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Post by Milchkarton on Oct 9, 2011 15:09:29 GMT -5
I do not know how many (especially in this forum) had the opportunity to read the latest in the Ketty Jay Series, but this thread is for you! Come and tell your first reactions after finishing the book; what did you love, what did you hate and what made you squeal in joy or disgust? I found my copy of the book by Amazon on Friday in my mail, quite some time before the official release date. I do not know how that happened, but I was pleased and sat down today to read it from start to finish. And I could not lay it down for more than a few minutes. So have my reactions, an unsorted gibberish of stuff that come to mind: For me, I find it the best of the series yet, but that might also be because I absolutely love Silo, and the importance and screen-time in this novel for him, pleased me to no end. I could probably go about length at how awesome I find that he is now the First Mate of the ship (that the ship finally HAS one even, it makes it so much more meaningful as a real crew), and the developement he went through in the book, but that would be quoting my favorite lines or scenes (which are a lot, so I will not bother at this point). Crake calling him bad-arse sealed the deal for me that Silo remains awesome. And him now being the First Mate, I envision many more scenes with him in the future, with many more delightful dialogue between Captain and First Mate on telling him how stupid of an idea that plan is.
I tend to have favorites whose scenes I enjoy the most, but with this series, I am always happy to read about every one of the characters (okay Silo a biiiit more) and their ways to become a united crew (but wow, did I want to punch Pinn when he took that triumphant win from Harkins, that was the most terrible and selfish thing that little potato ever did as of yet. I guess I cannot like him, no matter what, but kudos to Chris for being able to write such a character.) It was beautiful to read their inner torments on what to do if they lost their captain and the possibilites they would miss out by either staying or leaving. I also liked the addition of Ashua, though I hope to read more about her in the next book to really get a feeling that she belongs there.
Story was very entertaining, I really enjoyed the "showdown" with the Iron Jackal and the Powerstation (the description of the Azryx city was beautiful and eery, and I have the creepiest images of the "Juggernaut" and the caretakers in mind somehow...I am looking forward to reading more about the ancient cilivization in the next book, hopefully) . The snark between the characters was always welcomed, the dialogue had me grinning like an idiot from time to time, and the number of "arses" in the book was rather high. I should have counted it. The more we get a glimpse or mentioning of all the places in the Ketty Jay Universe, the more I would love for it to never end as there are so many possibilites and places to explore.
All in all, I'll re-read it now. But I want to thank Chris for bringing all these pretty pictures in my head, which will probably never really meet with what he had intended, but I hope that it may come close.
But: will Crake ever get some good shooting-lessons? Will Trinica and Frey finally get their happy ending (as happy as it can be)? Will Frey hug even more of his crew-mates (I shamelessly love the hugs he or others dish out randomly)?
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Post by Maliris on Oct 18, 2011 5:34:33 GMT -5
My turn! My turn!! As I've said before, I did finish it already last Friday but all I could come up with to post here was something like "AWWWWW! YAY! B'AWWW!" which isn't really substantial enough, right? Now a few days have passed and still all I can come up with is AWWW so I figured what the heck, so now I'll try to paraphrase that as well as I can. But yeah, probably pretty transparent: I loved The Iron Jackal! The characters have truly come a long way - when I think back about how they all were like in RetFalls. I mean, they are a crew now. I have no idea whether that was just my utterly forgetful brain or whether it was actually "there" but after Frey had appointed Silo first mate (which resulted in him grinning which is nothing short of phenomenal) I felt like the terms "the Ketty Jay-crew" and the "crew of the Ketty Jay" was used far more often than before that event. I guess, it was used before already - I mean, for obvious reasons of them being the crew of the Ketty Jay - but I also felt like they had become more of a crew. I also highly approved of the bromance and the random hugs. Who can blame me, though?! I really like all the characters except for Pinn - but, like I said, who can blame me? He's obnoxious. Yeah, kudos to Chris for being able to create such a despicable character. XD But seriously, what he did to Harkins was just... That he wanted to be an inventor, well, I laughed at that bit. Granted, in the end he was kinda useful but he still is Pinn, you know... though, in some interview I read that Pinn was also loosely based on some guy Chris met in Madrid? This kinda creeps me out - that Pinn sort of exists. *shudders* I was pleased to see that it was a Silo-book, though granted I suspected as much when I learned that it would take place in Samarla. And I was not disappointed! So much more to Silo than meets the eye. And he was pleasingly bad-arse. (Yes, I have to agree, they used the word 'arse' a lot. But that's fine by me.) The museum's