Reviews

First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher

dvalent's review against another edition

4.0

3.75

telintelin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

The middle part was a bit slow.

danh60's review against another edition

5.0

I won't spoil the book for anyone, but the ending was disappointingly short. It's like he felt he just either ran out of time or paper. Lots happens...lots of fighting...then...The End. Extremely little in the way of an epilogue. I came to care for the characters and there was very little closure, and really nothing left to base another book on (though I hope he decides to).

lbninthecorner_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

pvl's review against another edition

2.0

The series started very well and I was looking forward to the rest of the books with anticipation: a much more experienced Jim Butcher launches a new series and is free to write outside of the boundaries of the Dresden Files. With every book that followed they got worse and worse though. Perhaps they were rushed out too fast because the author wanted to focus more on Dresden, perhaps it was due to poor editing, or perhaps it was something else... The end result was disappointing for me.

Everyone in these books thinks furiously. Raises an eyebrow. Raised both eyebrows. Smiles woolfishly. Knows that it is all about looking confident when a predator is watching you. But we knew that from the Dresden Files anyway, didn't we?

Everyone lovable reacts the same way, and the episodic bad guys are generally extremelly stupid and are forced to act in obnixious ways so that there is something for the good guys to do.

Spoiler

And everyone everyone apart from like 90% of the population and almost 100% of the characters we dislike. Not only do they live, but they live in almost complete happiness. They are loved by their people, are given the status they deserve, can magically bear babies again. Even the traitor that should have been given the opportunity to die a epic/cheesy death to redeem himself is left alive.

The one minor exception is no exception at all, since the character that was seriously hurt is nevertheless one of the most capable furycrafters left in the realm, and is reunited with his parents, and might regain his ability to walk eventually.

The worse thing is that in general they do not survive because someone did something spectacular. They survive because the bad guys would rather go deal with something else instead of snapping their fingers to solve the problem for good.

And, naturally, everyone in Alera feels compelled to preface every plan they are about to share with lines such as, 'Here is what we are going to do...', so that there is a good opportunity to send the reader far away from the scene. This is nothing more than lazy writing.

lmv130's review against another edition

3.0

I hardly ever write reviews but my GOODNESS the rushed and uninspired ending of this book nearly ruined the series for me. It had SO much potential to end with as much cleverness and surprise as each of the preceding books in the series but it does not. If you need to read the book for series closure, you’ve been warned.

lostandpulledtogether's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense slow-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? No

5.0

jaepingsu's review against another edition

2.0

I really wish I could say this was better than the last couple in the series, but for me it was just the same level of "meh" that I've been feeling since starting this series. I probably set my expectations wrong going in, as I love his Dresden Files and was hoping for the same smart writing and great plotting, but it felt to me like this series didn't have anywhere near the personality and charm.

Spoiler

The ending in here was pretty predictable, and the levels of tension felt non-existent. I like my ultimate battles having at least some tension as to whether or not all the characters are going to make it out alive, but it just felt in here that it was a given that no one would be killed, and that Tavi would swoop in to save the day like he always does.

So, eh. Not a terrible read, and I can still see why people really enjoyed this series, but it just seemed weak to me.

alancb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

sunohn's review against another edition

5.0

Very action packed from multiple pov's. Battles are described amazingly and I really was not able to guess the ending. I started to like the characters even more and when I read the last word; I had cried, laughed and be utterly amazed. But most of all, I closed the book with the greatest sense of homesickness I ever had.