When I read the opening to The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher, I was intrigued. I kept reading, and I found it to be a perfectly serviceable swashbuckling adventure story. Then I met Rowl, and I was hooked. So, of course, I was going to read The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher, which is the second book in the Cinder Spires series. This book continues with the wonderful world and story from the first book, and it gives readers plenty more Rowl.
First Book Spoiler Warning: This is the second book in the Cinder Spire series. As such, spoilers for the first book may be present in the review. If you haven’t read the first book, you should. Then come read this review.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher is a wonderful second book in the Cinder Spires series. It has epic sword fights, intrigue, and cats. It’s full of politics, airships, and cats. Did I mention cats? Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
The fate of the Cinder Spires may be decided by crossed swords in the next exhilarating fantasy adventure from the author of the Dresden Files, in this New York Times bestselling series of noble families, swordplay, and airships.
For centuries the Cinder Spires have safeguarded humanity, rising far above the deadly surface world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses rule, developing scientific marvels and building fleets of airships for defense and trade.
Now, the Spires hover on the brink of open war.
Everyone knows it’s coming. The guns of the great airship fleets that control the skies between the last bastions of humanity will soon speak in anger, and Spire Albion stands alone against the overwhelming might of Spire Aurora’s Armada and its new secret weapon–one capable of destroying the populations of entire Spires.
A trading summit at Spire Olympia provides an opportunity for the Spirearch, Lord Albion, to secure alliances that will shape the outcomes of the war, and to that end he dispatches privateer Captain Francis Madison Grimm and the crew of the AMS Predator to bolster the Spirearch’s diplomatic agents.
It will take daring, skill, and no small amount of showmanship to convince the world to stand with Spire Albion–assuming that it is not already too late.
Review: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher
Madison Grimm, captain of the AMS Predator, waits aboard his ship above a colony spire. A group of warriorborn have been sent to gather information. The crew is getting antsy and wants to leave. When only one of the warriorborn team returns, Grimm and the Predator must evade a warship from Spire Aurora to return to Spire Albion with vital information. At the same time, outright war with Spire Aurora looms on the horizon, and Spire Atlantea looks to be siding with Spire Aurora. Grimm and Albion are under threat. Grimm returns with intelligence and with a cat clan holding information on Spire Aurora’s secret weapon. Bridget Tagwynn of the Spirearch’s Guard, better known as Rowl’s human, is tasked with securing a place within this spire for the newest cat clan. To do this, she travels to the surface and the dangers that exist there. Abigail Meredith Heloise Hinton, Duchess of Hinton, has been tasked with going to a trading summit at Spire Olympia to secure allies and protect Spire Albion’s interests. She has a more personal mission as well; she wants to protect her love, Alexander Bayard, Spire Albion’s best duelist. Rumors abound that Spire Aurora’s best and potentially the world’s best duelist will be present at the trading summit, looking for a fight, and looking to humiliate Spire Albion. Circumstances are shaping up and not in Spire Albion’s favor.
The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher is a third person maritime fantasy, though with airships instead. It’s the second in a series that very much echoes the novels of Patrick O’Brian. The novel has a slow build up until about the halfway point, and then things pick up. There are four main viewpoint characters, and each is distinct and wonderful in their own way. The various storylines didn’t hold my interest equally, but the overall plot was entertaining. There’s dueling and political intrigue. There’s cats, and there’s more world-building to flesh out an already interesting setting. This book secures the Cinder Spires as a must read series for me.
Not the Dresden Files
I am a huge fan of the Dresden Files. Each book in that series since number six has been an instant purchase on release day for me. I’ve read all the books, sought out the short stories, and listened to all the audiobooks. So, I’m a fan. The Cinder Spires is not the Dresden Files, and that’s a great thing. The Aeronaut’s Windlass and The Olympian Affair are great books in their own right. They’re different; they’re wonderful. If you’re coming to this series looking for another Dresden Files, I think you’ll be disappointed, and you’ll miss something that’s wonderful all its own.
Pacing
The Cinder Spires pacing is slower than Butcher’s other books. At the same time, the pacing fits this style of story. This book approximates a story that could be in the Aubrey–Maturin series; though, The Olympian Affair’s pacing aligns with fantasy type action. The details, the dialogue, and the writing itself is more inline with swashbuckling stories. There is a lot of setup at the beginning of the story that pays off as the action builds. The political intrigue, character work, and setting drag the beginning a bit, and the formalized nature of their society makes it feel slower than it really is. Butcher really knows how to write uptight characters in this book. But I read chapter after chapter, thinking just one more. Just one more.
Neurodiversity
Part of being a magic user in this series is that the brain is altered in ways that result in characters that aren’t neurotypical. Folly is my favorite of the etherealists, and she could be considered on the autistic spectrum. She is vital to the story in some places, and the other characters accept that she’s different . Other etherealists are neurodivergent in unique ways. Not all are like Folly, and I enjoyed this aspect of the world. Butcher writes neurodivergent characters as simply characters, and they fit into his world as humans, not as spectacle.
I could be wrong, of course, but I wonder if the magic use makes the character neurodivergent. Or are neurodivergent characters simply better able to use the magic?
As much as I like Folly, I dislike that the characters refer to her communication style as quirks. Quirky is a word that just doesn’t sit right when I read it. She’s not quirky, just different. I’m not the best judge for these things; so, once again, I could be wrong.
Cats! Cat Politics! But Mainly Cats!
All the cat portions of this series are my favorite. I love that the cats are so integral to the plots and the world itself. Rowl is a great character, and Butcher writes the cat’s behaviors accurately. The mixing of human and cat politics is wonderful. It feels natural, and though Butcher earns laughs out of it, their political interactions are not solely comedic. Their contributions are just as vital to the story as the other characters. And they do feel like characters, not animal props. They’re not part of the scenery; they’re part of the story. I love it.
Conclusion
Jim Butcher’s The Olympian Affair is a wonderful second book in the Cinder Spires series. It showcases Butcher’s talent as an author while stepping up the tension in the war among the Spires. The Olympian Affair cements the Cinder Spires as a must read series for me.
Highly recommended.