An instant New York Times bestseller! The fate of the Cinder Spires may be decided by crossed swords in the next exhilarating fantasy adventure from the author of the Dresden Files, in this New York Times bestselling series of noble families, swordplay, and airships.   For centuries the Cinder Spires have safeguarded humanity, rising far above the deadly surface world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses rule, developing scientific marvels and building fleets of airships for defense and trade. Now, the Spires hover on the brink of open war. Everyone knows it's coming. The guns of the great airship fleets that control the skies between the last bastions of humanity will soon speak in anger, and Spire Albion stands alone against the overwhelming might of Spire Aurora's Armada and its new secret weapon--one capable of destroying the populations of entire Spires. A trading summit at Spire Olympia provides an opportunity for the Spirearch, Lord Albion, to secure alliances that will shape the outcomes of the war, and to that end he dispatches privateer Captain Francis Madison Grimm and the crew of the AMS Predator to bolster the Spirearch's diplomatic agents. It will take daring, skill, and no small amount of showmanship to convince the world to stand with Spire Albion--assuming that it is not already too late. Praise for The Olympian Affair "Butcher’s long-awaited sequel to The Aeronaut’s Windlass is an exciting epic fantasy, set in the sky and filled with airships, magic, and the connections of blood and found family." — Library Journal " Explosive. . . . Fans will find this is worth the wait." — Publishers Weekly " Butcher’s fans will delight in the new characters and alternate Spires while enjoying favorites from the first book and will be eager for the next episode in the action-packed Cinder Spires series." — Booklist (starred review) Praise for The Aeronaut's Windlass “Great action scenes, a fascinating world, and characters of a sort I’ve never seen before....This is everything I’ve come to expect from Jim Butcher, but in a delightful new flavor.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss  “Beware, fellow readers, herein lies adventure that will keep you from food or rest....Butcher proves yet again that he is an amazing storyteller.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs  “This is Jim Butcher at his best, drawing a fully realized, richly detailed, and downright fun literary world....It’s steampunk meets magic with a dose of sci-fi for seasoning. Buy it and read it. You’ll be glad you did.”— New York Times bestselling author David Weber  “Butcher opens the imaginative Cinder Spires series with this sweeping fantastical epic....[It’s] a fascinating, adventurous, and intricate story. Butcher brings a fresh and exciting perspective to secondary-world steampunk, giving the reader a thrilling ride.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)  “With shifting points of view, short chapters, fast-paced action, and awesome battle scenes, the large cast of characters, elaborate world building, and intricate plot are revealed quickly and realized fully. It all reminds readers of when they first fell for Harry Dresden.”— Booklist (starred review)  “[Butcher] blends familiar steampunk and fantasy elements (airships, wizardry, and heroes from a monarch’s guard) in a fresh and wonderful way that results in a fantastic ride.”— Library Journal (starred review) Jim Butcher is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and the Cinder Spires novels. He lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Chapter 1 AMS Predator, Colony Spire Dependence Captain Francis Madison Grimm, commander, AMS Predator, strode down the length of the deck, doing what an airship's captain all too often found a necessary duty-waiting calmly. The ship's crew had gone to general quarters in predawn, nearly eight hours before, with breaks for no more than two men at a time, and those only for biological necessity. Mists hovered thickly over the ship, for it was barely more than a thousand feet above the lithosophere-that elevation where the growing things of the hellish surface world reached out branches, tendrils, and various other structures that could threaten a ship's physical integrity. Grimm could scarcely see from one end of Predator to the other, much less what might be happening to the armed away team of the Spirearch's Guard currently deployed to the colony Spire below. Grimm climbed the steep ladder to the bridge and strode over to where the ship's pilot, Mister Kettle, leaned easily back against the pilot's brace, his wrists draped over the ship's steering grips, fingers hanging loosely. He was relaxed despite the hours of waiting. Kettle was a brawny, bearded veteran aeronaut. The skin around his eyes was permanently a bit lighter than the rest of his face where his goggles had shielded him from the glare of the light of the open sky far a