Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 440
Printing Date: October 01, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 1194479
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Product Description:
In the realm of Alera, where people bond with the furies-elementals of earth, air, fire, water, and metal-fifteen-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos-when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies-Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war.
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Rated by buyers 
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These books keep you seated--you're going to want to keep your day open when you start reading them, because you're not going to want to do a whole lot else.
I started reading Butcher's other series, and, sadly, really hated them; so, when someone coersed me into reading them, I was completely surprised when I fell in love. It's so rare in the fantasy-genre to find a book with so much plot.
I'd recommend these books to everyone who likes a fast paced-action/adventure, political intrigue, and good character development and anyone who's a fan of the genre, especially: Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and Weis/Hickman's early Dragon Lance books.
Rated by buyers -
Having read the very first book in this series, I will definitely seek out the others, but my approval of Jim Butcher's "other" fantasy series is tinged with a note of caution. I love Butcher's Dresden Files series. One of the most enjoyable aspects of that is the way those plots go at breakneck pace, with perils popping up at every turn. This works well in the "real world" setting of Chicago.
Butcher has created a unique and interesting world in his Codex Alera series, peopled it with interesting and engaging characters and spun a tale to delight and wonder the most hard-core fantasy fan. The setting is quasi-Roman and the barbarians are at the gates! Magic is done by controlling elemental "furies" of wood, water, earth, fire and air. Butcher's most compelling hero is Tavi, a young man who is coming of age without having mastered a "fury". Lacking magic, he must rely on his wits and his courage.
There is plenty in this premise but Butcher gives us a generous portion of more: Amara, a young Imperial agent on her very first mission, Bernard, Tavi's uncle--still grieving over the death of his wife, Bernard's sister Isana, powerful in magic but unsettled by her spinster status. The villains are equally believable and compelling.
My main complaint is that in sections, the story seems forced, as if the author feels he must push along at the breakneck pace of the Dresden Files. Generally speaking a author should err along the lines of more story rather than less, but a plot should be driven by the characters. At some crucial points, the author lost my suspension of disbelief in his story because I felt that when the barbarians are literally at the gates of the fortress, and there are fires burning within the walls, an aerial attack coming in, etc., etc. etc. -- this is not the time for hanky-panky in a storehouse with the victim playing hide-and-seek with her kidnapper. The two compelling stories somehow undermined one another.
Rated by buyers -
Outstanding book from Butcher in a fantasy setting. I've enjoyed the Dresden Files from Butcher and wanted to give the Furies of Calderon a try. I was cautious how Butcher's style would cross over to a fantasy setting. I'm happy to say I was reall impressed. Butcher delived great fantasy action with an excellent plot and captivating new world.
Rated by buyers 
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I like Butcher's Dresden books as an interesting diversion, so I decided to give this series a try. Honestly, I never made it to the end of Book One.
I think one thing that's missing here that Butcher managed to instill in the Dresden books is that I never really cared about the characters in this series. Every night, sitting down to read, I'd heave a sigh and pick this book up before finally admitting to myself that I just didn't care about these characters, didn't care whether they lived or died, and was really starting to root for the latter to happen so that it would just end.
His writing is still good, but not nearly as snappy as in the Dresden series, and the dialog seems stilted. Okay, sure, older times, more formal perhaps, but I don't buy that.
Wife loves this series almost as much as Dresden, so maybe it's just not the genre for me.
Rated by buyers -
According to a video interview Jim Butcher gave, he started writing the Codex Alera series on something of a dare: someone challenged him to write an epic sword-and-horse fantasy based on the two things the challenger found most annoying, those being "Pokemon and lost Roman legions". One would think this would be an awkward combination, but in Jim's hands, it's something new and original to bring to the genre. I love the modified Roman Empire milieu, and the concept of "fury-crafting", of working with elemental beings which can shape the substance of things around the crafter, fascinates me.
That said, I also approached this series on something of a dare: a rather strident teenaged fan of Jim's urban fantasy series, "The Dresden Files", came onto the forums on Jim's website, blasting the Codex Alera series and practically ordering Jim to stop writing it and focus his time and talent on more Dresden Files books. His reason: "Codex Alera sucks because it isn't the Dresden Files". I'd only at the time scanned a few sample chapters of Furies of Calderon and had found it a little hard to tune into (I'm a little leery of epic fantasy since, to me anyway, the bar got set so high by greats like J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard), but I decided to give it another shot and see what the kerfuffle was all about.
I'm glad I rose to the challange set by this otherwise forum troll: In some ways, the book is a set-up for the series to come, but it is still a very worthwhile read. The characters are life-like, complex, and very sympathetic -- even the antagonists: the Marat might, at very first glance, seem like mere barbarians who work closely with the totem animals of their tribes, but as the story unfolds, we find they are a complex community of individuals with their own psyches and ideas. Even Fidelias, the ironically named traitor, has his deep-set motives that are still unfolding.
But at the center, perhaps the most fascinating individual is Tavi, a young man who has not yet manifested any fury-crafting talents despite having close relatives who are strong fury-crafters, and who thus must rely on his wits and his courage to navigate a world on the brink of earth-shattering changes. His story and his journey are going to be incredible to watch and I'm already reaching for the second volume to see where his choices -- big and small, for better and worse -- take him...
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