heist was so awesome and the warren-bit. No rabbits but that was okay. And did I ever love the showdown in that Azryx-city! Such a creepy and atmospheric place! And I would have liked to learn more about that lost civilisation. And then it got blown up... :< But the frankly phenomenal self-destruct system of the city, if that's really what it was, well, made up for that! The Juggernaut - such creepy images in my mind! *_* And yeah, Crake needs to take shooting-lessons! Or he needs to thrall daemons to some bullets so they hit the target they are supposed to hit! I mean, seriously! XD Though it did make for a really funny scene... come to think of it, it was Bess and Crake who ruined "everything" for their respective groups. Bess by attacking a caretaker and Crake by having a horribly bad aim. Hmmm. But Crake redeemed himself by daemonising. Is that the verb for it? XD The fight with the Iron Jackal itself was one of my favourite scenes. Eerie, dramatic and creepy. And the hug at the end was all kinds of cute. (And Ugrik, haha, dude. Just wanted a piece o' the love in the room! Priceless!!) I liked Ashua immediately. She fit right in and I was happy when she joined the crew. And right now it looks like she's staying. That's nice. I am curious to learn more about her. We haven't really learned all that much about her. And I look forward to it! I also look forward to reading more about New Vardia, Peleshar and Jagos. There's still so much more to explore and I really want to read about that. Some great world building Chris did there. Okay! All in all, it boils down to "B'AWWWW!" Great read, great characters and great pieces of dialogue that had me laugh and grin stupidly! The set-up for the next volume with a civil war threatening made me want to keep reading. And I want to know what happened to Jez. I take it she climbed up to the Dreadnaught and that she appears to be a biiiiit more Mane-ish? Thankfully, a fourth book is planned! And I'll await it patiently.
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Post by awefulwaffle on Feb 26, 2012 22:41:03 GMT -5
I guess this will be my introductory post! I recently had this imported from Amazon. I wish I did it sooner, but I had this "feeling" that it would be coming stateside soon. How disappointed I was when I walked into a chain bookstore and saw Black Lung Captain on sale in the New Releases section. I knew then I was going to import the book. It took a LOT of self control not to finish the book in a few sittings. I started the series out from the Android marketplace on a whim and I instantly fell in love. I enjoy reading through the eyes of EVERY character, as there's none I don't like. I even don't mind Pinn! Him and Harkins are my comic relief characters. I guess I'll go into the spoilers: I'll keep it semi-short and sweet: - I thought it was the best of the series so far.
- I'm glad Ashua was added to the crew. I always thought another female would round things out.
-Harkins race kept things incredibly interesting, and the whole thing, including Pinn's steal of Harkins' win, was awesome.
-I loved the comic relief throughout the tale. Ashua and Crake making fun of Frey's vocab always had me chuckling, Pinn the Inventor (And subsequently Jez, the toast, and the cat experiment) had me in stiches, and I smiled at Samandra Bree uppercutting Crake.
-I probably don't need to mention the action. The whole book was stuffed full! It blends perfectly with the character development and interaction.
-The world is most definitely coming around cleanly. I'm always pleased to see that there was an actual PAST to this world. It doesn't feel like the world they live on started with Frey.
Well that's it without me writing about every individual detail I loved about The Iron Jackal. It's nice to meet you all, and I'm most definitely craving for Book 4. I'll have to check out other Chris Wooding books while I wait.
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Post by Arclight on Feb 27, 2012 9:12:32 GMT -5
Good Lord.
I began the series less than a week ago.
I finished "The Iron Jackal" last night.
Incredible. I was so not expecting the strange and unsettling technology at the end of the book. But when Malvery reached the top of the steps, I was cheering like a lunatic.
Now...how long do I have to suffer before more Tales of the Ketty Jay are forthcoming?
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Post by bloodroseangel on Feb 27, 2012 19:34:40 GMT -5
I just had to preorder The Iron Jackal, I was bereft when I finished The Black Lung Captain XD It definitely didn't disappoint. The finale was amazing, and as Arclight said, the Azryx technology was quite unsettling. The ending was certainly a surprise and I was cheering the characters on too! XD I liked how we went more in-depth with some of the characters whose eyes we hadn't seen through before either. And of course, the interactions between the characters were as hilarious as ever. XD I also got rushed to finish it too because my cousin has managed to get hooked on the Ketty Jay series after seeing me reading them and wanted to borrow it off me right after he finished the second one. We have a new fan!
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Post by Chris Wooding on Feb 29, 2012 9:12:14 GMT -5
Arc - Will be done on Silver very shortly so I'll be on to thinking about KJ 4 pretty soon. Hopefully you won't have to suffer too long Or me, for that matter. Even though I know what happens in my head, it still ain't the same as seeing how it turns out on the page...
