Book Review: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Cinder Spires
Publisher: Roc (9/29/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Jim Butcher. I am a big fan. I will read any new Dresden Files book as soon as it comes out, and considering it’s one of only a few long-running urban fantasy series I’m actually all caught up with, I’d say I’m pretty invested and the character and stories. When I first heard about The Aeronaut’s Windlass in his new steampunkish series though, I was both excited and a little hesitant. I feel Butcher is at his best when he’s writing modern characters in modern settings, where his clever humor and penchant for hilarious pop culture references can fully come into play—which is precisely what makes his urban fantasy so delightful and fun to read. That’s probably why I didn’t do so well with his epic fantasy series Codex Alera; even though I love the genre, I missed the easy wisecracks and the more intimate first-person narrative that I’m more familiar with when it comes to what I know of the author’s style.
Still, though. Jim Butcher and steampunk? My wariness notwithstanding, I also knew I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I could see him pulling this off with style.
And hell yeah he does. The Aeronaut’s Windlass might not have been everything I expected, but it was entertaining, action-packed and imaginative. Butcher really pulled out all the stops with this one, blowing me away with his wildly creative world building. This is not your traditional steampunk, with clockwork and corsets. In this world, nations are built upon towering spires, and their armies war against each other using flying warships, battle gauntlets, and other weaponry powered by energy crystals. The book follows a quite a few characters, including Captain Grimm, the airship captain with a tarnished military record he didn’t deserve; Gwen Lancaster, the young noblewoman who means well even though she can be a bit abrasive and overbearing; Benedict, Gwen’s cousin, who is a handsome and charming super-soldier; Bridget, who hails from an impoverished noble house; and Rowl, Bridget’s snobby sentient talking cat. Yes, I said talking cat!
The book begins with Grimm’s airship, the A.M.S. Predator, taking severe damage after engaging with an enemy battlecruiser. Lacking the funds for repair, Grimm has no choice but to accept a mission from the Spirearch of Albion in exchange for the expensive replacement parts required to get the Predator in shipshape again. He reluctantly agrees to join up with a group of young noble guards-in-training and couple of oddball etherealists on an adventurous journey across the skies. Together, this band of unlikely heroes are tasked to uncover a traitorous plot for the Spirearch, but what they end up finding is a threat even more ancient and powerful than any of them can ever imagine.
There’s no question about it; The Aeronaut’s Windlass was a lot of fun, with a plot fully-loaded with interesting and dynamic relationships, aerial combat action, conspiracies and intrigue. On the other hand, I also felt that the pacing dragged a little from the sheer weight of an overly complex storyline and too many character perspectives. Main and supporting characters would be “benched” for long periods of time while the focus was on something else, and I get the feeling Butcher probably struggled to find the right balance between all his POVs. He is definitely much better when he is writing in the first-person, where all the attention is on a single character and story events are more focused and immediate.
The prose also feels slightly different and more formal than what I’m used to from him, which is not surprising given the high fantasy setting replete with aristocratic houses and nobility. However, this is a good thing. Beneath the surface, the tone and humor is still 100% Jim Butcher. Any doubt of that would be removed as soon as you meet Rowl and his feline brethren. Plus, it would be criminal of me to write this review without mentioning the cats, because they were by far one of the most delightful and memorable surprises of this novel. Might Butcher have been a cat in his past life? Because he bloody nailed the attitude.
The fact he is able to adapt his style to make the characters and this new world so convincing is all the proof you need of Butcher’s brilliance and versatility. The Aeronaut’s Windlass was a great read even if it wasn’t perfect—but then, few series openers often are. This book certainly made an impression on me with its dazzling world building and fantastic characters though, and I am most definitely on board for the sequel.
The BiblioSanctum 
I’ve been looking forward to this book!The world sounds excellent! Sounds like he tried to do too much in this first one. I’m glad you still liked it though. Butcher is good at cats. He must be a cat person. I’ve been meaning to read his Code Alexria forever!
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He really is good at cats! Mister from Dresden Files is one of my favorite fictional pet companions ever! Then there’s Mouse, proving Butcher is really good at dogs as well 🙂
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This book was such fun after I finally got to read uninterrupted!! Can’t wait for the next one and I’m glad you enjoyed it as well.
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Yeah, I’m totally looking forward to the sequel!
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I wasn’t sure I would like this but I ended really enjoying this book! Can’t wait for more from this series!
