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Furies of Calderon

(Codex Alera #1)

Jim Butcher (Goodreads Author)

4.13 · Rating details · 85,830 ratings · 3,716 reviews

For a thousand years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive and threatening races that inhabit the world, using their unique bond with the furies - elementals of earth, air, fire, water, and metal.

But now, Gaius Sextus, First Lord of Alera, grows old and lacks an heir. Ambitious High Lords plot and maneuver to place their Houses in positions of power, and ...more

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Paperback, 504 pages

Published June 28th 2005 by Ace (first published October 5th 2004)

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4.13 ·

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· 85,830 ratings · 3,716 reviews

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Jul 15, 2014 Katerina rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Katerina by: Phandom Duck

Shelves: fantasy, favorites

Romans and Pokemon.

That was my initial reaction when I heard of Codex Alera's concept and I am sure your face looks like this as well (don't deny it fellow readers,it's a normal reaction).And to answer your next question,NO it was not lame and weird,YES it was a brilliant,brilliant high fantasy book.

You're intrigued,aren't you?

The story
Alera is an empire similar to Rome regarding the social layers,the administration and the army,founded by the descendants and the camp followers of the Lost Rom ...more

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Oct 11, 2017 Petrik rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Beginner to adult fantasy

2.5/5 Stars

Furies of Calderon is a good beginning to a series but honestly, I’m quite disappointed with it.

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Butcher’s books, and although he’s most famous for his Dresden Files series, all the things I heard about that series didn’t spark my interest in it. However, Codex Alera is a different matter; the combination of two totally different concepts that I loved: Roman and Pokemon? In a high fantasy book? Now THAT is something that sparked my interest. I’ve ...more

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Aug 09, 2017 Anne rated it really liked it

Recommended to Anne by: Romans & Pokemon

Shelves: kindle, read-in-2017, fantasy

I don't really read a lot of high fantasy. In fact, I'm not even sure what makes something high fantasy.
I have my ideas, though...

description

I've been reading Butcher's urban fantasy series, Dresden Files for a long time now, but I've avoided reading his Codex Alera stuff because it sounded too weird for me. Even the name Codex Alera is just...?
Ehhhhh? Seemed like there would be too much funky Lord of the Ringsy world building for a fantasy-lite reader like myself. Some of us don't do well with that sort ...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Evgeny rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Most of the people know the background of this series. For the rest of you I will tell it again. Jim Butcher made a bet he could write a fantasy book(s) based on Roman legions

and Pokemon.
Pikachu

This is the result. You have a society somewhat resembling that of Ancient Rome with its military being almost exact copy of Roman legions. Magic also exists and comes in the form of Furies (glorified Pokemon). Some of them are related to wind, some to wood, some to fire, etc. This is not Harry Dresden series.

A young boy Tavi who also happened to be practically the only one without any magic whatsoever did not take care of his herd on time because a girl asked him to get some special flowers. Finally trying to get the herd back he sees something he is not supposed to see and as the result got mixed up in Big Politics. We all know the life expectancy of little people who happened to be in the way of ambitious politicians. Fear not, this is a fantasy world so unlike in real life Tavi has a slim chance of survival.

At the same time a graduate of local Academy called Amara has to infiltrate an enemy camp and do some reconnaissance as a graduation exam (boy, these guys are serious about testing their pupils). She also sees something she is not supposed to see resulting in the same situation as the poor guy I mentioned above.

This is not Harry Dresden series. I cannot stress it enough. If you need another Dresden fix before the next book of this better-known series is published look elsewhere. The signature humor of the famous Chicago wizard is not present at all. The only similar themes I found were fast-paced plot and last moment escapes.

This book reminded me of a summer blockbuster. I already mentioned non-stop action: at times I felt I did not have a moment to catch my breath. On the other hand this book has a lot of fantasy cliches - I would say the majority of them were present here. So if you look at exciting but mindless fantasy read this book is for you. Just remember that this is not Harry Dresden series. If you want a book which would make you think about the meaning of life this is exactly the wrong one.

In the conclusion I need to explain why I kept saying that this is not Harry Dresden series. I saw people gave this one a low rating for the only reason that they expected something similar to that series; this on is not, so if you start reading this one keep it in mind. ...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Kaila rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2011, fantasy, magic

I probably made a huge mistake by reading this novel before any of The Dresden Files. At the time I was shuffling through my Kindle library and I had just finished one or two urban fantasy novels. I was not in the mood for another one, so I thought, Hey! How about The Furies of Calderon!?