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Tokrika
New Member
Exalted dolphin
Posts: 4
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Post by Tokrika on Mar 2, 2012 21:14:09 GMT -5
Liked it well enough. Got it on the kindle the minute it launched (paper-copies smell and feel nicer, but take up more room than I have). The book is easy and entertaining, the humor is becoming more subtle and the characters ever more believable (and some times where it fits: less so). What I really appreciate are some old and dear concepts, without going into what they are, being dragged out of the dust and given a good shake before being put back at the table at an interesting angle. However, he first thing I noticed about the book was actually the blurb by PF Hamilton. Which made me laugh out loud. I obviously read the other two KJ books and was therefore able to put it into context, but as a stand-alone, it could really lean both ways. I found it potentially humorous but truthful. After finishing the book I felt that it was a bit deeper than the previous volumes, so I re-read the other two books followed by the third (second time, but not the last) just to compare them. By the third volume you already familiar with the characters and therefore have a better understanding of some of the underlying motivations behind their actions. So prose is not different, and the plot is not 'deeper', it just turns out that that Wooding has, along with his readers, gained a better understanding of the people and societies he is creating, and he doesn't have to put in so much ground work to bring us in to the story. I've got an unspoken deal with CW. As long as he keeps writing and publishing what he writes, I will reward him with money - high praise indeed. I think he has suspected as much for a while, although only after reading this here has he himself become aware of my part in it.
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Post by Chris Wooding on Mar 7, 2012 4:56:31 GMT -5
Haha. Deal. ;D
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Post by bloodroseangel on Mar 8, 2012 16:35:18 GMT -5
Arc - Will be done on Silver very shortly so I'll be on to thinking about KJ 4 pretty soon. Hopefully you won't have to suffer too long Or me, for that matter. Even though I know what happens in my head, it still ain't the same as seeing how it turns out on the page... I know exactly what you mean! XD People always ask me why I rewrite my novels so many times - it's not just to refine the writing, it's because no matter what I plan, the characters just don't do exactly what I expected the first time round!
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Post by bluephoenix on Mar 18, 2012 18:03:20 GMT -5
Ehm, don't know how to do that fancy spoiler tag from here below is SPOILER TERRITORY I just finished it this morning, and would say my three biggest thoughts on it were such: 1) I adore the characterization of Silo. He really came out of the woodwork on this one, but in a way that made perfect, harmonial sense with what we had seen thus far. In the same vein, I thought Harkins and Pinn (the two characters I saw the least point in for the first two novels) really grew on me and got nicely fleshed out. I really care about them now, instead of wondering which one could be killed off for non-traumatic emotional pull. to a lesser degree the same is true of Malvery, what a hero! 2) Contrary to the above, I was sad at how little Jez developed. She became more powerful, yes, but if anything I feel more she became disconnected from the crew, and from me as a reader. Her part in this story was very removed from everyone else, as she never seemed to have that same moment of self-sacrifice that so many of the others did, and all her development happened alone, in her own head. this is nothing against Chris' writing, or the story itself, but it made me sad because in the first two books she was my absolute favorite (tied with...like, everyone ) but in this one I just didn't feel invested in her. 3) I thought Azryx was the best world-creation I've seen from Chris since The Braided Path. His worlds still felt both magical and realistic, and I was drawn in, but until this I hadn't felt that sense of awe that his landscapes can inspire in me. I was effortlessly drawn in and amazed by this ancient world, and I simply ached to be there myself. So wonderful! So yeah, those were my big, overall impressions. Be happy to discuss any little details with ya'll!!
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Post by Meesterman on Aug 1, 2012 16:10:11 GMT -5
Jez is my favourite caracter I've ever read about. I was rather sad how Chris kinda stopped talking about her in the Iron jakal but I understand because he wanted it to revolve more around Silo. But Jez. It's creepy how much I'm like her. You're probably thinking this is just super-fan crap but I realised more and more when read the KJ series. I always keep my hair in a ponytail, and as you learn in The black lung captain she always had trouble making friends. etc even before...you know. And she had a few little friendships that didn't last...well that's me. My dads a welder/construction which is similar to her dad... it's so creepy everything.Name almost anything and it's me.
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Post by meesterman on Aug 9, 2012 1:25:13 GMT -5
Hey I just finished reading the KJ series again and I noticed a (maybe) mistake. In Retribution Falls, Jez talks about her guardian Riss. However in The Iron Jakal, it refers to him as Rinn. So is it just a mistake or are they twwo different people?
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Post by Niceone on Jan 19, 2020 6:00:15 GMT -5
Amazon in best provider of books
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Post by cindypolson on Jan 19, 2020 8:36:37 GMT -5
Yes right on amazon we can get good collection of book I'm also book reader. But I'm only reader I hate writing, I remember in my school time I got Scholarship Essay Writing Service from studyclerk.com/scholarship-essay-writing-service and with the help of that I did my school assignment. Even now I prefer reading instead of writing something.
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