Shawn
Reread The Aeronaut’s Windlass and bumped it up to a 3/5—there’s a lot more going on here than I gave it credit for the first time. The worldbuilding is rich, the airship combat absolutely rips, and Butcher really knows how to build momentum once things start exploding (which they definitely do).
That said… I still can’t fully get on board with the talking cats. I get what he’s doing—they add humor, culture, and a different lens on the world—but for whatever reason they kept pulling me out of the story instead of deepening it. Everything else leans toward grounded, gritty, almost steampunk-military realism, and then you’ve got aristocratic cats delivering monologues, and my brain just goes, “we’re doing this now?”
Where the book really shines is in its characters under pressure. Grimm is a rock-solid captain, Bridget has one of the best growth arcs in the story, and Gwen’s emotional shift by the end hits harder than I expected. The final act especially delivers—big stakes, real consequences, and just enough dread to make it clear this is only the beginning of something much bigger.
Overall: flawed but compelling. I didn’t love every piece, but I’m intrigued enough to keep going—and I respect the hell out of the ambition.
Reread The Aeronaut’s Windlass and bumped it up to a 3/5—there’s a lot more going on here than I gave it credit for the first time. The worldbuilding is rich, the airship combat absolutely rips, and Butcher really knows how to build momentum once things start exploding (which they definitely do).
That said… I still can’t fully get on board with the talking cats. I get what he’s doing—they add humor, culture, and a different lens on the world—but for whatever reason they kept pulling me out of the story instead of deepening it. Everything else leans toward grounded, gritty, almost steampunk-military realism, and then you’ve got aristocratic cats delivering monologues, and my brain just goes, “we’re doing this now?”
Where the book really shines is in its characters under pressure. Grimm is a rock-solid captain, Bridget has one of the best growth arcs in the story, and Gwen’s emotional shift by the end hits harder than I expected. The final act especially delivers—big stakes, real consequences, and just enough dread to make it clear this is only the beginning of something much bigger.
Overall: flawed but compelling. I didn’t love every piece, but I’m intrigued enough to keep going—and I respect the hell out of the ambition.