You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have had this on my to read list for a while; this book comes up often in writing circles when people discuss ideas and execution of said ideas. It's often called 'Pokemon meet Roman Legionnaires', which I STRONGLY disagree with, but I'm not here to review someone's false advertising.
This book did a great job of tying magic/furies into every day life and feeling as though it was a consistent part of life in that way. Society is built off it, relations develop from it, combat revolves around it. Great approach and execution.
Pros: Great concept of elemental familiars and what they could be used for, fun worldbuilding, intense action. The characters were likeable and the stakes were believable.
Cons: Some moments regarding the kid and the aunt that were a bit cringey. 'He followed me home, can I keep him?' just felt absurdly out of place, and the aunt had so many headaches and empathy pains that I think there was only one point in the book where she walked normally.
All in all, very glad I read this. A proper romp in a wild world. May read the others that come after it. Probably will not read again.
This book did a great job of tying magic/furies into every day life and feeling as though it was a consistent part of life in that way. Society is built off it, relations develop from it, combat revolves around it. Great approach and execution.
Pros: Great concept of elemental familiars and what they could be used for, fun worldbuilding, intense action. The characters were likeable and the stakes were believable.
Cons: Some moments regarding the kid and the aunt that were a bit cringey. 'He followed me home, can I keep him?' just felt absurdly out of place, and the aunt had so many headaches and empathy pains that I think there was only one point in the book where she walked normally.
All in all, very glad I read this. A proper romp in a wild world. May read the others that come after it. Probably will not read again.
medium-paced
This book is the first volume of another series by Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files. I started it because I have become a big fan of Butcher. I also enjoyed the start of another series, The Cinder Spires, but has only 1 volume so far, The Aeronauts Windlass. You need to have some patience with Furies of Calderon - it unrolls very slowly and it takes a good bit of the book before you understand who all the major characters are, how they fit together, what the magic system is, and what the overall plot is (which pieces together all of the individual subplots and players). There isn't an all-knowing narrator or information dump to help the reader along. The book is fairly long, but have confidence that your efforts in the beginning will give you a very interesting plot line and the background for the rest of the series.
I made it through 20% of this book and chose to DNF.
I just really don't like the world it was building up, the magic felt vague and unexplained. Characters are already deeply knowledgeable about their world, we get no character that shares our position of being new to this world, and because of this nothing is explained without internal exposition that feels very much like exposition.
I wasn't a fan of the creatures created here either, it falls into the fantasy issue of trying to make something new but in the end often just badly taping together three earthly animals and calling it a day.
I definitely found Amara do be an interesting character. But then the story jumps to Tavi, whose perspective I found less interesting...and then it jumps to Isana, whose chapter I had a really hard time paying attention in, and by the time I reached Fidelius's chapter, I didn't come back to the book for three days because I didn't want to read anymore. By the time I picked the book back up and read one more chapter, a person of color was introduced (yay!) but she was a slave (oh no...).
The writing was okay. Not mind blowing but it was mostly fine.
Anyways, that about sums it up for me. I really wish I liked this series, the idea of having a finished fantasy series to delve into was exciting but this series really isn't for me.
I just really don't like the world it was building up, the magic felt vague and unexplained. Characters are already deeply knowledgeable about their world, we get no character that shares our position of being new to this world, and because of this nothing is explained without internal exposition that feels very much like exposition.
I wasn't a fan of the creatures created here either, it falls into the fantasy issue of trying to make something new but in the end often just badly taping together three earthly animals and calling it a day.
I definitely found Amara do be an interesting character. But then the story jumps to Tavi, whose perspective I found less interesting...and then it jumps to Isana, whose chapter I had a really hard time paying attention in, and by the time I reached Fidelius's chapter, I didn't come back to the book for three days because I didn't want to read anymore. By the time I picked the book back up and read one more chapter, a person of color was introduced (yay!) but she was a slave (oh no...).
The writing was okay. Not mind blowing but it was mostly fine.
Anyways, that about sums it up for me. I really wish I liked this series, the idea of having a finished fantasy series to delve into was exciting but this series really isn't for me.
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a great epic fantasy with some political drama thrown in. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It keeps a fast pace with a lot happening throughout the story. I loved that the main character was the only person in the story without a special power, or fury, yet he was able to persevere.
Broke my record. 594 pages in 3 hours, 51 minutes. Happy about that, but wish that I had paced myself more because I retained EVEN LESS than I usually do.