876: The Aeronaut’s Windlass was a fun steampunk military adventure
In this episode, I took a while to get pulled into this story…
Friends, friends, friends.
Welcome back to Teatime Reading where there are books in progress.
For the longest time, I have heard about Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series. Even though I’ve meant to start that series for a while now, I had checked out another, more recent, book of his in a fantastical steampunk world: The Aeronaut’s Windlass.
Some stories rely entirely on pacing, others rely on characters, and others rely on story. For The Aeronaut’s Windlass, I must confess that the characters overcame a very plodding pace. It was strange, because it wasn’t a slow pace exactly.
The more I think about it, the more I think it was because I was also reading other books like last week’s review: The Three-Body Problem which made it more challenging to bring my attention over to this world of airships, cold wars, and aeronauts.
Speaking of The Three-Body Problem, I may have to discuss the Netflix show soon, because I had a lot of thoughts on the adaptation.
Anyways, back to today’s book. Part of the longer than usual read time for this book was my initial confusion. There was a lot of initial bouncing around between the main characters. If I remember correctly, we went from Gwendolyn to Captain Grimm (who the synopsis made look was the main protagonist) to Bridget and Rowl the cat. It took a little longer than usual for me to connect with the characters that I would care about most.
I guess the best way to describe The Aeronaut’s Windlass is as a slow burn. It took a while, but as I got to understand what made these characters tick, I started to care about the world they inhabited. The action was excellent, but Gwen, Benedict, Bridget, Folly were really good characters that made me excited to read the sequel.
The cats were absolute standouts, and Rowl was hilarious, noble, and loyal, while being incredibly well-written.
The older characters were fine, but Captain Grimm had a slightly more one-note role, at least in this first book. I’d seen this story before. Grizzled military leader falsely accused of some crime gets pushed to the outer realms of some war, before being secretly tasked with a mission.
Don’t ask me to name the specific books, but I remember these types of characters. There were some cliches here, but the villains terrifying and the protagonists were interesting and relatable at various points. The technology and the “magic” both made the world of the spires compelling, and the fact that I am a little confused at the end of the book makes me more than a little curious for the sequel, which I intend to start shortly.
Since I haven’t read the Dresden Files or his other series the Codex Alera, I cannot compare them, however this was a book that rewarded my patience and made me more likely to read his other stories.
Until next time, keep your bookmarks close.
Peace, Love, Pages.
Note: As Always, Affiliate Links are here for your convenience at no cost to you. All reading was at my own expense.