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 …
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.
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.
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.
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.
