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A review by leksikality
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I would not have guessed this was the same person who wrote The Dresden Files, and that's not a compliment.
The writing is very artificial and downright ridiculous in some places that I wondered if it was meant to be a spoof. It is not.
Some of the characters are very endearing, though and he does cat very well. The narrative seems to really fall down when he switches to the POV of the young women. Grimm is very well-rounded, but Gwen and Bridget don't have a natural verb in their actions. They also fall into the two primary female tropes in fantasy - fiery princess who's more than just a pretty face and oafish, awkward giant who's a little bit infatalised and is only valued because she's really frickin strong. Think Brienne of Tarth but less confident.
Basically, a bunch of incredibly exceptional people come together to do incredibly exceptional things in an incredibly exceptional way very, very slowly ... but we never see any of the incredibly exceptional for ourselves.
The last 2-3 chapters are quite exciting, though. I may give the second book a go in case the series just had to warm up.
The writing is very artificial and downright ridiculous in some places that I wondered if it was meant to be a spoof. It is not.
Some of the characters are very endearing, though and he does cat very well. The narrative seems to really fall down when he switches to the POV of the young women. Grimm is very well-rounded, but Gwen and Bridget don't have a natural verb in their actions. They also fall into the two primary female tropes in fantasy - fiery princess who's more than just a pretty face and oafish, awkward giant who's a little bit infatalised and is only valued because she's really frickin strong. Think Brienne of Tarth but less confident.
Basically, a bunch of incredibly exceptional people come together to do incredibly exceptional things in an incredibly exceptional way very, very slowly ... but we never see any of the incredibly exceptional for ourselves.
The last 2-3 chapters are quite exciting, though. I may give the second book a go in case the series just had to warm up.