No really, these books are what you get if you answer the question “What if after the Mist came, the surviving humans rebuilt a Steampunk civilization with magic airships and uplifted cats?”
I was gonna say this is now my head canon, but I actually think he’s so obvious about drawing the connections in this book it’s a little beyond head canon.
Anyway, since I feel sure it will come up if I start a conversation about these books on Lemmy, feel free to use the space below ↓ to hate on Jim Butcher for his MenWritingWomen problems… They’re real and they bug me too. They just don’t stop him from telling a fun and engaging story, which this was for me.
Definitely enjoyed the first one, didn’t notice any problems with it myself. What was remarkable to me, is that he manages to make the three-dimensional combat easily follow-able, something I see a lot of authors struggle with.
There was a bit less airship combat (although it’s still definitely a thing, especially toward the end) in book 2. Two REALLY epic duels though. The duels were so good, when I got to the end of each one I went back and reread it from the beginning.
How apropos that steampunk is what you get when you slap half-cocked period fashion on highschool theater tier drama and handwave science (ie. physics, economics, politics, ecology, etc.) to cobble together tired tropes for semi-literate self-styled “outcasts”… Basically Twilight for LARPers. 🤷🏼♂️
edit: I see steampunk cringe doesn’t hinder the ability to silently downvote. Cute.
I could make a very similar argument for basically every genre of fiction. The vast majority of authors suck at worldbuilding, but that’s because it’s mostly unneeded for the story.
