I have literally been waiting years for this book. Literally. Years. Ever since I heard that Jim Butcher was penning a steampunk series, I have been slavering to read the first Cinder Spires book. 
 And Butcher doesn't disappoint in "The Aeronaut's Windlass," which feels like the love child of Final Fantasy and Horatio Hornblower -- a rousing, action-packed fantasy set in a world where everyone lives on vast nation-like Spires, and crystal-powered airships sail through the clouds. His rich imagination is on full display here, and he weaves together a fast-moving, multi-layered story that promises to become even more epic in the installments to come. 
 After the AMS Predator is badly damaged in battle by an Auroran battlecruiser, Captain Grimm has to face the possibility that his motley crew may lose their home for good. But then the forces of Spire Aurora attack the people of Spire Albion, and Grimm is one of the brave people who manage to repel them... or rather, most of them. The Spirearch suspects treachery, so he enlists Grimm -- an honorable outcast -- along with a trio of capable new Guard trainees, a snobby cat and a pair of very, very eccentric Etherealists. 
 But their seemingly-simple mission quickly becomes much more complicated when they arrive at Habble Landing, and Grimm begins to realize that traps are being set up all around them. Mysterious attacks, rumors of horrors in the depths of the Spire, and Auroran spies all begin to coalesce around Grimm and his crew, trapping some and wounding others -- but the worst is yet to come, as one of the etherealists senses a terrible enemy lurking nearby... 
 Jim Butcher is well-known for solid world-building, and "The Aeronaut's Windlass" is no disappointment. Rather than just pasting gears and steampunk trappings on an average fantasy, Butcher instead spins up an entire world like no other -- everyone lives in Spires (think a country's worth of cities stacked on top of each other) built by the mysterious, long-lost Builders. There are sentient cats, energy-blasting crystals, genetically-engineered warriors, poisonous insectoid monsters, and a very strange form of magic that seems to make practitioners a wee bit crazy. 
 And all this is draped over a plot that is both densely complex and riotously entertaining. Butcher comes up with a complicated tale of espionage and sinister plans for Albion, and presents it with plenty of airship battles, crystal-blasting action, and the odd (literal) catfight. His prose is still nimble and often witty, especially when he writes of the eccentric etherealist Folly ("It did seem fitting, after all, that one be present for one's own death") or the deliciously snobby cats (""You saved us." "Of course I did. I am without flaw."). 
 Perhaps his biggest problem is when he tries to write more formal, Victorianish-styled dialogue, such as what we get in the opening chapter of the book. It's not bad, but it sounds rather stiff coming from an author who writes hilarious quips so easily. Butcher seems more at home writing from Grimm's perspective. 
 Speaking of Grimm. he is also a new type of hero for Butcher -- while he's a cynical outsider like Harry Dresden, he's a much more serious, grizzled man who holds tightly to his crew and ship. And he seems to run his life according to a complex system of honor, loyalty and self-sufficiency. While he's still a mysterious figure in some ways, he's a likably brash, no-nonsense guy who cares about what needs to be done. 
 And there's a solid cast supporting him, such as the clever but naive aristocrat Gwen, her sensible cousin Benedict, the working-class Bridget, and the canny old Ferus; he even has some chapters from the perspectives of the Aurorans, allowing us to see how the enemy forces see the world. But the real scene-stealers are Folly and Rowl -- Rowl's arrogance and odd perspective (he refers to masts as "ship-trees") are delightful, and Folly is a bittersweet mixture of quirky oddity and mild mental illness. 
 "The Aeronaut's Windlass" is clearly part of a bigger, darker story that Jim Butcher is spinning out for us, but it's also a solid, action-packed adventure yarn in its own right -- and the world Butcher conjures promises to get a lot more interesting.