Something new this year, quarter stars! 4 Stars is a good book for me and this one was just slightly above that. It probably also came at the exact right time after finishing Malazan and yearning for something lighter to read. 

This was my first non Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher and it was very enjoyable. Compared to Dresden the tone is much lighter and it tends to be action and adventure and combining all that with a steampunk setting just felt like the right change of scenery. 

The characters are a bit YA-ish. There are a lot of teen characters that maybe are a little too competent in what they do but that didn’t bother me and it feels like they all fight a very specific and fitting role within the story. The main protagonist, a ship captain, also was compelling but didn’t really stand out compared to similar types of characters.

The main source of humor is a civilization of cats that co-exists and communicates with the humans of this world and just getting to discover their society and what they think about the humans in general was a total blast. The author definitely has some sort of cat trauma and gets to express this a lot here. Plus one of the main POVs actually is one of the cats and he is absolutely hilarious. 

Plotwise the book is very light and not too exciting but that didn’t really bother me. I was looking for a popcorn-y read and that’s exactly what I got. So if you’re looking for a light action focussed book with lots of cat jokes, look no further!