Oh poor, unwitting me. You had such good intentions.

My first problem with this book is where the premise came from. Although I could not find any definite evidence, the rumor is that Butcher was bet he couldn't ...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Carly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, worldbuilding, epic-fantasy

**Edit: The original review discussed Codex Alera's rather entertaining "origin story," which involved a flamewar, a bet, Pokemon, and the Roman legions.
Because this is "author behavior" that is not discussed in the book, it may not be in line with the impressively subjective new policies of GR.
I don't want to break these shiny new rules, so I am deleting most of ~~the fun parts of~~ this review.
My original review is posted over at booklikes--you can take a look at it there, if you want. Sorry abou
**Edit: The original review discussed Codex Alera's rather entertaining "origin story," which involved a flamewar, a bet, Pokemon, and the Roman legions.
Because this is "author behavior" that is not discussed in the book, it may not be in line with the impressively subjective new policies of GR.
I don't want to break these shiny new rules, so I am deleting most of ~~the fun parts of~~ this review.
My original review is posted over at booklikes--you can take a look at it there, if you want. Sorry about the added trouble!

Here is a highly expurgated version which does not mention the author, as I do so hate breaking rules:

The story takes place in the Calderon Valley of the Kingdom of Alera, where the descendents of the lost Roman legions apparently settled thousands of years ago. Alera is a savage, hierarchical land, with a failing high king who is the last of his line, a set of scheming lords anxious to relieve him of the burden of office, an economy built upon slavery, and a tendency try to massacre the members of the neighboring lands. Not that its neighbors aren't doing their fair share. Alera, the only human civilization, is surrounded by the savage icemen, the barbaric Marat, and the warg-like Canim. Alerans themselves are superhuman: they are all gifted with and dependent on their Furies: elemental magic that can be embodied in beings of wind, fire, and stone. All Alerans have furycrafting skills and use them for everything from mundane household tasks to healing, flying, and superhuman epic battlemagic.

Only Tavi, a shepherd boy in the Calderon Valley, is furyless. Lucky Tavi is treated like a retarded child: he not only looks like a young 12-year-old, but at fifteen years, his lack of furies appears permanent and means he is essentially useless and helpless. In a world dependent on the furies, he cannot turn on or off lights, help with the farming, or even travel fast on the roads (which are specially designed for fast travel via earthcrafting).

The story--and the series--starts with a seemingly mundane incident. Tavi wants to bring flowers to the girl he is sweet on, and is therefore so late bringing in the sheep that they wander away and are lost. In retrieving them, he stumbles upon proof of a traitorous scheme that will endanger the entire Calderon Valley. Aided by his watercrafting aunt Isana, his stolid stonecrafting uncle Bernard, and the mysterious windcrafting servant of the high lord, Amara, Tavi must bring news--and preferably proof--to the garrison to alert the legions (yes, Roman legions) to the danger. Along the way, he and his allies must evade and outwit scheming mercenaries, vicious slavers, and bloodthirsty barbarians.
~4.5 stars ...more

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Aug 19, 2013 Nimrod Daniel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

$0.99 on Amazon, go grab your copy
https://www.amazon.com/Furies-Caldero...

I became a fan of Jim Butcher after reading book 3 in The Dresden Files series, it was a superb book. Codex Alera is totally different than the Dresden series, and Furies of Calderon proved for once and for all that the author is much more important than THE great idea (if you don't know what I'm talking about - this book was conceived as a result of a bet. While Butcher was trying to prove his point that the author has a ...more

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Dec 20, 2015 Petros Triantafyllou rated it liked it

Read from December 26, 2015 to January 03, 2016

This review is for the whole series (spoiler free). First of all, I would like to say that reading some other reviews, you will get the impression that the story has Pokemons, or at least something similar. That's kinda bullshit. It has nothing to do with either them, or anything resembling them.

Codex Alera is a nice fantasy story, taking place in Alera, a realm strongly resembling the Roman Empire. The magic system is the best i have encounter, sav ...more

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Jul 07, 2017 Michael Britt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Michael by: Derpa

Actual rating: 4 Stars

Back in the late '90s, maybe early 2000s (don't feel like looking the exact date up), Jim Butcher made a bet with some stranger on an online forum that he could make any 2 ideas into a good book. That man chose the Lost Roman Legion and Pokémon. This is the result of that bet.

