Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, #1) in Buddy Read Zone

Oct 01, 2012 Tom rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite

5+ stars to an awesome start to a series. Not sure how the rest of the series is going to compete with the start of it but I am looking forward to see where it goes. Especially since my friend says they get better.

Epic fantasy adventure story of Tavi. Tavi is a boy born without any furies and is looked upon by many in his realm as a freak. In the realm of Alera people have furies which allow then to control earth, water, air, fire metal in some way or another. Some are very strong and some not s 5+ stars to an awesome start to a series. Not sure how the rest of the series is going to compete with the start of it but I am looking forward to see where it goes. Especially since my friend says they get better.

Epic fantasy adventure story of Tavi. Tavi is a boy born without any furies and is looked upon by many in his realm as a freak. In the realm of Alera people have furies which allow then to control earth, water, air, fire metal in some way or another. Some are very strong and some not so much, but everyone has some kind of fury except for Tavi. He has always been told he just hasn't come into them yet but at age 15 it is becoming harder to believe that he will ever come into a fury. When Tavi and his uncle Bernard run into trouble in the valley, Tavi will have to rely on his brain all the time wishing he had some kind of fury to help him through his ordeals.

My friend told me that it started out slow because of the world building that happens. I didn't find that at all. The world building was done during the telling of several story-lines that were going on. It didn't feel like an info dump where you are trying to figure out what is going on. There are things that are mentioned but aren't spelled out what they are but I like that sometimes. There are stories that give a definition of all the terms and I feel like the world building can drag on when that happens. I prepared myself for the world building and found myself immediately immersed in the story with the world just kind of forming during the story to my delight.

One of my favorite parts of this story is how the face of evil gets blurred. There are flat out heroes and evil villains in this story but then there are those that enter the grey zone. That grey zone gets entered into by the good and evil characters. Once the story gets started it is nonstop action. There are several stories going on and they stay on that story for a long time. You are not bouncing back and forth getting teased and then jumping back and forth constantly. There is the longest battle I ever read about without ever getting bored. I guess because it was actually several battles broken up with strategic maneuvering. There was also several story-lines being told within the same battle. If it was 1% or 2% shorter than it would have been perfect. Now if you want to pick it apart there were times when I was like why don’t they just do __. There was also a couple battles that were a little farfetched but they were short and didn't affect my enjoyment of the story.

There are a couple romances building but this is a fantasy lovers book not a romance lovers book. I loved the pace of the book. The writing was mature but not to the point of ever having to hit my dictionary. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series. This book ends with enough finality that you wouldn't have to move on with the series. Anymore it seems that they end in a cliffhanger to get you to read the next book. The quality of this book will have me moving on with the series and not a cliffhanger and I LOVE that.
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Aug 28, 2011 Duchess Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library, z-audiobooks, genre-manly-authors, read-in-2012, e-pcs, genre-fantasy

Wow! Rarely do I read a first-in-a-series book that I'm this impressed with. Granted, the first part was a little slow, but once the characters were all set up, the story really took off. I listened to the audiobook and loved the narrator. I was a bit surprised they chose a female. But she did fabulous. Please excuse the spelling of the names if I get them wrong.

This world that Butcher has built is truly amazing. It's built around the idea of people, common or no, having these deep connections w ...more

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Oct 23, 2016 new_user rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

I had no idea this was based on Roman anything. It seems very modern, like an FBI investigation slash war account with magic and little technology. I thought the mandatory military service was reminiscent of many countries today. There's even mention of a night club at one point. I typically don't read fantasy with modern dialogue or prose, so it speaks to the author's talent with character development and dynamics, intrigue and espionage, etc. I enjoyed all the characters and their adventures. ...more

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