This is the first book in Butcher's planned The Cinder Spires series. The second book has yet to come out and but is currently called The Olympian affair. Most people state that Butcher is trying to cash in on the current Steampunk phase I honestly don't think he is. I've read multiple steampunk books and it seems like Butcher is genuinely trying to write because he enjoys it. Since this is the first book in the series it seemed slow to start but I didn't expect it to be as slow as it was. I kept stopping and reading something else hoping it will pick up. It eventually did but because it took so long my interest waned a bit. I will say the second half of the book was a lot better than the first, it had more action and you started to piece things together.
I wish that Butcher had kept control of how many characters he had, I kept having to go back and see who was from where. It seems as if there are a total of 4 main characters, I could be wrong. The book had alternating points of view, even from the enemy, which despite the long list of characters I didn't have a trouble with. I really liked Folly who is Master Ferus apprentice, and I hope the book expands more on that character and make her a little less childlike. The character who I didn't like reading her POV was Gwen.
Reading about her from other people's point of view she is a strong female character. From her point of view she is bratty and rash and seemingly imperious to fear. I didn't dislike any of the characters too much (expect the villian, you have to dislike the villian).
Even though this book only got 3 stars from me it was not a bad book in any sense, I just wished it was a bit shorter and faster paced. I will be reading the second book when it comes out (hopefully it's better since it doesn't have to set too much up.)