The Guns Above is the first Signal Airship novel.
Women aren't technically supposed even to serve on airships in battle, but putting them on the ground before the shooting starts is never actually practical, and when the captain of hers is killed in action, Josette Dupre is forced to take command. After the story of her heroism reaches the papers, the general has no choice but to give her a ship of her own. He also gives her his useless fop of a nephew, Bernat, to spy on her, with the hope that he'll report back how badly she's screwing up and provide an excuse to strip her of her rank. What follows is a military adventure in the vein of a steampunk Patrick O'Brian.
I was not prepared when I started this book for how actively I would dislike Bernat for so much of it. Somehow it didn't occur to me from the description that spying on Dupre and hoping to catch her screwing up would mean actively constructing reports so exaggerated as to be effectively false and working to perpetuate the worst stereotypes of women in positions of power. He's doing a lot more than just observing and while he does eventually pull his head out of his arse and switch sides I hated him a lot more until then than I expected to.
That said, the battle scenes- my least favorite thing in any sort of military adventure that involves ships of any kind or armies, individuals fighting are so much more interesting than large scale battles- were unusually well done, the characters were all fascinating even if one of the major ones was infuriating for quite some time, and the politics of the country and personal politics of those in positions of power both intrigue. I was on the fence about reading more in the series, but a review of By Fire Above indicated that it takes place mostly on land, which leads me to suspect it will continue in an O'Brian-like vein, with as much emphasis on its characters trials and tribulations off their ship as on. In light of that, I plan to keep reading.
Overall: A-