A review by negative40
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

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.