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mercutio's review against another edition
5.0
Such a fun romp through this steampunky world of the spires. Jim's vision of cat mentality rings so true, he brought them to life very well.
I listened to this one as an audiobook, and Euon Morton is a fantastic narrator. He did a great job of keeping all the different voices distinct. Can't wait to hear more from him
I listened to this one as an audiobook, and Euon Morton is a fantastic narrator. He did a great job of keeping all the different voices distinct. Can't wait to hear more from him
glowfish36's review against another edition
4.0
The beginning was quite slow. In fact, and this might be what caused the slow start, I thought the author did a rather poor job of introducing all of the characters. Needless to say, I did quite a bit of skimming for the first few chapters and what seemed like endless, unexplained ship fights.
What actually makes this novel stand out (and what kept me reading) is Jim Butcher's extraordinarily witty character creations, most notably Folly, Ferus (her master), and Rowl the cat. Folly and Ferus are insane geniuses and Rowl is a grumpy, judgmental, prejudiced cat.
The novel switches perspectives regularly (every chapter?) and while I skimmed through a majority of the other chapters, I always slowed down for Folly, Ferus, and Rowl's POVs. Those three characters are remarkably interesting, witty, and complex. Jim Butcher adapts his descriptions and the POV heavily based on the character. For example, in Rowl's chapters, distances are measured in cat bounds. The mast of a boat is called a treeship (*shiptree?). When greeting another cat, it is customary to ignore them for as long as possible. Everything from the objects surrounding Rowl to the way he interacts with other living beings has been carefully planned and wittily written by the author. The writing style actually reminded me a lot of the Thursday Next series written by Jasper Fforde.
What else? Hm. The other characters were less interesting/funny. The world was pretty cool, but it felt like there was a lot being developed and not enough time (*the 700 pages felt short?). Also, I thought the amount of interesting world developments along the way took away from the main character's quest. Although, to be honest, I wasn't really following that anyway since I was more busy giggling over Folly, Ferus, and Rowl's adventures.
So, there you have it: lovely world, plot was hard to follow (*didn't interest me?). I stuck through it thanks to two insane fools and one extremely grumpy cat.
What actually makes this novel stand out (and what kept me reading) is Jim Butcher's extraordinarily witty character creations, most notably Folly, Ferus (her master), and Rowl the cat. Folly and Ferus are insane geniuses and Rowl is a grumpy, judgmental, prejudiced cat.
The novel switches perspectives regularly (every chapter?) and while I skimmed through a majority of the other chapters, I always slowed down for Folly, Ferus, and Rowl's POVs. Those three characters are remarkably interesting, witty, and complex. Jim Butcher adapts his descriptions and the POV heavily based on the character. For example, in Rowl's chapters, distances are measured in cat bounds. The mast of a boat is called a treeship (*shiptree?). When greeting another cat, it is customary to ignore them for as long as possible. Everything from the objects surrounding Rowl to the way he interacts with other living beings has been carefully planned and wittily written by the author. The writing style actually reminded me a lot of the Thursday Next series written by Jasper Fforde.
What else? Hm. The other characters were less interesting/funny. The world was pretty cool, but it felt like there was a lot being developed and not enough time (*the 700 pages felt short?). Also, I thought the amount of interesting world developments along the way took away from the main character's quest. Although, to be honest, I wasn't really following that anyway since I was more busy giggling over Folly, Ferus, and Rowl's adventures.
So, there you have it: lovely world, plot was hard to follow (*didn't interest me?). I stuck through it thanks to two insane fools and one extremely grumpy cat.
negative40's review against another edition
4.0
The new steampunk series from Jim Butcher is a success. I'm a fan of both the author and the genre, and while I wouldn't call this book revolutionary in either respect it's still some swashbuckling fun. I especially liked the naval battles in the air and there are some great villains running around. It was a rompy, adventure-filled read.
I was thrown off by the talking cats thing at the beginning. I think it worked out okay by the end, but I can't say that I really loved it. Also, there is very little world building beyond some casual allusions. While the characters were all fine, I don't think any of them stood out as particularly intriguing.
Ultimately, it was a fun start to the series, even if it wasn't much more than an extended prologue. I do think that in the non-Dresden category I enjoyed this better than the start to Coded Alera. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next books in this exciting new series.
I was thrown off by the talking cats thing at the beginning. I think it worked out okay by the end, but I can't say that I really loved it. Also, there is very little world building beyond some casual allusions. While the characters were all fine, I don't think any of them stood out as particularly intriguing.
Ultimately, it was a fun start to the series, even if it wasn't much more than an extended prologue. I do think that in the non-Dresden category I enjoyed this better than the start to Coded Alera. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next books in this exciting new series.
mallomar91's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sir_dagonet's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
thebookishlifeofnicole's review against another edition
4.5
This was such an unexpectedly delightful read! Likeable characters, a touch of humour and whimsy and a fast-paced plot that had me up late reading and immediately starting book 2!
tmsiu's review against another edition
4.0
Really liked this one, I'm looking forward for the next book in the series!
anteus7's review against another edition
4.0
I decided to re-read this one because #2 finally came out. It was just as much fun as I remember. I love the world Butcher created. It's hard to piece together because we only see glimpses here and there of what the whole shape is. The map in the second book gave me a little more to go on, but starts off just as murky and misty as this one stayed from start to finish.
The characters are good--Butcher does a good job of humanizing his bad guys (well, some of them--the real monsters tend to stay real monsters) and giving everyone believable motivations. Even the cat was believably cat.
The characters are good--Butcher does a good job of humanizing his bad guys (well, some of them--the real monsters tend to stay real monsters) and giving everyone believable motivations. Even the cat was believably cat.