Holly Black: Red Glove and Black Heart (Curse Workers 2 & 3)

Since I quite liked Holly Black's first Curse Workers installment, I went ahead and read the rest of the series. All the things I liked about the first volume continued to work on the next two, and if anything they got better. The magic and abilities are present in the world, but mostly in the way it shapes society and interactions, and are very rarely actually used.
The clear strength of the series are the relationships between its characters. A mother who means well but is dramatically inconsiderate, siblings who have their own motivations, and friends who have their own problems.
It's very refreshing to not have simple Mary Sue / Marty Stu settings, or unnecessarily dramatized relationships. The protagonist's friends will be unhappy if they're not treated well, but nobody will cut off ties for a single slight of some kind. Everyone has their own motivations, and occasionally they're unrelated, occasionally they coincide with those of others, and occasionally they're in conflict, and the character will have to make value judgments, just like real life.
The pacing is generally good; the books aren't the most action-packed thing out there, but they easily held my interest. The love interest plot is devilishly complicated and clever in its set-up, and as some other situations, the protagonist is faced with multiple choices, all seemingly less than ideal.
The first book is readable on its own, the next two do better as part of the full trifecta.
Four and a half out of five for the whole enchilada.

Jim Butcher: The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires 1)

Jim Butcher does steampunk.

Oh, I'm supposed to say more? Fine.

Mr. Butcher can produce great, fun stories that are a step above the average disposable urban fantasy (in the case of the Dresden Files), although his foray into actual fantasy (Codex Alera) appealed to me considerably less.

In this case the setting is interesting — humanity lives in huge spires, the surface of the planet is too dangerous to venture on, ether technology and power allows for all kinds of things, including flight, and trade, war and privacy happens via ships powered by crystals and ethersilk sails, and iron and steel rot quickly and are an unreliable basis for machines, and cats can talk. There is a tremendous amount of mystery about why things are the way they are, and I'm pretty sure that it'll be a major plot point moving forward.

The book introduces a cast of characters from various backgrounds and interests, and there isn't a clear single protagonist. The plot, instead, begins to craft a team of the various characters, and lies a groundwork for higher adventure.

While the novel is clearly a way to set up for another series, it stands well enough on its own, and doesn't feel like it sacrifices too much for being a pilot episode.

The characters and setting are good, and I found myself wishing I could see the visuals Butcher may have had in mind for many of them. The absolutely biggest shortcoming of the work is unfortunately the prose. It sounds like the first attempt to speak at a steampunk RPG or convention, mixing overly polite and proper archaic English with modern enough concepts and an alien setting. He doesn't take it nearly as much over the top as some others (Gail Carriger, I'm looking at you), and to me it just always felt annoyingly tentative. I either got used to it or he figured out the style towards the end of the book, though.

The plot, once it starts rolling, is heavy on action, and here Butcher has struck a much better balance between describing cinematic battles and not getting carried away than he did with Codex Alera, and I found myself enjoying the fights, which is not too often the case. Of course, perhaps as part of the genre, the outcomes are about as predictable as anything on primetime TV.

In summary, I enjoyed the romp a lot more than I really ought to have, and will be keeping an eye out for the next installment.

Three out of five, at least half of those being for just sheer fun.