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A review by cass_mcd_235
The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding
4.0
“Not for the first time, he wished he commanded a highly trained bunch of soldiers instead of a ragtag mob of rejects in varying stages of alcoholism.”
If I had to describe this in one word, it would be: fun. This book was incredibly fun. The basic formula is much the same as the first book. The crew of the Ketty Jay is hired for a lucrative job, the job goes wrong almost immediately, they chase a MacGuffin through a variety of skeezy settings, betrayals ensue, and then everything ends in a massive dogfight. A little predictable, maybe, but listen very carefully: who cares? It's fun. A weaker cast would have made this a 3-star book, but the characters are excellent and often laugh-out-loud funny.
"Frey went pale. He remembered Hengar rather well, since he'd accidentally killed him when he accidentally blew up the Ace of Skulls , accidentally. It was an accident, though."
After Retribution Falls, Cap'n Darian Frey has grown to care about his crew (the aforementioned 'ragtag mob of rejects'), but in this second installment he finds himself struggling to keep everyone together. Frey has developed good intentions, but his avoidant tendencies keep on keeping on, and he has to learn to directly address the crew's emotional needs (read: baggage). While numerous backstories were revealed in the first book, the characters continue to struggle with and grow from their issues. Crake, the ex-aristocratic daemonist, spirals into alcoholism as his past mistake weighs on him. Jez fears losing control to her... affliction (
Spoiler
is being dead considered an 'affliction'?Retribution Falls had a better plot, in my opinion, but The Black Lung Captain steps it up with the characterizations. The characters' sexism, which in the first book earned an eyebrow raise or two, is more explicitly frowned upon by the narrative. Also, it's funny. Ex. when Pinn insists that his sweetheart, who he left five years ago and regularly cheats on, is still waiting for him.
"'I,' Pinn declared indignantly, 'love her.'
'You,' replied Malvery, 'left her.'"
Yup. Very fun. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on book three.