Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

[Amy]

Jim Butcher said the inspiration for this series came from a wager with a member of the Delray Online Writer’s Workshop. He was bet that he couldn't write a good story based on a "lame idea." Jim Butcher accepted the challenge and said he could do so using two ideas of the challenger's choosing, Pokémon and the Lost Roman Legion.

Do you see the influence of these two ideas in the book and do you think Jim Butcher won the bet?

[Anne Denise]

I think he succeeded in blending the two influences. Now, as to whether or not it resulted in a "good" story...?

It was well written, but not terribly original IMHO. It might make a good video game.

[Jim]

I found it to be very original and a good story. I did find the constant three pages of historical explanation in the middle of sword strikes, punches, et cetera to be annoying. I definitely saw the pokemon influence...but the lost roman legion...not so much. Maybe I'm not as familiar with that legion as I thought or it was just too subtle for me....
It took me a very long time to read this book. 4 weeks for a 653 page book is 4 times as long as it should have taken. I ordered books 2 and 3 today when I finished book 1. I am expecting to be through book 2 by next Tuesday.

[Amy]

I haven't finished the book yet, but so far I think he's done a good job blending Pokémon and ancient Roman culture. I agree with Jim in that I think he did a better job with the Pokémon aspect than the Roman.

I think the world is more unique than the actual story. I feel like the story has been done many times before especially in Fantasy. So far I've enjoyed the book although at times I found it to be quite frustrating.

The most frustrating part for me so far has been the action scenes. Or I should say the narrative (both internal and external) of the characters right before and/or during these scenes. There are times I've literally been yelling at the characters to get a move on. By the time they actually finish their inner monologue I feel like they should be seriously injured or dead.

So far I think he's done a good job with the character building and I like reading from the different POVs. I feel like the reader gets a broader view of a story when multiple POVs are used.

Personally I prefer his Dresden File series to this series and while I like the book (so far) I'm not sure I like it enough to continue with the series. I think the ending will really determine whether or not I'll read the other books in the series.

[Paul]

I could not get into this book at all.

[Jim]

Exactly Amy. This book seems to be mostly about establishing the world and charactes. I'm 200 pages into the second book and have not encountered these problems. The explanations and monologues are much smoother and fit in the scenes better.

[Anne Denise]

While I think he did a good job with the action, I found it irritating that there was action, conflict, and fighting in virtually every scene. At the beginning of the book, there were all these arguments taking place among characters that I didn't know enough about yet to even tell one from the other (the steadholders, mainly). Everybody just came across as hopeless rage-aholics to me. I was thinking maybe the Aleran water supply was laced with testosterone or something!

Then you come upon the Marat and they are also all at each other's throats. Blah blah blah fight fight.

Not even the guards and soldiers who are sworn to protect the land can be relied upon to be reasonable. When Bernard and Amara show up at Garrison to report that all holy hell is about to break loose and they really really need to speak with the head guy, you might think that the guards would sense the urgency there, but no, it was just another opportunity for someone to get his panties in a wad and another pissing contest to ensue. Fight! fight!

I'm definitely not reading any more of the series. I'm just going to wait for the MMORPG version. Ha!

[Amy]

I finished the book and while it was entertaining I don't think I'll be pursuing the rest in the series. I like action in my books, but I agree that there was too much fighting. I don't know if it's that everyone has a fury so fighting just comes more natural, but I did grow tired of fighting being used to drive forward the plot. I thought these scenes were well done, just overabundant.

I found the elemental aspect of this world to be the best part of the book. It’s a neat idea and I thought Butcher did a good job exploring this. If I were to read the next book it would be because I’m interested in reading more about the world.

I think having an earth craft would be cool. I particularly liked that the earth fury could help find the location of people’s movement. I would hate to have water crafting ability. While it would be useful to know if someone is telling the truth I’m not sure I would deal well with the emotional aspect of it. If you lived in Alera which fury craft would you like to have?

[Jim]

Amy the next book so far seems to deal with non combat uses of the furies a lot more. I find it to be much more character driven than action driven. This one seems to be more subtle.

[Alyssa]

I personally like this book...and am ready to read the rest of the series. This is my favorite very action packed book.

[Amy]

Based on what Jim and Alyssa said about the second book in tonight's discussion I've decided I'm going to read it. I'll let you know what I think.

[Alyssa]

I am on book 5 of the series, I think I like the second and third in the series best.