Excerpt from The Aeronaut’s Windlass

I released Two Teardrops, sequel to the award-winning Tattooed Teardrops last Friday; be sure to check it out!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

I am really enjoying a new (to me) book from Jim Butcher, The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass. I’ve read a couple of the Dresden Files series before, but this is the first in the Cinder Spires series. This new world of crystal-powered airships, pirates, and warrior cats is the best fantasy I’ve read in a long time. There is enough undiscovered backstory and possibilities to sustain several series. Jim Butcher’s description of the body language and behavior of the cats is perfect. They are so clearly superior to the humans. At one point, Rowl’s note that the leaders of the humans often wear large hats, which he thinks is ‘adorable’ had me laughing out loud.

There was a rustle and a very light thump, and she looked up to see one of her favorite people bound lightly from the top of the next vat, land in silence only a few feet away, and sit down, regarding her with large green eyes.

The Aeronaut’s Windlass, Jim Butcher

Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity. Within their halls, the ruling aristocratic houses develop scientific marvels, foster trade alliances, and maintain fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is damaged in combat, Grimm joins a team of Albion agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring his ship.

And as Grimm undertakes this task, he learns that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake…