Search - Captain's Fury (Codex Alera, Bk 4)

Jim Butcher rotates between 2 series, his Harry Dresden stories and this, my FAVORITE series about Tavi and his planet of complex and different species. Jim Butcher really drives his stories in unpredictable directions, with many minute details that made me a real fan of his books. Unfortunately, the Dresden TV show was dismal so I didn't watch. My son who doesn't like to read also liked these book, and used them for his required English book report assignments. He told me "Mother, Jim Butcher obviously plays a lot of video games!" Well, I don't play a lot of video games but I do like his books.
The new releases always come out in hard cover, then in about 10 months are released in paperback.
This is the 4th of five books (so far) in this series (Codex Alera) 1st is Furies of Calderon, 2nd is Academ's Fury, 3rd Cursor's Fury, 4th Captain's Fury, latest: Princeps' Fury
These are what I keep on my shelves, to enjoy repeatedly... both series!

This is the fourth book in the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. There are six total books in the series with the 6th book "First Lord's Fury" being released in Dec. 2009. This was a great book and really pulled the series to a good point.

Tavi is still acting as Captain of the First Aleran and has spent the last two years holding the line of war against the Canim. Tavi is recommending seeking alliance with the Canim because he believes the Canim were fleeing a larger enemy, the Vord. Unfortunately the Senate decides to take an interest in the conflict and sends out incompetant and coniving, Senator Arnos to command over Tavi. From there things get worse and worse and many lives are lost. Tavi, Isana, and the First Lord himself are forced to take actions that they never could have foreseen in an effort to save Alera from destruction.

This was an excellent next book in this series. The storyline switches between multiple viewpoints, but does so in such a way that it is never confusing. The number of characters is vast, but kept managable. A glossary labeling who was realted to whom would have been a nice addition; still with wikipedia you can review that online if you are confused. Much of the story deals with great battles, but there is some adventuring that balances that out. Readers who are fans of one or the other types of fantasy, should find a little of both in here.

Tavi, Kitai, and many of the other characters really step it up in this book, taking risky actions that make them forces to be reckoned with. The book is hard to put down and has you on the edge of your seat the whole time. Butcher has an excellent writing style that easily conveys the surroundings of the scenes without pushing aside the great action scenes, it is very easy to read. The characters are very engaging and you are desperately pulling for them through the whole book. There is also some light touches of humor throughout that lighten the story so that it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Things get worse in this book than an any other book in this series, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is a wonderful book and I am going to start reading book 5 immediately. You definitely need to read the previous books in the series to understand what is going on in this book.

If I have any complaints it is that Tavi comes up with one sucessful hair-brained scheme after another. It seems a little far-fetched...you would think with all the risk-taking Tavi does one of his schemes would be a complete failure. He does have some partial failures, but everything works out in the end.

Overall a great book and a great series. I found the first couple books in the series to be a bit slow and the characters not as engaging as I had hoped, but this book made the whole series worthwhile.