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I was skeptical of it too, but like you I ended up enjoying it a lot! The sequel should be even better 🙂
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I really really want to read this one. I’ve been eyeing all his books at my library, so I may grab this one first, and then go back to his other series. Great review!
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I find it very different from his other series, but it was a good different – had a lot of fun discovering another new world by Butcher 🙂
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I think I’ll wait and see how this develops as I’m already drowning in books. I think some first books do suffer from being overly full or just generally having so much to achieve with the set up. It will be interesting to see how this develops. I do like the idea of it though.
Lynn 😀
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Good idea, because this is a pretty long one too, and quite a hefty time investment – safer to start when you know whether the series is worth starting and if it’s what you’re looking for 🙂
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Haaa! Thanks for mentioning the cats^^ That was one of my big reasons for wanting to check out this series – well, that and the fact that I MUST read Jim Butcher already!! This sounds like a really promising debut! You’re right, first novels are rarely perfect but the fact that you enjoyed this so much despite Butcher writing a bit out of his usual genre here makes me want to read this all the more 😀 Adding it to my wishlist right…now.
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Yes, the cats! How could I not mention the cats! They were one of the best things about this book! 😀
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I love Jim Butcher. I have only recently discovered the Dresden Files and only read the first book but am definitely going to finish the others. I actually went and looked this one up at my library because of your review. It sounds awesome.
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It really is, though quite different than his Dresden Files. I think I still prefer his urban fantasy, but I am liking Cinder Spires more than his Codex Alera and I think this is a good for whenever I need a quick break from his UF.
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I don’t know. This is a long book to invest in so I guess I need more convincing when I hear parts of it drag. Especially since Dresden is a DNF for me.
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Yeah it’s long, which is the only downside when you don’t know if you will like it to invest the time, especially when you’ve had a DNF with the author. You might want to give it a try though, because it’s really different from Dresden!
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The library has it, yay
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Hoorway, the library to the rescue!
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I’ve never read anything by Butcher before, but this sounds interesting. I love the sound of Rowl. Now I need to decide if I want to give his Dresden Files series a shot or this one a try first. 😀
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Tough decision, as they both have their pros! I guess it would depend on what genre/writing style you prefer. If you enjoy UF, Dresden is amazing, though it took a few books for the series to really get going. The Cinder Spires will appeal more to readers of epic fantasy, more characters, intrigue and fantasy action 🙂
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Hmmm, that’s tough. I think I like Urban Fantasy a little more. So might have to start with Dresden then. 🙂
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Yes, loved the cats! I agree, the writing style was weirdly overly formal for me, and I’m so curious to try his Dresden Files series to compare. But I did enjoy this, and I will most likely continue with the series.
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It’s very very different. I was actually taken aback at how formal the writing was, though it fits perfectly. Plus his humor was still able to come through even if wasn’t able to crack silly pop culture jokes 🙂
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This does sound fun, but I haven’t been that big a fan of Butcher’s work before, so I’m not suuuure.
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Yeah, it’s hard to say, especially with different genres. I love Butcher’s writing for Dresden Files but I couldn’t get into his Codex Alera at all. This one I enjoyed a lot though.
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Ooh a talking cat, don’t we all love those? 😛 Also, the world-buildling sounds wonderful ~ I feel like I should read this one just because I’ve never read a world that sounds like that. Also, I don’t know what it is with Jim Butcher but I’ve never been able to get into his Dresden Files books. It’s not that I don’t like them…I think I’m just overwhelmed by the sheer number of books I’d have to catch up on, ha.
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I want to read this, but it just seems so…”manly” you know? Not a whole lot of awesome ladies in this one from what I’ve heard – one POV woman is not enough, imo. Personally I quite enjoyed the first Codex Alera book (I’m in the minority, I know!) largely because of all the interesting female characters. I think I’ll probably try to finish that series before jumping on to this one, but I’m happy to hear you think the series has potential! 🙂
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You should give it a shot, I think you’d be surprised 🙂 In fact, I think the women had more page time in this book, with both Gwen and Bridget being the powerhouses stealing the show (and they are both AWESOME ladies). There’s a third female POV in the form of Folly, one of the etherealists I mentioned in the review. In fact, the only major male POVs I can think of are Grimm and the cat! 😀
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This is definitely one of my must-read books of 2016! It has such a wonderful premise, and its characters sound so intriguing… not to mention it’s a Jim Butcher book!… that I honestly cannot wait to read it. I know it wasn’t everything you would wanted it to be but I’m hoping I still love it!
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I’ve been curious. I want a huge fan of Dresden Files but this looked like it might be interesting.
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