Now that we have a bit of the backstory on why it was created, let's talk about the result. The story follows 4 POVs; Tavi, Fidelias, Amara, and Isana. Furycrafting is basically the name of the magic Actual rating: 4 Stars

Back in the late '90s, maybe early 2000s (don't feel like looking the exact date up), Jim Butcher made a bet with some stranger on an online forum that he could make any 2 ideas into a good book. That man chose the Lost Roman Legion and Pokémon. This is the result of that bet.

Now that we have a bit of the backstory on why it was created, let's talk about the result. The story follows 4 POVs; Tavi, Fidelias, Amara, and Isana. Furycrafting is basically the name of the magic system. Furycrafters can control the elementals of earth, air, fire, wood, water, and metal. Tavi is pretty much what this story revolves around. And sadly, he has been having trouble coming into his own with furies. In a world where furycrafting can literally mean life and death, and pretty much everyone can do it, this is no bueno. Isana is an immensely powerful watercrafter, and Tavi's aunt. Fidelias and Amara are what is known as Cursors. I'm not even sure what to exactly classify them as. So I'll go with: mailmen, spies and secret agents. While the plot isn't anything special, Butcher does a really good job of making the execution pretty entertaining to read. Since I mainly read for entertainment, this was sufficient enough to keep me hooked. If you're looking for something that'll blow your mind, I'm afraid this first book won't do it. If he follows suit with his Dresden Files series, then I'm not too worried; that series started off kind of blah and ended up being so amazing as the books progressed. So I have quite a bit of faith in him.

The characters were written rather well. Unlike Dresden Files, which is told from a single POV, he switched it up and gave us 4 great POVs. Well, honestly I thought 1 of them were rather boring, but that was due to personal taste. I won't mention which one, as I don't want to possibly cloud anyone's judgement who has yet to read it. I'm not even sure why this person bored me, so I think it was just a personal taste thing. While I really enjoyed most of our main characters, I fell in love with so many of the side characters. This is pretty much how I fell about just about any book I read haha. So suffice it to say that we get great characters all around! There wasn't too much development with the characters, but Tavi probably gets the most development. One thing I loved was that Tavi was such a underpowered character. He has to rely on his whit more than anything else.

The prose reminded me quite a bit of his other series, Dresden Files. It was different enough to feel fresh and new, while still having that Butcher charm to it. I did feel like there was a bit of fluff in there, which was one of the bigger problems I had with the book. Near the end it felt like he hung on to a certain event more than he should have and I ended up getting a tad bored. But, that's once again just a personal preference. Other than that, we had some really great pacing. It was actually full of action pretty much from the beginning and almost never lets up. Which I liked but due to the length of the novel, I felt pretty exhausted by the end.

The only real problem I had with the book I had already mentioned above. I think the thing I loved most was how he was able to pull this book together. I only played the first gen Pokémon games (Red Version and Yellow Version) but I loved how he was able to incorporate something like Pokémon into a Fantasy book. He was able to make a certain scene feel exactly like a battle from the games, but it wasn't something that you would need any kind of experience with the game franchise to get enjoyment from. He was able to keep his magic system, the furies, feeling fresh and original and not like a blatant rip off of the games. He had some great rules for the magic system and stuck to them. The magic did feel a bit too powerful at times, but he also had put restrictions on it so that they couldn't sling it all day long without any kind of repercussions.

I was really scared to pick this book up because of how much I love Dresden Files and I wasn't sure if he would be able to pull something else off unrelated to that series. While this is no masterpiece, this is a solidly entertaining installment into the Fantasy genre. ...more

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Aug 03, 2007 Mike Malaspina rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Anyone

Shelves: fantasy

Furies of Calderon is your typical fantasy epic. Swords, sorcery, world turning upheaval, the blackest of evil and noblest of good. Only, the true hero of the story is not only powerless... Because that's been done before. No, the true hero is now only powerless, he's the ONLY powerless character. Even the other lowly farm hands can command boulders to simply pull themselves out of crop fields.

