Search - Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, Bk 1)

If I didn't know the name of the author, I would never place this author as the same one who writes the Harry Dresden books. This first book in the Codex Alera series is a completely different type of story. It is extremely well-written and the world that Butcher has created is amazing. My only issue is that the world is so fully developed that it took a while to really understand how this world worked - I think I spent at least the first half of the book trying to figure it all out (and there are still many questions that I have), which took away a bit from the story itself. The characters might not have the same place in my heart that Harry and Bob and their crew have, but I did enjoy reading this book very much.

This isn't a half bad book. I'm anxious to read the rest of the series. Jim Butcher went a completely different way than his Dresden files series. In this series he develops a new world and a new way of doing "magic". This book drags you into the author's world and keeps you there until you finish the book and surface for air.

The ideas behind the book were great; I enjoyed the ideas of the furies a lot. The book was okay, but I did not immensely enjoy it-- the style was just not quite my cup of tea.

This series is much different than his Dresden series and I just could not get into this book. It was very difficult to understand what was going on & many things weren't quite explained or defined. Such as, what exactly is a "windcrafter?" What is a "Rill?" What is the "Academy?" Who exactly are these characters? I was pretty confused a lot through this book. I think if Butcher would have gone into more detail in the beginning & introduced the characters in better detail, it would've been a good read. I got about halfway through and couldn't tell you why these certain characters were against each other & why & what they were planning. Overall, I give this book one star.

I loved the Dresden books that I've read so far, so I thought I'd give this series a try since it is by the same author. I'm really glad I did! While it is extremely different from the other series Butcher still can tell a fast-paced, intense story that never lets up. The end of the book was a little disappointing, but I can't really go into why because I don't want to spoil it. Still, I put this book down and immediately started reading the next book in the series. Good stuff!