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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
Fun and engaging but nothing groundbreaking or memorable
Possible Spoilers:
The only book thus far that has made me thank god the moment it was done. I have a love/hate relationship with this book. At times I really hated it, and towards the end I skipped more than I have ever skipped while reading a book. I'm fairly sure I skipped more than 30 pages worth of content. Jim Butcher derives a sick pleasure from writing a drawn out fight scene. I don't mean five pages worth of fight scene or even ten. Jim Butcher managed to write about 6 chapters of the world's most boring fight I've ever read in my life. But I owe him my eternal gratitude for helping me realize how much I hate drawn out fight scenes. I was not aware of how much I truly hated them. I was prepared to give this book two stars but the end reminded me how much I had enjoyed the book prior to that tiresome description of the fight at the Garrison. That horrible part aside, I really enjoyed the characters. Odiana became one of my favorite characters despite the fact that I couldn't stand her at first. Gaius quickly became a beloved character and Fade became my favorite towards the end (although I always found him whimsical) All in all, I liked the book and where it not for that scene, I would've given it 4 stars. I'm not saying the book is particularly bad. This is purely a matter of preference.
I will be reading the next books in the series. I'm eager to know what Tavi makes of himself at the Academy and what Fidelias' next plan might be.
The only book thus far that has made me thank god the moment it was done. I have a love/hate relationship with this book. At times I really hated it, and towards the end I skipped more than I have ever skipped while reading a book. I'm fairly sure I skipped more than 30 pages worth of content. Jim Butcher derives a sick pleasure from writing a drawn out fight scene. I don't mean five pages worth of fight scene or even ten. Jim Butcher managed to write about 6 chapters of the world's most boring fight I've ever read in my life. But I owe him my eternal gratitude for helping me realize how much I hate drawn out fight scenes. I was not aware of how much I truly hated them. I was prepared to give this book two stars but the end reminded me how much I had enjoyed the book prior to that tiresome description of the fight at the Garrison. That horrible part aside, I really enjoyed the characters. Odiana became one of my favorite characters despite the fact that I couldn't stand her at first. Gaius quickly became a beloved character and Fade became my favorite towards the end (although I always found him whimsical) All in all, I liked the book and where it not for that scene, I would've given it 4 stars. I'm not saying the book is particularly bad. This is purely a matter of preference.
I will be reading the next books in the series. I'm eager to know what Tavi makes of himself at the Academy and what Fidelias' next plan might be.
Completely different from The Dresden Files. An excellent book, luckily there's only 5 more I'm going to have to read now!
Against my better judgment, this unholy marriage of Pokémon and Roman legions has endeared itself to me. Maybe I was just ripe for yet another story about a fleeing orphaned farm boy of mysterious parentage. Add Roman military tactics, and some elemental and animal companions and I'm an easy mark.
Jim Butcher’s snappy dialogue is at times cloying, and the plot and pacing have all the contrivances of a blockbuster but the end result is simply fun. There are about four POV’s that more or less work, although more character development all around wouldn't hurt. The exploration of the savage Marat and a few of the villains surprised me too; I expected one dimensional “others” for antagonists but Jim Butcher attempted to provide them with some reasonable motives.
There are a few things which may be contentious to some readers. The portrayal of rape and sexual assault verges on gratuitous at some points.
Spoiler
Like when one of the ambivalent antagonist's is revealed to have horrid backstory, filled with abuse and rape, and is then literally gang raped pages later. It almost seems like the sole purpose of this scene is to emphasize how broken Odiana is and how monstrous Kord is.Spoiler
Doroga and Hashat could fall into the noble savage stock type, while members of the herdbane and wolf tribes are ignoble savages. Despite having silver-white hair and pale skin, their conception clearly borrows heavily on Native American concepts and stereotypes. There's even totem animals and scalping.Despite the flaws, I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next instalment and finding out whether or not Tavi manages to find an adequate
It'll get boring if you stick to the path the whole way, Tavi.
Great first book to introduce the world and characters. The pacing is even enough you don't feel rushed, but fast paced enough I always have a hard time putting the book down. This was my second time through, and I my only complaint was that one of the plot twists isn't foreshadowed as well as I'd like when reading back through. Still one of my favorites though, looking forward to binging the rest of the series again.
Oh boy, couldn't finish. Felt like a really tedious read. Now I learn that Jim wrote this book on a bet! No wonder!
I could really care less about the Calderon valley or anything in it....
I could really care less about the Calderon valley or anything in it....
Jim Butcher has a way of writing characters that the reader cares about. This is one of his earliest novels and is a bit rough around the edges but you can see the bones of his later novels in the development of the characters. I will definitely pick up the next in the series.
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've enjoyed Jim Butcher's Dresden Files to an extent and of course world building epic fantasy is my obsession, so the Codex Alera excited me. The premise is good, with Tavi being the only person who can't command/bond with any fury, but this book was painful to get through. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters and I wasn't particularly interested in anything that happened to any of them, the lone exception being the Hunger Games-like trial that Tavi went through with all the crazy spider things and the living cannibalistic ground. When I read that section I chalked it all up to the book being a slow starter slow burn, but it just wasn't true. It's just a horrendously boring book with a really clunky writing style that failed to keep my interest outside of the aforementioned trial. I can't recommend this one at all. I bought the second book in the series so I may give it a whirl at some point to see if it goes somewhere more interesting, but if the prose is like this one, I won't be finishing that book.