The savage Marat barbarians all have years of fighting experience from birth and great mighty beasts wh ...more

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Sep 25, 2017 Zain Otoom rated it liked it · review of another edition

2.5
Okay not much to say, because I was mostly bored reading this. But let’s list things properly,
Characters
I enjoyed some of them. Tavi and Bernard are my favourites. I enjoyed Tavi’s perspectives, but hated Amara’s. Felt neutral over Isana and didn’t care much for Fidelias, even though I was impressed at the beginning by how cunning he is. It didn’t last long though.
The writing
The writing is descriptive, which isn’t necessarily always bad, but in this case I almost gouged my eyes out. It wa 2.5
Okay not much to say, because I was mostly bored reading this. But let’s list things properly,
Characters
I enjoyed some of them. Tavi and Bernard are my favourites. I enjoyed Tavi’s perspectives, but hated Amara’s. Felt neutral over Isana and didn’t care much for Fidelias, even though I was impressed at the beginning by how cunning he is. It didn’t last long though.
The writing
The writing is descriptive, which isn’t necessarily always bad, but in this case I almost gouged my eyes out. It was so dry and so distant from the characters and their feeling and what they’re thinking. It’s the reason why the characters felt so two dimensional and unlikable. I wanted to care for them but I couldn’t, I didn’t have it in me. The writing made the experience so dull and boring at times.
The magic and world-building
Pokémon and Roman inspired. Cool, right?? Yep, and it was cool. At least the Pokémon part. Using the furies was fun to witness. But I wish it was explained a little more than that because at some points I was confused on what having the furies enables you to do and what not to do.
The Roman part however, was meh. I think it lacked because of the lacking in the world building. I still don’t have my head wrapped completely around the world, honestly. I feel like only the places that are mentioned in this book are the only ones explored, and not throughly at that.
The plot
Typical, not gripping, and a little uninteresting. Because of the lacked world building I found myself not caring much about the plot. Because I already knew how it would go.
The conclusion
This wasn’t a bad book really. You might love it more than I did, and/or find none of these problems for you. But I wish the writing wasn’t dry. Because it’s the reason I didn’t fully love this book. I kept hoping I’d make some connection to the characters and start caring about them but nope! The writing prevented that.
I might continue on the series, because people say it gets better. Unfortunately my main problem isn’t the plot as it is the writing, and I doubt that’ll change. ...more

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Sep 16, 2016 Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~ rated it liked it

Shelves: owned, year-2016, 3-star

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

I was thoroughly entertained reading Furies of Calderon. Was it groundbreaking? No. But it was fun, and I really enjoyed the characters. The plot is heavily based in the politics of Alera, so it definitely appeals to me on that level. I am interested to continue and see what happens in the rest of the series.

If you're looking for an amazing writing style...maybe look elsewhere. Lots of repetition of phrases and words. LOTS. So much so that it was distracting to me as the ...more

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Jun 21, 2014 Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller rated it liked it

Shelves: moms-shortlist

I am a huge Dresden fan and loved the unconventional means by which this series came into existence –

It’s basically a series of half a dozen books set two thousand years after a lost Roman legion travelled through a rift to a world where pokemon exist, and now the legionnaires live and work with pokemon, except they’re called “furies” (I’m not even making this up, he did it as a dare after being called on one of his assertions by a crowd at a convention: He said everything in writing is about ex

I am a huge Dresden fan and loved the unconventional means by which this series came into existence –

It’s basically a series of half a dozen books set two thousand years after a lost Roman legion travelled through a rift to a world where pokemon exist, and now the legionnaires live and work with pokemon, except they’re called “furies” (I’m not even making this up, he did it as a dare after being called on one of his assertions by a crowd at a convention: He said everything in writing is about execution. They said prove it. He said give me three crazy horrible topics and he would make something out of it. They said lost Roman Legion, Pokemon, and the Zerg. A year later he released Furies of Calderon).

-D.R. Sylvester at www.drsylvesterfiction.com (who was kind enough to clue me in with this comment on one of my posts. You should check out his blog – it’s one of my favorites).

Needless to say, I knew I had to at least give it a try. And I liked it!

It’s probably not the strongest series starter I’ve ever read, but it was at least consistently entertaining from start to finish. And the characters were fantastic – so many great POVs, and each brought something special to the story. I liked all of them pretty equally and am most excited to see where their paths lead next. Great characterization is definitely one of Butcher’s storytelling strengths, and Furies of Calderon was no exception.

