The Olympian Affair
From my Goodreads review of The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher:
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An epic tale of swords and sorcery in a far-future, steampunk world... with cats. I've long been waiting for this sequel to "The Aeronaut's Windlass," and it was worth the wait. The Olympian Affair picks up two years after Captain Grimm, his airship Predator, and his hastily assembled band of allies fight off an attack on their home spire. The threat of war has only increased, and Predator and her crew are tasked with attending a conclave of potential allies and enemies and protecting Albion's interests.
The world continues to unfold, and we learn more about the history of the Spires and the threat they were probably built to protect humanity against. In classic Jim Butcher fashion, the enemies get bigger and badder and horrible things befall the characters we love. But the reason this is my favorite Jim Butcher series is the cats. Rowl, Prince of the Silent Paws, accompanied by the halfling Fenli, continue to save the day, usually just by being... there. Only now they get to argue about who did it better.
The book is not small, and the story takes turns and detours that could feel like distractions, if it weren't so obvious that it is in the hands of a master storyteller who knows how to entertain on every page. The protagonists are delightfully heroic, and the villains are abhorrent, although the lines between good and evil are never entirely clearcut, which is what makes this story so fun to read. Like O'Brien's "Master and Commander" series, the Cinder Spires has become one of my go-to worlds for pure, exhilarating escape, one I anticipate re-visiting many times.
View all my Goodreads reviews.
Cat Quotient: 4 out of 5 paws, Multiple entertaining cats
“Grimm took a step toward the table and considered the little tribe of kittens. “We are transporting visiting dignitaries,” he noted.
”So it would seem, sir,” Benedict said.
”And they have critical knowledge of what would appear to be a new weapon of some kind.”
”They do.”
”I don’t suppose they’ve shared it with you.”
One of the kittens, a little grey-and-brown tabby with whiskey-colored eyes, gave Grimm what he thought seemed to be a very patient look. The kitten made a mewling sound at Benedict.
”He says he was born in the morning,” Sir Benedict reported hesitantly. Then he added apologetically, “But not THIS morning, Captain.””