Review: The Olympian Affair

The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Eight years have passed since the first book in Butcher's steampunk series, and I thought for a while it would be utterly forgotten while he concentrated on very slowly advancing the plot of The Dresden Files. I didn't realize for a while that Butcher had had quite a lot going on in his personal life these last few years, and that's the main explanation for why he's only released three books since 2015, and two of those were a double feature in 2020. At least now he's back with more exploration of the world of the Spires, with Spire Olympia serving as a sort of neutral ground in the heating up war between Spires Albion (the English-like home of our heroes) and Aurora (which resembles Spain with its fearsome Armada.) Overall, for 600+ pages, this one does feel like so much moving of chess pieces more than anything else, but the exploration of Auroran as well as Albionian POVs is a very nice touch, and the Aurorans' new weapon is scarily biological in nature, a steampunk version of one of the most terrifying sci-fi destructive forces imaginable. Although I will say this - it's bloody distracting when the Aurorans keep spelling their flagship, the Conquistodor. On every page. Like it's to be feared more for its stench than anything else. Was that a joke on Butcher's part? I'll credit him as such, anyway.

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