It’s a good thing the characters were good because their minor, interpersonal conflicts are what got me through the story when I found the overall arc a bit too narrow. Butcher kept this first book on a fairly minor scope, which I didn’t like, but I have a lot of hope that its potential will be realized in the next few installments. There just wasn’t enough focus on the handful of things that initially drew me in. For one, the furies (Butcher’s interpretation of Pokémon) didn’t play as big of a role as they could have, to the point where it felt almost as if the wielders were controlling elements rather than elemental beings. Also, there were strong references at the beginning of the book about an academy for these fury-wielders, which wasn’t expanded on it all throughout the rest of the story. There’s plenty of time for these things to become the focus in a six book series, so I’m not too stressed, but they’re definitely the things I will be specifically looking for going forward. How well they are brought to life will ultimately determine my overall satisfaction with the series.

At the end of the day, Furies of Calderon had great characters, good writing, a somewhat narrow focus, and some excellent ideas that were a bit under-realized (but with colossal potential). Incidentally, this is almost identical to how I felt about the Aeronaut’s Windlass – the first book in his newest fantasy series. I’m very hopeful that both will dazzle me in books to come. After all, even the magic that is Harry Dresden took a couple of books to really get going.

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.nikihawkes.com ...more

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Apr 13, 2019 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ marked it as to-read

Shelves: fantasy

99c Kindle sale, April 13, 2019. High fantasy series by Jim Butcher (better known for the Harry Dresden series) based on Roman legions and ... Pokémon? Hmmm. It’s just 99c so maybe I’ll give it a shot.

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Dec 24, 2008 April rated it did not like it

First of all... I consider Jim Butcher to be a very talented writer, and I have greatly enjoyed the Dresden Files for a number of years. So when reading my complaints, you must also keep in mind that, having read all of the Dresden Files books more than once, I had a certain level of expectation that needed to be met.

They weren't. With the exception of a few short scenes in the beginning and in the middle, this first book in the Codex Alera was very, very subpar. It's not even all that long and ...more

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Jul 17, 2017 Emily rated it it was amazing

*9/17 update* So I reread this, and while I still really enjoyed it, there are some aspects around sexual violence that stood out to me in ways they didn't the first time around. I'm not going to change my rating, because that feels, I don't know, dishonest or something? But while sexual violence is not brushed off, the way it was depicted still felt a bit sensationalized.

THIS WAS SO GREAT!! SUCH a fun epic fantasy! Even though this is the first book in a fantasy series, this didn't run into a ...more

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Oct 15, 2017 Tessy Ijachi rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, what-was-i-thinking

Buddy read with my tbr twin Laura

Actual rating is 1.5 stars

Am so disappointed with this book. I really wanted to like it but Alas I ended up hating it. But on the bright side, this book broke my record of never giving a book one star.

How I felt while reading this book

It was so boring, am not even kidding. Am certain my chemistry textbook would be so much more fun than reading this book.

The whole experience felt like I was stuck in the middle of an ocean, in a rowboat trying to paddle my way to ...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Twyla rated it it was ok

I am shocked at how many people actually really liked this novel. The pacing was awful, the characters were flat and there were too many (often I couldn't tell who was on which side) - and the lame novice-to-hero progression of several characters was painfully uncreative. The only good parts were parts where the men spoke a little like Dresden (Butcher's other major series' protagonist). The one witch was creepy enough, and the monsters were pretty cool, but that seems to be Butcher's general st ...more

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Feb 03, 2016 Scott Hitchcock rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy, butcher

I did this one as an audio book with Kate Reading as the narrator. She was excellent as always.

Much like in Wheel of Time there is a discipline collar similar to the A'Dam. For whatever reason these get a rise out of me worse than any of the other evil things in books much darker than this or WOT. There's just something so wrong about being able to throw a collar around a person's neck and controlling them against their will.

I liked but didn't love the characters and found Tavi and Isana to bo ...more

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Nov 24, 2010 Kevin Xu rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-finish

worst fantasy book ever, too many books like this out in the fantasy genre out there! too many tropes! so formulaic of a story! the first line on the back cover tells the whole plot to the series! please stop writing books like these! if this was written in the late 70s or the early 80s, then it would have worked a lot better and fresher

I only read about 150 pages into the book and stopped

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Aug 29, 2008 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, audiobook, 2000-2005, unique-magic, good-guys, ya

4.0 stars. Great, well developed characters, an excellent magic system and wonderful world-building and plot pacing. Appears to be the start of a compelling series. Will defintely read the next books in the series.

