Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, #1) in All Things Jim Butcher

Jun 09, 2009 Christopher Patti rated it it was amazing

I set about reading this book with feelings of mild trepidation. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series has become far and away my favorite fantasy series over the last couple of years, and sometimes when an establishes author changes sub-genres the results can be disappointing.

I'm happy to report this turned out to be utterly unjustified! This book exhibits the same quality of writing that makes the Dresden Files such a joy to read, in a totally different setting which is a treat.

One of the things ...more

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Oct 26, 2008 Els - cygny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned, audio-book, fantasy

ETA 2023 : It was so good to be back with these characters. I'm sticking to my 5 star rating although this is now purely based on how this series makes me feel (4 stars is probably more accurate when compared with the rest of the series, but well).

Having read and reviewed a lot more books the past year, I'm looking at this a bit more critically. This book has flaws. For a start, my copy has typing mistakes, which I'm not fond of. But that aside, I guess that you can see that the writing in this ETA 2023 : It was so good to be back with these characters. I'm sticking to my 5 star rating although this is now purely based on how this series makes me feel (4 stars is probably more accurate when compared with the rest of the series, but well).

Having read and reviewed a lot more books the past year, I'm looking at this a bit more critically. This book has flaws. For a start, my copy has typing mistakes, which I'm not fond of. But that aside, I guess that you can see that the writing in this first book is still somewhat rough (I should reread more Butcher books again to see if that changes). I'm also aware that there has been criticism in the way some women are portrayed. To be honest, it's not really an issue for me.

This book has four POVs and if I'm being honest, there's only one I'm absolutely interested in. And it's not one that's used most. I still have mixed feelings about the two female main characters, but I don't dislike them as much as I did when I first read this. Like in 2016, I remember certain events but they only happened later in books. I forgot about a lot of other stuff, which was fun to discover again. And I know certain things about characters from later books that made their current behaviour somewhat difficult to read about.

But! I was so excited a lot of the time and knowing how much the main character Tavi grows in the series, it was so amazing to see again how it all started. I don't think I've ever been this invested in reading about a teenager than I am about this kid. I could go on about this for a long time, but it's not really useful for this review. I'll only add that I love his interactions with other characters and how he builds relationships. Gaius Sextus remains super interesting (I love reading about him). But, Araris forever ❤️

I also got the audiobook for this one and am contemplating getting the rest of the series as well. It was fun to do the audio/physical combination for this. Too bad the male POVs don't have a male narrator though, I would have liked that.

Review in 2016: First read in 2008, I always wanted to read it again. I thought now with being sick, it would be a perfect time to take out this book again. Reading being difficult, reading a book which I know already, seems to be easier than new books.

I changed the rating from 3 to 5 stars. This probably has to do with the fact that I had really grown to love this series and the characters and finding them again filled me with so much love. It was sometimes taking long to get to things I already remembered, but it was still so much fun to find the things I didn't remember, so that made up for everything.

If I had to choose between the Dresden Files or the Codex Alera, I think I'd choose for the latter. On to book two :-) ...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Chompa rated it really liked it

I'm a big fan of the Dresden File books and decided to try out his "other" series.

This is a good, solid fantasy series with some interesting twists on the genre. The characters are solid and the story is good. ...more

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Jul 22, 2009 Alice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, series

I really enjoyed this book, my first exposure to Jim Butcher. The world crafting is good, and if the characters are a teense archetypal and formulaic... um, long lost heir to the throne saves kingdom, anyone?... they are well-written and more layered than one would expect. Very interesting and novel take on magic and a society that is realistically seedy and classist and sexist but in which female characters manage to be most interesting than flat madonna/whore/xena cutouts. I blasted through th ...more

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Apr 16, 2008 Zach rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

No, I didn't rate this so well because it was written by Jim Butcher. In fact I'd been pretty pessimistic about reading it, knowing how different it would be from the Dresden Files.
I loved it. In every single chapter if this book there is action, it truly never really stops. Like few other books (yes the Dresden Files) this book held my attention through its entirety. While it is a bit mature at parts, I would suggest this book to any fantasy reader, but particularly to anyone who has not read a ...more

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Feb 07, 2009 Fran rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fantasy, audiobooks

The book starts a little slowly, but grabs you when you suddenly realize there's a lot more going on than just the surface adventure. I'm enjoying this book! ...more

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