Annotation: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

Synopsis (Spoiler free): Francis Grimm is the captain of a pirate airship, after leaving the military fleet in disgrace. A man of honor through and through, Captain Grimm works with Spire Albion in a cold war against Spire Aurora, attacking merchant vessels to turn a profit. When a routine airship battle goes awry, he is forced to retreat with his ship barely intact and no profits to fix it. Spire Aurora on the other hand is tired of being picked on in this cold war, deciding to attack first and hopefully pillage Spire Albion. With a non-functioning ship Grimm Captain Grimm has no choice but to join in the war effort on a secret mission, to find the Aurorans that landed during the first attack and stop them before they cripple the economy of Spire Albion and win the war before it has even started.

Pacing: Fitting in perfectly with the Adventure genre, Aeronaut’s Windlass keeps the action going from the beginning of the book to the very end. Jim Butcher expertly ramps up the danger that the main characters face with them beginning with having a duel because of petty insults to by the end having a dramatic last stand and airship battle. With having three main characters, there is always action going on for one of them if not more. Additionally, the multiple main characters makes it easier to keep the pacing fast and jumping between dangers while still making it believable that these events are occuring. 

Storyline: The main plot of this book has the heroes trying to find an undercover group of soldiers from another spire who are currently trying to sabotage the economy of the heroes’ spire after the opening salvo of a war. This mission is often dangerous causing the heroes to be attacked by not only the enemy soldiers but also deadly spider-like creatures that the soldiers have under their control. Whilst in the air, the heroes also have to deal with an extremely well armored airship that is much stronger than Captain Grimm’s ship and a captain that wants nothing more than to capture the elusive pirate who has been plaguing Spire Aurora. At many points during the story, the heroes only escape alive because of their intellect and a lot of luck.

Characters: There are three main characters of this book which all fit into the adventure genre being both smart, strong, and enjoyable to follow but Captain Francis Grimm is the character who fits the archetype of adventure hero best. Captain Grimm is a man of honor, who does not regret the choices that he has made that lead him to being a pirate. He values the life of all those on his crew and shows courtesy to his enemies whether he has the upper hand or not. He is physically fit, being able to run on no more than a couple of hours of sleep and is good enough at sword fighting that his arm being severely damaged at the beginning of the book is more of a nuisance than a problem for him. The other two main characters do have some of the strength, charm, and intelligence that is characteristic of the adventure genre but Grimm is the most stereotypical. Additionally, the other main characters are women, which does break from the mold.

Setting: Like most adventure novels, Aeronaut’s Windlass puts the heroes into an unfamiliar environment. The characters are forced to go to a habble, which is a different area of the spire they live in similar to a city, that none of the main characters are familiar with. In fact only one of the three main characters has ever left the habble where the story starts and he spends most of his time on an airship flying through the skies. them have really spent anytime in. There are good descriptions that help the reader to understand how the habble is laid out and where different locations are compared to one another.

Tone: The tone of this book is not as dark and grim as many adventure novels are. The feel of it is more upbeat and fast paced but it does take moments when the main characters have to deal with the darkness that surrounds them as they are in a war trying to find spies. There is a little of the gloominess that is found in many adventure novels in Captain Grimm and how he views the military fleet, the ruling houses, the enemy, and his employer.

Language: Sarrick’s describes the language in adventure novels often being over the top. This is exactly how this books feels in its descriptions of the heroes overcoming insurmountable odds. The author goes to great lengths to describe the ship battles in ways that make complete logical sense but also feel like they are ripped straight from a screenplay of an action movie. Additionally, the other dangerous fights that the main characters find themselves in do a good job of continuing this theme of being over the top with most challenges they face being insurmountable and vastly dangerous.


Read-alikes:
Alloy of the Law by Brandon Sanderson

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

References
Saricks, J. G. (2009). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction. Chicago: ALA.

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