The Aeronaut's Windlass

Eyyy, this year just started out in a pretty impressive way. Took me long enough to pick this one up and also to do the actual reading, but I needed to enjoy this thing in the proper mood, as long as possible, because who knows when the next one comes. Jim Butcher pretty much just did it again. You can call him all kinds of trash if you are inclined to do so, but to me he is the one who can always make me have a great time. Just something about his characters and action and pure fun is basically the embodiment of everything that makes me happy. I'm not a complicated creature. This pleases me. In this steampunk adventure madness humanity is living in spires, because something managed to screw the surface of the planet enough that you should just avoid it. So... spires. When Spire Albion is being attacked by Spire Aurora somehow a bunch of teenagers and a bunch of disgraced aeronauts need to work together to uncover things and basically save their country (spire). Things much bigger than they have expected are happening. Fighting, monsters, superpowers, warrior cats, all the good stuff. I love the whole steampunk thing. I don't know shit about it, but it's just such a cool thing, with very pleasing aesthetics and something really exciting about it. I am honestly open to anything similar. Not sure how good it worked on that level, but I feel the specific type of technology and “magic” used in the story was well-integrated and didn't feel stupid, so I am pleased. I'm sure some steampunk purists (there are people like that in EVERYTHING) will say it's fake and poser and OMG, fuck off, but I liked it. At the beginning we had an aerial battle scene with technical language that confused me greatly, but then the action just happened and it was so vivid that I forgot about all my worries and went with the flow. It stayed that way. The length did not bother me one bit, because the action was so good. I was never bored, but it never felt convoluted to me. I feel it was good like that. Sometimes with long things like this I feel like an editor on crack should have gone nuts on the thing, but here I pretty much just want 5 more books of the same length with the same amount of material right now. What I also love is the promise of big, big things coming. With [b:The Bone Season 17199504 The Bone Season (The Bone Season, #1) Samantha Shannon https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421412990s/17199504.jpg 19248070] I could not imagine what the series was supposed to contain for like 6 more books, but with this I just feel like a completely new universe is just opening up slowly, with the promise of all kinds of insane things. (Butcher really did it with his Dresden Files series and I trust him more than most people I know in real life. Don't disappoint me, Mr. Butcher, I love you.) Other than the language, I worried about the teenage protagonists. I don't like teenagers. I even hated being one myself. The bane of my existence is the teen girl protagonist being a little Mary Sue of wold saving special-ness, schooling adults at every step. Here they were actually likeable. They had flaws, they were insecure and bratty and awkward and kind of... charmingly lifelike. THIS is what I love. Sure, there is a bit instalove with the kids, but they are not hateful little shits and at this point I just give my blessings, because the girl is not some “super average wonderful princess of world saving perfection” and the boy is not “myserious angst guy with a dick attitude”. I also appreciate adults being there, being competent and meshing with the kids to form a good group. I hate when adults need to be put out of the way, because the author is too lazy to create relationships between people of different ages. It's not good writing, I tell you. No, teen cool friendships and luuuuuvs aren't the only human relationships. Here the adults were brilliant as well. Captain Grimm still had his secrets, but he is not too much on a hopeless angst machine. The “king” of the spire is a weirdo, just like the magic old man they have around. I loved the hilarious crew (I always do, ragtag teams are my thing). Jim Butcher just does what I need him to do. I haven't read his Codex Alera yet and this one made me want to pick it up immediately. He managed to meet my expectations beautifully and I'm definitely going to recommend this to my friends. The next book can't come fast enough, so I really hope he is working his little hands to the bone, because there is so much work ahead of him. Good night after another great Jim Butcher book, Captain Obvious!