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Sep 05, 2018 Toniarw rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ich bin begeistert. Hab mir gleich die nächsten beiden Teile bestellt :)

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Jul 13, 2018 Hailee rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars.

Despite the three and a half star rating I did enjoy this novel. However I feel like we have barely scratched the surface with this book and so many of my questions have not been answered. So this was an introduction to the world and its characters. So as an opening novel to a series it had a lot of promise, but as a story in its own right it lacked a bit of definition. I am excited to continue on with it as I have heard that the series dramatically improves from book 2 onwards I didn’ ...more

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Jan 10, 2016 Tilly rated it it was amazing

Well... THAT WAS REALLY REALLY AWESOME!

I started to read this series, knowing that the authors main inspirations for these books were the old Roman empire and Pokémon. That sounds really weird but after hearing this I was very curious about picking up the first volume and I wasnt disappointed.
First of all it was not very difficult to get into the story and this is a problem which I have very often with other High Fantasy series, especially in the first novel. The plot was very exciting from the Well... THAT WAS REALLY REALLY AWESOME!

I started to read this series, knowing that the author´s main inspirations for these books were the old Roman empire and Pokémon. That sounds really weird but after hearing this I was very curious about picking up the first volume and I wasn´t disappointed.
First of all it was not very difficult to get into the story and this is a problem which I have very often with other High Fantasy series, especially in the first novel. The plot was very exciting from the beginning and the switching between different characters not overly complicated because the story was focused on a major point and came to an end which was relatively closed and also made me interested in reading book two in the series.
Furthermore I did not read a fantasy novel for a very long time where the fighting scenes are described so good and interesting. It didn´t only remind me of Pokémon but in some scenes also of X-Men or Avatar: The Last Airbender :D That sounds silly but it isn´t, the whole magic system within this world is absolutely believable and very imaginative for the reader. The world building which was inspired by the roman history was also very good but I hope to see more of the world in the following volumes because I think that the world of Alera has a lot of more potential and that this was only the beginning.
Now I come to the characters. Tavi, the main protagonist, was very likable to me. The way he fought through dangerous situations, without the ability of using elements like nearly every other person in this world, really impressed me and I also liked that he is not a perfect hero but that he has also some self-doubt within the story. I liked nearly all other characters as well Tavi´s friends and family as the antagonists of this novel, they had all very interesting and individual personalities and motivations. But the highlight of this book regarding characters were the Marat. Their way to live by their own laws reminds me a little bit of the Dothraki ("A Song of Ice and Fire" franchise) and I would love to get to know more of their culture in the rest of the series.
Overall this is an absolutely stunning and brilliant intro to the series and I will definitely continue. Well-deserved 5 of 5 stars! ...more

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Aug 01, 2017 Ashley *Hufflepuff Kitten* rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-high, 2017, audiobook-is-meh, meh-boring-dragged-blah, so-much-potential

2.5 stars

Maybe I read this wrong. Or maybe Kate Reading wasn't the best choice for audio narrator. Or maybe I've just fallen out of love with Jim Butcher's writing (I still need to try the first Cinder Spires book, so I'll hold off on judgment for now). Maybe I need to give my paperback copy another shot, sans audio. Regardless of the overall problem, I wasn't really feeling this one. I loved the concept (hence the so-much-potential shelving) but it just felt like it got bogged down in... I don' ...more

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Sep 29, 2017 Warda marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: crushing-tbr-pile, put-down-for-now

Putting it aside for now. I feel bogged down by the amount of fantasy I've read this month and it's almost spoiling the reading experience for me, though the 100 odd pages I've read, I thoroughly enjoyed. Will pick it up in the near future!

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Jul 06, 2012 Rob rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-before-goodreads, fantasy, audio-book, read-2014, own, author-male

Executive Summary: A fun but trope-heavy fantasy story that combines a Lost Roman Legion with Pokemon. Yeah, you read that right.

Audio book: I've long heard both good and bad things about Kate Reading. I actually got to meet her last year for the A Memory of Light book tour as she and her husband both live near me, but had never listened to a book by her before now.

