Furies of Calderon

The Kingdom of Alera is in trouble. After years of peace and prosperity, the future looks uncertain as the First Lord of Alera, Gaius Sextus ages without leaving an heir. Ambitious noblemen begin to plot and maneuver hoping to shift the power and rule to themselves. Not only do the noblemen gather their forces, but they also begin to make alliances with some of the hostile races that also inherit this world. In addition to battling with swords and arrows, many of the people of Alera have the ability to call on the Furies, the creatures that control the basic elements - earth, fire, water, and air.

This book is a combination of fantasy and alternate historical fiction. The setting of the book feels like the Roman Empire at the end of a caesar's reign, complete with barbarian tribes. But Butcher has added a very fun twist of giving some people the talent to control a certain basic element making the battles very exciting with the potential of some unforeseen turns. Although the book has a strong conclusion, you can tell that this is the first of a series. I'll definitely be listening to some of the sequels. ( )

High fantasy, lotsa magic and fighting and monsters and stuff. Excellent world-building, interesting characters, cool ideas. Good book, but could have been great if it had had an editor to tighten up the writing and get rid of some logical inconsistencies.

Here are examples about my two complaints. This isn't a specific example, but there were many times when a character was thinking about a particular thing for several pages. Thoughts and conclusions were repeated, often for whole paragraphs. A significant number of pages could probably have been chopped if the redundant bits were removed. (Since this is high fantasy, epic fantasy, maybe that's why they were left in...) I only specifically remember one logical inconsistency. One character's hair style was described, and then he was said to be entirely wrapped in a robe such that only a small bit of his face was visible. Sure, it's no big deal, but it wasn't the only such inconsistency.

I'm a huge fan of Butcher's "Dresden Files" books and it's a foregone conclusion that I'll read each and every one of those books. I expect to read the second in this series, but it isn't it'll depend on time, reading trends, etc.

If you're going to read this series DO NOT look at the titles of the books you haven't read. It's pretty clear the general course the books will follow, based on the titles. ( )

I’ve been wanting to read this other series of Jim Butcher’s for a while because I ended up liking his Dresden book so much. I didn’t expect the books to be as good as the Dresden series but I was hoping it would be a good fantasy series. And I think it succeeded in that. It’s got an interesting magic system, politics, betrayal, young characters with promise of growing into very interesting characters. I think that most people would give this book a four star. I think at another time even I might give it a four star. But at this time, for whatever reason I couldn’t seem to get into it. Not all Butcher’s fault. I know I would have liked to know more about the furies, but that topic could come in later books. I do know that I will pursue the series, but not immediately. First I need to get out of this lagging in my normal fantasy love. ( )

A real page turner, I ran into a little bit of a slow spot about 2/3rds of the way in or it would be five stars. Nice plot, and the characters get developed well. The book jumps around a little bit, but with a purpose. Really looking forward to the next in the series. ( )

I came into Furies of Calderon a little hesitantly. I have a love-hate relationship with The Dresden Files and so would not have picked this one up if I didn't have the audiobook. On top of that the premise sounded a little lame and I am very picky about fantasy.

With that said, Furies was enjoyable. Tavi, the main character, is the only boy without a fury (an elemental spirit that does his bidding). He is, however, very clever. On the flip side, he's 15, so he manages to get himself into all sorts of trouble by being impulsive and twitterpated. There are other major characters which are both interesting and distinct from each other.

Jim Butcher's flair for writing action scenes is evident in the 2nd half of the book (the first half is setup that is well worth enduring) though I felt nearing the end of the book that all of the problems that were stacked on the characters were resolved too close together. Everything climaxed at once and there was little time to digest any of the resolutions. This may or may not be a problem for some, especially if one is reading the book instead of listening to it, but it felt hurried to me.

I will continue with the series, hoping that, as in the Dresden Files, the books improve with each entry. ( )