Retribution Falls

[sawyl]

Needing to escape, if only briefly, from the absurd levels of erudition on display in Stephenson's Quicksilver, I decided to pick up Chris Wooding's Retribution Falls on the strength of its nomination for this year's Arther C. Clarke awards. The enjoyable plot, with shades of Firefly, revolves around the misfit crew of the Ketty Jay, a dirigible of sorts, owned by the shifty and shiftless Darien Fray.

When Fray is offered an easy job that pays more than he has ever made before, he ignores his doubts and seizes with both hands. He has, of course, been had. The job goes south and the Ketty Jay soon finds itself targeted both by the Century Knights, the Archduke's elite guard, and pirate queen Trinica Dracken. Furious about the way he has been played, Fray starts investigating the job only to discover he has been caught up in a grand conspiracy.

As the story unfolds and the nature of the great intrigue starts to come to light, so too do the characters of the crew start to come into focus. Some of the reveals are more obvious than others and some are signposted well ahead of time, but that doesn't make the nastiest backstories any less effective when all the details are finally revealed.

Fray, too, develops as the plot unfolds albeit in the traditional way of dodgy ship's captains. He starts out as a devil-may-care sort, charming but shallow, willing to sacrifice his crewmates' lives rather than give away the secrets of his ship, cheerfully leaving a trail of broken hearted aristocratic lovers in his wake. But as events unfold, he is forced to confront the fact that his life has largely been failure, that his crew don't trust him, and that his fear of commitment has caused him to screw up all his serious relationships. So he decides to change and to make an effort, learning what can be accomplished by trusting and showing leadership.

So, while not the most difficult or demanding book I've read of late, Redemption Falls is fun adventure romp. The whole sky pirate setting works well, the technology is handled with a wave of the hand, the system of magic is suitably scientific and the central religious cult seems to combine elements of Gaia, Buddhism, and divination all bundled together. And if some elements of the story and the characters are familiar from other contexts, they're handled deftly enough to avoid falling into cliche.