Furies of Calderon

Book one of the Codex Alera. Codex Alera, #1

by Jim Butcher

Paperback, 512 pages

English language

Published June 27, 2005 by Ace.

ISBN:: 978-0-441-01268-8

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 a war of succession looms on the horizon. " "Far from city politics in the Calderon Valley, the boy Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light his lamps. Yet as the Alerans' most savage enemy - the Marat - return to the Valley, he will discover that his destiny is much greater than he could ever imagine. " Caught in a storm of deadly wind furies, Tavi saves the life of a runaway slave named Amara. But she is actually a spy for Gaius Sextus, sent to the Valley to gather intelligence on traitors to the Crown, who may be in league with the barbaric Marat horde. And when the Valley erupts in chaos - when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies - Amara will find Tavi's courage and resourcefulness to be a power greater than any fury - one that could turn the tides of war.

1 edition

jdavidhacker1 reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

None

1 star

My understanding is Butcher tried to get more traditional fantasy published for a long time, unsuccessfully, before he hit it big with his urban fantasy series "The Dresden Files". It would seem that, after enough continued success with that series, the publishers offered to put this series out. Its sadly pretty clear why this wasn't a very successful endeavor until after he was an established author. Its...not great. It feels more than a little pokemon influenced. Skip it.

Sean Gursky reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

Review of 'Furies of Calderon' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

This book didn't work for me. Maybe I'm in my usual fantasy slump and need a change of genres but the book was a struggle. I found myself not enjoying it, not following who was who or who had what Fury (and their names and characteristics) and finding reasons to not keep reading.

I haven't read Jim Butcher before and will check out his other bodies of work but I won't be continuing with Codex Alera.

Wetdryvac reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

Review of 'Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The world and character building across this series is pretty darn spiffing.

Coalford reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

Review of 'Furies of Calderon' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Though the world and magic system is interesting, it's clear that where Butcher shines is one singular POV, as in his Dresden Files.
To me, this book fell flat on many levels.
Uninteresting and one dimensional characters.
More Deus Ex Machina than you can shake a Fury at.
A predictable plot, where every twist and turn was littered with awkward and unclear passage of time, where the writer would purposely alter the timeline to push twists and awkwardly add suspense.

Will read the other books in the series in the hopes that he picks up the slack because I love the magic system and KNOW that Butcher can be a fantastic author. Truly hoping these issues arose from his unfamiliarity with 3rd person narrative and having to juggle a cast without being filtered through the lens of one single protagonist.

kholerik reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

None

2 stars

I guess I need to accept that Butcher's books are not for me. This one was so much better than the Dresden Files, because of its delightful lack of Harry Dresden. The story was nice, the Characters OK. I couldn't say why, but overall I found the book to be rather underwhelming. There's basically non-stop suspense and action. But somehow I just didn't care. I will probably not continue this series.

state_electrician reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

Review of 'Furies of Calderon' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

btuftin reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

Review of 'Furies of Calderon' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I think this book does too much in its 400+ pages and it certainly had me feeling slightly underwhelmed for the first half or so. But maybe part of that was too high expectations on my part, and I certainly couldn't put it down for the last 150 or so pages.
I might have to start on the sequels soon too, since I'm dying to know what happens next, and don't have anything else in my reading queue.

Mark reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

None

5 stars

really enjoyed it, where the hero is powerless among powerful.

wordman reviewed Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera, #1)

None

4 stars

A refreshing bit of fantasy that totally sucked me in from the author of the Dresden Files series. The way magic is handled is totally brilliant and well realized. While there are clear protagonists and antagonists, all have believable points of view and motivation, so there is conflict without clear-cut good vs. evil. The whole thing left me wanting to run a role-playing game in this world, but not really seeing which system to use for it (Anima Prime comes close, but can't do some of what happens in the books). I'm already reading the second one.