Description
'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 flavour'
PATRICK ROTHFUSS
'Beware fellow readers, herein lies adventure that will keep you from food or rest . . .'
PATRICIA BRIGGS
Jim Butcher, the number one bestselling author of The Dresden Files, begins a new series set in a gloriously imagined world of noble families, marvellous technology and magic-wielding warriors.
Since time immemorial humanity has lived inside the Spires, habitats towering for miles over the dangerous, monster-inhabited surface of the world.
Captain Grimm of the merchant airship, Predator, was dismissed from Spire Albion's military in disgrace - now his ship and crew are all he has, and he's fiercely loyal to both. When the Predator is severely damaged in combat Grimm has only one choice - take on a clandestine mission for Albion's leaders, or stay grounded for good.
And even as Grimm undertakes this perilous task, he will learn 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 . . .
About the Author
Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera and the Cinder Spires series. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, Jim plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. He currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in his home town of Independence, Missouri.
Reviews
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 flavour -- Patrick Rothfuss, author of THE NAME OF THE WIND
Wow. Just wow. 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 where fearless aeronauts ride the aether, brilliant wizards struggle with doorknobs, and a thirty-pound feline warrior keeps a pet human named Little Mouse. It's steam-punk 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
Awards
Short-listed for Hugo Award Best Novel category 2016 (UK).
Book Information
ISBN 9780356503660
Author Jim Butcher
Format Paperback
Page Count 640
Imprint Orbit
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Series Cinder Spires
Weight(grams) 500g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 130mm * 40mm
Reviews
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I'm still not sure...
I still can't quite decide if I actually liked this book or not. I read all 630 pages, but every time I discussed it with my wife, during the read, it was always to complain about things that irritated me. I never felt we really got to know any of the characters, other than superficially, which is pretty surprising considering every single one of the 69 chapters contains a point-of-view switch. And every character was a little too run-of-the-mill in my opinion. Cliche even. Captain Grimm was the only character I really clicked with but even he was what you would picture a stereotypical ship's captain to be. The world itself was interesting but it wasn't explained adequately enough. Even by the end of the book I was still frustrated by umpteen questions I'd carried throughout the story without receiving answers, mainly about the Spires structures. How they worked exactly, the formation appearance, and just how many of them were there? All in all, this felt much more like the middle book of a trilogy rather than the first. It's quite nicely written but it doesn't seem on the same level as The Dresden Files to me. I wondered if Butcher had possibly created this long before he'd polished his craft and released it later in his career. I even wondered at several points of the book whether it had been written by him at all. But, having said all that, I read the whole thing, so he's obviously done something right. Although I definitely won't be reading subsequent books in this series.