Personally I think she's a really good reader. However, she may not be well suited for this book as it has many male characters (the ...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Mpauli rated it liked it

Shelves: genre_fantasy, genre_epic-fantasy, orga_read-in-2014

Entering the Codex Alera series you're introduced to some very familiar tropes, but also to some very new ideas.
On the familiar side, there is a coming-of-age plot for one of the main characters, there is a political power struggle and a lot of action and battle scenes.
On the other hand, the society is somewhere between the typical medieval setting and the Roman Empire. This is fresh enough for me. The most prominent idea would be the furies, elemental creatures that are bound to almost every hu Entering the Codex Alera series you're introduced to some very familiar tropes, but also to some very new ideas.
On the familiar side, there is a coming-of-age plot for one of the main characters, there is a political power struggle and a lot of action and battle scenes.
On the other hand, the society is somewhere between the typical medieval setting and the Roman Empire. This is fresh enough for me. The most prominent idea would be the furies, elemental creatures that are bound to almost every human being. The humans live in some kind of symbiosis with these creatures and the furies have a huge impact on everyday life. This symbiosis could have been explored a bit deeper for my taste, but I hope to learn more about it in upcoming books of the series.

Although the book has a very familiar approach regarding tropes, I was surprised to find most of the characters to be more ambivalent then I thought. Especially the villains are portrayed very well and are not evil without evil's sake, maybe with one exception.

Over the course of the book we're following 5 povs. There is Tavi, a young shepherd's apprentice (yes Butcher went there). In contrast to the other humans, he hasn't bonded with a fury so far, which makes him a freak to some of the others.
He lives with his uncle Bernard, a former veteran of the King's Legion and a strong eartcrafter. He is also the leader of the small community, where Tavi lives.
Another member of that community is Tavi's aunt Isanna, a watercrafter who is very strong and commanding on the outside, but a little insecure on the inside.

The fourth pov is Amara. Amara is a cursor of the king. Cursors are somewhere between messangers and agents. She is about to infiltrate a rebel camp to gather intelligence.
Her supervisor is the cursor Fidelias, who accompanies her on her mission.

Amara was my favorite character of those 5. Her journey is very interesting and she is very capable and likeable.
The most obvious character development is going on for Tavi, cause his is the coming-of-age thread. I'm not a fan of those stories, so some of his parts weren't that interesting for me personally.

But thankfully the book is really fast paced. I dreaded 300 pages of village life, but if you get past the first 100-150 pages the pace picks up and there's plenty of action.

Overall I enjoyed the book and I would rate it 3,5 stars. I decided to give it 3 stars here on GR, cause some of the books I rated 4 stars here lately, I enjoyed a tad more, but those are 3 really strong stars. I'm definitely going to continue the series at some point, but not right away. ...more

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Oct 17, 2017 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2017

BR with my TBR twin Tessy

Actual rating 3.5 stars.
An entertaining read. Good but not great.
I loved the concept of furies and liked the characters even though they're not that easily to identify with. The battle scenes felt a little bit (ok a lot more) drawn out up to the point when they became boring. But still it sets a good premise for future books and the ending made me curious as to what will happen next.

If you like action and A LOT OF DESCRIPTIVE BATTLE SCENES this book is just right for y ...more

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Aug 22, 2017 Olivia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

3.5 Stars.
A thoroughly entertaining read. Furies of Calderon isn't groundbreaking but simply a fun romp with entertaining characters.

I love the back story to this series: Butcher said that even a bad idea can be executed well and ultimately become a bestseller. He was dared to turn 'lost roman legion' and 'Pokémon' into something good. He did exactly that, and Codex Alera is a bestselling series, so I guess he won that dare.

Jim Butcher's books are a great introduction to fantasy for people who ...more

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About Jim Butcher

Jim Butcher

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Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resi ...more

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Quotes from Furies of Calderon

“The course of history is determined not by battles, by sieges, or usurpation, but by the individuals. The strongest army is, at its most basic level, a collection of individuals. Their decisions, their passions, their foolishness, and their dreams shape the years to come. If there is any lesson to be learned from history, it is that all too often the fate of armies, of cities, of entire realms rests upon the actions of one person's decision, good or bad, right or wrong, big or small, can unwittingly change the world.
But history can be quite the slattern. One never knows who that person is, where he might be, or what decision he might male.
It is almost enough to make me believe in destiny.” — 78 likes

“Because a sound tree doesn't have bad roots, Amara. No enterprise of greatness
begins with treachery, with lying to the people who trust and love you” — 61 likes

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