The Olympian Affair

The Cinder Spires, Book 2

By: Jim Butcher

Narrated by: Euan Morton

An instant New York Times bestseller!

The fate of the Cinder Spires may be decided by crossed swords in the next exhilarating fantasy adventure from the author of the Dresden Files, in this New York Times bestselling series of noble families, swordplay, and airships.

For centuries the Cinder Spires have safeguarded humanity, rising far above the deadly surface world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses rule, developing scientific marvels and building fleets of airships for defense and trade.

Now, the Spires hover on the brink of open war.

Everyone knows it's coming. The guns of the great airship fleets that control the skies between the last bastions of humanity will soon speak in anger, and Spire Albion stands alone against the overwhelming might of Spire Aurora's Armada and its new secret weapon--one capable of destroying the populations of entire Spires.

A trading summit at Spire Olympia provides an opportunity for the Spirearch, Lord Albion, to secure alliances that will shape the outcomes of the war, and to that end he dispatches privateer Captain Francis Madison Grimm and the crew of the AMS Predator to bolster the Spirearch's diplomatic agents.

It will take daring, skill, and no small amount of showmanship to convince the world to stand with Spire Albion--assuming that it is not already too late.

Critic reviews

Praise for The Olympian Affair
"Butcher’s long-awaited sequel to The Aeronaut’s Windlass is an exciting epic fantasy, set in the sky and filled with airships, magic, and the connections of blood and found family."—Library Journal

"Explosive. . . . Fans will find this is worth the wait."—Publishers Weekly

"Butcher’s fans will delight in the new characters and alternate Spires while enjoying favorites from the first book and will be eager for the next episode in the action-packed Cinder Spires series."—Booklist (starred review)

Praise for The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Great action scenes, a fascinating world, and characters of a sort I’ve never seen before....This is everything I’ve come to expect from Jim Butcher, but in a delightful new flavor.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss

“Beware, fellow readers, herein lies adventure that will keep you from food or rest....Butcher proves yet again that he is an amazing storyteller.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs

“This is Jim Butcher at his best, drawing a fully realized, richly detailed, and downright fun literary world....It’s steampunk meets magic with a dose of sci-fi for seasoning. Buy it and read it. You’ll be glad you did.”—New York Times bestselling author David Weber

“Butcher opens the imaginative Cinder Spires series with this sweeping fantastical epic....[It’s] a fascinating, adventurous, and intricate story. Butcher brings a fresh and exciting perspective to secondary-world steampunk, giving the reader a thrilling ride.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“With shifting points of view, short chapters, fast-paced action, and awesome battle scenes, the large cast of characters, elaborate world building, and intricate plot are revealed quickly and realized fully. It all reminds readers of when they first fell for Harry Dresden.”—Booklist (starred review)

“[Butcher] blends familiar steampunk and fantasy elements (airships, wizardry, and heroes from a monarch’s guard) in a fresh and wonderful way that results in a fantastic ride.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Great Story

Well written story with characters that are well developed. I can not wait till the next book comes out.

Diplomatic steampunk machinations

Jim Butcher’s long coming sequel to The Aeronaut’s Windlass, The Olympian Affair is a swashbuckling adventure tale with geopolitical and diplomatic shenanigans. Spire Albion is sending a diplomatic mission to Spire Olympian for some high-level détente, but Spire Aurora is out to bait them to create some sort of aggressive act to force shot-gun alliances. At the same time, a powerful Auroran Etherealist is controlling a devasting monster that is bearing down on Olympia.

Butcher weaves an engrossing and compelling steampunk story with action scenes, including two sword duels that employ novel twists. Crystal power plays a dominant role, and the diplomatic interactions are intricate and intermixed with the action. There are also just enough loose ends to generate anticipation for a third installment.

The narration is well done with excellent character distinction. Pacing is brisk.

A bit disappointed, but still good.

I have waited years for this book to come out and listened to the first several times and thoroughly enjoyed it, the latest listening timed to the day of this release.

This book felt like it was picked up in the momentum of another series wake placed in the cinder spires world. This book did not feel like a smooth transition from the first, although it was from the novella between to be fair. The characters felt just inconsistent enough, mainly Captain Grimm. I think there was a poor attempt to improve his sense of humor and he came across as a bit cavalier at times, which is not at all in line with my assessment of him before. Then Rowl came across as simplistic in this book, he is a gloriously arrogant little creature still, but it felt like he lost the bit of depth he had before. Not enough to make me put the book down, but enough to make it feel off.

As for the narration, this vexed me the most. It was as if Euan Morton didn’t listen to the first book to remind himself of what he did before. He is a very talented narrator as was evident by the diversity and richness be brought to the characters in the first book. Then somehow in this book if several characters had a pinch of gruff Mr. Kettle added to their voice, including Bayard who was more soft and refined when being narrated in the first book which really harmonized with his character. I don’t think this would have bothered me, had I not listened to the first book going into it, EM did a good job in this, I think the voices he used in the first book felt truer to characters.

Overall it did feel like the JB caught his stride and made the book feel more like what it was supposed be as it progressed, it just was a tad jarring going into this one. I’ve read all of Codex Alera by him, twice, so I still will eagerly await the next book because I love the world building done by JB and the characters he writes so it’s worth it to me to keep my hopes up for the next book too.

Fantastic

This is what Steampunk should be. I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

Excellent second installment

Loved having another adventure with all the characters from the first book. It pulled at my heartstrings several different times. Can't wait for the next one.