Some of the side missions are interesting and fun—I particularly enjoyed the Harkin's race in the Firecrow—but the entire time I was reading it I was thinking, "Wow, this is just like the narrative drag that is the podrace in Phantom Menance and Naboo in Attack of the Clones," neither of which are associations I think any author hopes to inspire. So, some pacing issues in this one to be sure.
I appreciate that this novel gives more character development and backstory for Silo. He's been one of my favorite characters, so I really enjoyed getting to know more about his history and seeing Frey treat him like a human. Speaking of Frey and humans, he's continuing to develop into one! The character growth for Frey in this novel is at times a little heavy-handed, but welcome especially considering where he started from in the first novel. (Frey's relationship with Trinica continues to be concerning, especially in regards to his respecting her choices, but ultimately The Iron Jackal ends in a place I was comfortable with.)
My one major complaint: NOT ENOUGH JEZ. Jez, I miss you.
mackle13's review against another edition
3.0
I do enjoy this series, but I never quite love it.
Once again, my favorite parts were the character bits - filling in some of the back stories, and watching some of the characters grow. I do sort of wish Frey would grow up a bit more, though. It's like we're sort of meant to believe that he is, but we're never really shown it. At least not in any kind of consistent or meaningful way.
My favorite characters continue to be Jez and Crake, though it was really cool to learn more about Silo.
That said, I find myself having a hard time really getting into the action bits - and there are a lot of them. I think it's just a writing style preference, maybe. I like action sequences that make your pulse pound - maybe not explicit in all the details, but which really make you feel like you're in the moment.
In these books, Wooding seems to go more for describing the details in depth. What the views look like. What actions are being taken. And I found many of them a bit too drawn out to really keep my focus.
The second chase seen between Frey and the Iron Jackal was really good, though.
Conversely, the race thing made me think of the pod-race in the Phantom Menace. Never a good thing.
And the black-spot on the hand curse thing reminded me a bit too much of Pirate's of the Carribean movies (but at least that's better thought than Phantom Menace).
I do still think these books would make really good movies - but I wish the book format was a bit tighter.
Once again, my favorite parts were the character bits - filling in some of the back stories, and watching some of the characters grow. I do sort of wish Frey would grow up a bit more, though. It's like we're sort of meant to believe that he is, but we're never really shown it. At least not in any kind of consistent or meaningful way.
My favorite characters continue to be Jez and Crake, though it was really cool to learn more about Silo.
That said, I find myself having a hard time really getting into the action bits - and there are a lot of them. I think it's just a writing style preference, maybe. I like action sequences that make your pulse pound - maybe not explicit in all the details, but which really make you feel like you're in the moment.
In these books, Wooding seems to go more for describing the details in depth. What the views look like. What actions are being taken. And I found many of them a bit too drawn out to really keep my focus.
The second chase seen between Frey and the Iron Jackal was really good, though.
Conversely, the race thing made me think of the pod-race in the Phantom Menace. Never a good thing.
And the black-spot on the hand curse thing reminded me a bit too much of Pirate's of the Carribean movies (but at least that's better thought than Phantom Menace).
I do still think these books would make really good movies - but I wish the book format was a bit tighter.
cupiscent's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoy these books a lot. The plots are the perfect blend of silly and clever that makes them the same sort of whizbang entertainment as blockbuster action movies. The characters are all magnificently flawed, and they have to battle against those flaws all the time (instead of heroically overcoming the flaw once and permanently) as well as constantly grinding up against each other. The banter is never too much and the prose is just self-conscious enough to sparkle. All in all: fun.
This book gets bonus points for its lady characters, but an uncertain frown for the central Frey/Trinica conflict and its ongoing permutation.
However, I do acknowledge that this might be a case of Frey being a viewpoint idiot, and the author's going to be more careful, nuanced and involved about unravelling this further. He bloody better, because I don't want to have to stop enjoying these books.
This book gets bonus points for its lady characters, but an uncertain frown for the central Frey/Trinica conflict and its ongoing permutation.
Spoiler
I am really not sure that I like the idea that Frey's love (never mind how flimsy a thing it's been proven in the past, that's sort of the whole point of their conflict) can "save" Trinica from what she's become. Especially since what she's become is what she chose and fought hard and worked tirelessly to become. I don't like the idea that just because Frey's thought better of his abandonment, she has to undo what she's done. I don't like it at all. Whether or not what she's become is a toxic self-destructive prison or blah blah whatever, it's her choice, and Frey gets precisely ZERO say.However, I do acknowledge that this might be a case of Frey being a viewpoint idiot, and the author's going to be more careful, nuanced and involved about unravelling this further. He bloody better, because I don't want to have to stop enjoying these books.
grilledcheesesamurai's review against another edition
5.0
Just like the previous 2 books, this one knocks it out of the park! In fact, I dare say that this one is my favorite yet! It's packed full of action and humor, it delivers in absolutely every way, and takes the Tales Of The Ketty Jay and cements it into a big giant ball of AWESOME!!
There really aent enough good things I can say about this series so far! There is only one book let until the end of everything, and as excited as I am to see how things end up, I have to admit that I am a little sad that the end of it all is now on the horizon.
Highly recommended!
thewashouts's review against another edition
4.0
Fanastic Series, just gets better as it goes. Hopefully there will be plenty more.
mercurialbooks's review
5.0
The Ketty Jay books are my guilty pleasures, smugglers in space. I don't care for any serious review of them, they make me laugh and right now, given the state of the world, that cannot be a bad thing.
I would say, I enjoyed the third almost as much as the first, giving us the background of Silo and knowing Bess's history from Book two endeared me to these characters even more.
I would say, I enjoyed the third almost as much as the first, giving us the background of Silo and knowing Bess's history from Book two endeared me to these characters even more.
jokoloyo's review
5.0
A very very fun 5-star book with notes:
1. the plots are predictable, where the aim of author when writing this series obviously to seek maximum action-packed thrills. If you want some real surprises in plots, forget about it.
2. The recipes of the action scenes are the similar with previous books of this series.
with this third book in the series, I am convinced that the author already planned whole series in details for character development. Some promises that author made on first book are paid on this book. The characters are growing nicely.
There are series that has excellent first book, but poor later books. I really hope this seies is not tha kind of series. I can say, the writing quality is stronger on third book than the first. The humors on third book are more relax than the first book.
1. the plots are predictable, where the aim of author when writing this series obviously to seek maximum action-packed thrills. If you want some real surprises in plots, forget about it.
2. The recipes of the action scenes are the similar with previous books of this series.
with this third book in the series, I am convinced that the author already planned whole series in details for character development. Some promises that author made on first book are paid on this book. The characters are growing nicely.
There are series that has excellent first book, but poor later books. I really hope this seies is not tha kind of series. I can say, the writing quality is stronger on third book than the first. The humors on third book are more relax than the first book.