Book Review: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Cinder Spires
Publisher: Ace (November 7, 2023)
Length: 656 pages
Author Information: Website
Eight years after the release of The Aeronaut’s Windlass, the sequel The Olympian Affair is finally here. Not going to lie; I’d almost lost hope that this book would ever be released, but of course now that I have read it, I am as content as can be. While I was worried that, after so long, my memory of the first book might have faded, I’m happy to report that getting back into the world of The Cinder Spires was easier than expected. In fact, the real challenge I faced was a slow first half.
But first, we catch up with protagonist Captain Francis Grimm as the approaching war threatens everything he cares about. His home of Spire Albion and their rival Spire Aurora have been at odds for a long time, and soon the might of their respective airship armadas, as well as the skills of the aeronauts who lead and crew them, will be tested.
However, things do not feel as dire initially as the story opens on a strange, curious note. Grimm and his crew aboard the Predator receive a call to check up on a colony, but they arrive to find it gone, completely destroyed by a mysterious force. In the meantime, it appears that a population of sentient talking cats had moved in. One of their representatives proceeds to make a bargain with the humans to reveal what happened to the colony in exchange for new territory for its clan. Here, the plot splits into two fronts, one which sees Spirearch guards Bridget Tagwynn and the warriorborn Benedict of House Lancaster embark on a mission of cat diplomacy, while Grimm continues towards Spire Olympia to attend an important trade summit where representatives from Spire Aurora will also be in attendance.
Unfortunately, one of these delegates is Rafe Valesco. An arrogant but immensely skilled duelist, he prides himself on never having lost a fight. And now he has it in for Grimm and his friend Commodore Alex Bayard. Despite their attempts to stay out of the skilled swordsman’s way, a public confrontation ultimately escalates to the point where duels to the death will become necessary to settle the matter.
Up until this point, it pains me to admit the book was quite challenging to get through—almost a struggle in places. Call me cranky, but maybe I’m just not a fan of cats-or-anything-cutesy as a central plot element, because the entire subplot involving Bridget, Benedict and Rowl felt like a timewaster, a self-indulgent treat for Jim Butcher whose love of cats is obvious. Of course, that’s not to say their chapters didn’t have their moments, because there was plenty of action and the cats were fantastic and full of sass. Still, I should think even the most fervent of cat lovers would agree, dedicating so many pages to push the overall story forward so little might be a bit much.
No, the real action starts when the dueling begins. I breathed a sigh of relief as the dam broke, giving way to the excitement of spire politics and the ruthless intrigue and maneuvering that it involves. While the worldbuilding places The Cinder Spires firmly in the realm of sci-fi steampunk, the story’s vibe is pure swashbuckling fantasy. I was delighted to find that the second half of The Olympian Affair managed to capture that same sense of wonder and adventure that made The Aeronaut’s Windlass such an exhilarating read. From soaring airships and sky-dwelling leviathans to high stakes duels atop floating platforms miles above the surface–it simply doesn’t get any better than this.
In short, despite a few early speed bumps where Butcher seemed overly focused on the side plot about the cats, the latter half of the book made it all worthwhile. In fact, I was quite impressed with the recovery. I went from practically forcing myself to keep pushing through the first half to not being able to read fast enough in the second. Leading up to the novel’s climax, the energy was on fire and in full swing, steering the narrative toward another brilliant conclusion.
I think it’s safe to say, if you enjoyed The Aeronaut’s Windlass, you’re likely to enjoy The Olympian Affair as well. Personally, I struggled with the first half, but if the talking cats end up being your favorite part, you may very well disagree. Regardless, here’s hoping that we don’t have to wait quite as long for the next book.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Aeronaut’s Windlass (Book 1)
The BiblioSanctum 
Love this review. I did love the cats in the first book but agree that their involvement does need to push the plot forwards. I’m really looking forward to reading it whenever my library gets their copies in.
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I did remember the cats, but I didn’t think they were so prominent! In this one, they definitely were!
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I think Jim has reasons for focusing on the cats…
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Sounds a little bit self indulgent but you got your satisfying ending. An 8 year wait though! No wonder you’d almost given up.
Lynn 😀
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Let’s hope the next one won’t take so long!
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Great review. I had zero problems with the cats in the first book, so we’ll have to see if he over does them for me in this one.
But 650’ish pages? That’s just a lot
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I had no problem with the cats in the first book either. I almost forgot about them. But they were quite insistent in their presence with this one
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After such a long wait, it’s good to learn that the second book did not disappoint you! 🙂
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It was a close one, but the second half pulled through!
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Halfway through now! That first half was a slog indeed, but things are picking up a bit. I um ended up just skipping some of the cat sections. But now my mind is ready to be blown:) Love the review!
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I’m so glad it worked out okay! I know it didn’t completely win you over, but it could be worse!
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It’s funny, but the only thing I remember from the first book is the cats, lol. Maybe that means I’ll like the first half as much as the second?
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If you loved the cats in the first one, I think you’ll be quite happy then 😀
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Oh good, I was wondering how this was! I’ll probably get to it next year, I’m going to have to reread The Aeronaut’s Windlass as I basically remember nothing from that book.
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I think you’ll be fine not rereading the first book, based on how this one was structured. But I understand if you need to get your feet wet back into the world!
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I remember a cat…and that is it
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Haha! 😀
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I just noticed the first book is currently on sale in audiobook format over at Libro.fm so I’m considering grabbing that and giving it a try. Looks like you may have enjoyed this one more than that. It’s always good to see a series that gets better as it goes on.
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The audio will work quite nicely, I think, especially when it comes to getting past teh slower more sloggier parts!
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I didn’t find the cats excessive at all. Part of it was that I read Warriorborn (the novella that takes place on the Spire that Benedict lead a group of Warriorborn to obtain key information. The cats were the sole survivors of the attack, and were not likely to stay alive without his help. All of this gives needed context.
Personally, I appreciated that the key information was made available just too late to save the day. Bridget and Benedict expended every effort to do what was needed to get the information; but their efforts took hours too long. I have never seen this in a book before, but it happens in real life.
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From your description of that novella, I think it definitely would have helped to read it before The Olympian Affair. Assuming few people would have read it though (I didn’t even know it existed!) the benefit of that context and knowledge wouldn’t have been available to most readers, unfortunately. I would have liked to check out that interim story!
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