Free Fall (Retrievers, Book 5) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Picking up shortly after the devastating battle between humans and fey atop the Brooklyn Bridge in 2007's Burning Bridges, Gilman's compelling fifth foray into the fantastic netherworld of modern-day Manhattan takes an even darker turn. Most of the surviving members of the Cosa Nostradamus, an informal collective of demon Fatae and magic-using human Talents, have retreated into hiding, while the Silence, a violently anti-fey covert organization, has regrouped under the leadership of a dangerous fanatic. When Wren Valere, a professional thief and Talent, takes on a simple smash-and-grab job that turns out to be a setup, she swears to stop the Silence and their fey-hunting vigilantes once and for all. With streamlined prose, Gilman deftly weaves intricate plot threads and complex relationships into an almost painful buildup of violent suspense. The result is an intelligent and utterly gripping fantasy thriller, by far the best of the Retrievers series to date. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

The Cosa Nostradamus is in disarray; the Truce holding violence in check has been broken. Magical Manhattan is at war, and Wren Valere is left without her partner/lover Sergei, whose past loyalties keep him from her side just when she needs him the most.

Hoping to keep herself occupied, Wren takes a job— but what should have been an ordinary Retrieval instead forces her to realize that it is time to do more. It is time for the Cosa to take the battle to the enemy.

But she'll do it her way. The Retrievers' way. Sneaky, smart—and with maximum damage possible. What was lost will be found, what was stolen will be Retrieved. And this war will be ended, once and for all.

Wren Valere always finishes the job. Always.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Luna; Original edition (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373802676
• ISBN-13: 978-0373802678
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #592,762 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 5 in The Retrievers Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Magical Manhatten's still under siege & Wren's Headed for a Fall as she plans to retrieve what the Silence has stolen., May 7, 2008

By	melindeeloo (sb,ca) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Free Fall continues three and half months after the battle in Burning Bridges, and in the aftermath most of the non-human magical 'Fatae' have left the city and the 'Cosa', the tenative coalition of all magical beings, is holding its breath waiting for the bigoted power organization, 'The Silence', to strike again -- the Silence won't be satisfied until all the magical beings including the Fatae and the human magic-using 'Talents' have been eliminated.

Wren begins the book trying for some normalacy in her post-Sergei world, she still has to pay the bills so she's on a Retrieval, but what should be an easy in-and-grab turns out to be a deadly trap. Wren manages to survive but the price of her survival is one that she doesn't truly understand and the backlash of her actions 'break' her in a subtle way. When minions of the Silence begin openly targeting the Talented, Wren convinces the Cosa to go on the offensive but using guerilla and sniper tactics instead of striking openly. But in order to make their effort effective Wren must search out the master of information, her ex-partner/ex-lover Sergei, who she believes betrayed her trust at the end of the last book. Sergei having accepted the undeserved verdict is very pragmatic, even though he misses Wren, as long as Wren is safe he can handle not being with her, but in order to make sure that she stays safe he continues to do the job the Silence trained him for -- gathering information -- so Sergei is ready with what Wren needs when she comes seeking his help.

I enjoyed Free Fall much more than the previous book, which ended on a sad note with the world falling apart and a high price paid by all who survived. But the Free Fall is still mired in wars and politics, where the first three books in the series were focused more on Wren's adventures. Here things are still a mess but I enjoyed the build-up, and all the pieces that fell into play along the way to Wren's 'big Retrieval' -- her contribution to the battle. I was happy to see P.B and Sergei play a big part in the narrative since I love both of these characters. I also liked that these two had finally resolved their adversarial relationship, even as far as coming to respect each other, both united in their love for Wren. Though Wren was definitely the still the star, I liked the way we got a bigger picture view of what was going on in the story with threads following P.B. and Sergei. Also the little peeks into what was happening within the walls of the Silence through Andre's eyes added to the tension too. This did mean that there was a fair amount of setup before the action kicked in, but when it did the book raced to a climatic finish with some surprises along the way. But this time the story ended on more hopeful note and luckily for us Wren's adventures are not over - the series will continue with "Blood from a Stone".


Staying Dead (Retrievers, Book 1)
Curse The Dark (Retrievers, Book 2)
Bring It On (Retrievers, Book 3)
Burning Bridges (Retrievers, Book 4)

There are also two very very very short Wren and Sergei prequels (unless you like the other authors in these anthologies look for them at the library)
Murder by Magic: Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural 'Overrush'
Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy "Palimpsest" (this also has a terrific little short for Simon Green Nightside fans)

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better, April 30, 2008

By	K. Shaw "kshaw75" (MA) - See all my reviews

I stumbled across the Retriever series accidentally in the bookstore, and have been in love with it since...that is until this book. The writing is still great, but the story line just seemed to flop in this one. I didn't put the book down, but I was awfully tempted. The back and forth between Wren and her partner made me insane - whose side are they on, are they working together, against one another, blah blah blah. This might be the fifth book in the series, but let's hope that this is the author's version of a sophmore slump.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For me, this is a good series closer, May 13, 2008

By	R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

After the disastrous fight between The Silence (organization to protect humans from mages) and the Cosa Nostradamus (mages' representative) in "Burning Bridges," you know there's going to be war. Wren and Sergei have broken up because Sergei is addicted to the 'current' that's part of Wren's magical power and Wren knows being intimate will eventually kill him.

Most of the fatae have moved out of New York City, but P. B. has opted to remain with Wren in her tiny apartment. Wren and Bonnie, her downstairs neighbor vow to protect the demon (fatae) as best they can.

Wren's taking work on her own without Sergei to guide her. Her first assignment nearly gets her killed and convinces her that the Cosa needs to go to war against the Silence, otherwise the Talents will be wiped out.

"Free Fall" is a fast-paced, strongly written story of war. It's also a relationship struggle between Wren and Sergei, who truly do love each other.

I was in a quandary as to whether I'd read further after "Burning Bridges" but I'm glad I did. I don't know if Ms. Gilman will be writing more in this series or not, but I don't plan on reading more. For me, the end of "Free Fall" struck a nice coda to the five book series.