Furies of Calderon

Codex Alera, Book 1

By: Jim Butcher

Narrated by: Kate Reading

In the realm of Alera, where people bond with the furies - elementals of earth, air, fire, water, and metal - 15-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos - when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies - Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war.

©2005 Jim Butcher (P)2008 Penguin Audiobooks

Critic reviews

“Epic fantasy in the best way, inspired by Tolkien.” (New York Times best-selling author Simon R. Green

“A stay-up-all-night-’til-you-finish-it-book, Furies of Calderon is a marvelous read.” (Number-one New York Times best-selling author Patricia Briggs)

“Absorbing...Butcher does a thorough job of world building, to say nothing of developing his action scenes with an abundance of convincing detail.” (Publishers Weekly)

Warning: May be habit forming.

The Furies of Calderon kicks off the Codex Alera series which follows the life of Tavi, a young boy with no furycrafting skills, in a world where everyone has access to furies and their abilities. The fantasy world of Alera is very interesting and the magic of the various types of furies hooks you in quickly and makes for a diverse set of circumstances. Tavi is hard pressed to get by compared to the rest of the world due to magical handicap but he also learns to use skills that others neglect due to their reliance on furycrafting.

Once I started on the first book it quickly became obvious that I was going "all in" and that I would be listening to the rest of series one after the other. Six books later I was still as satisfied as when I first began the journey and I can definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Epic Fantasy.

Kate Reading, a veteran of the Wheel of Time series, does an excellent narration job as always.

Well Crafted Story.

This is one of my favorite fantasy series. It had me interested from the beginning and I couldn't wait to read the following books. The main character actually develops and turns into a true hero that you enjoy following in the story. If you're looking for a CHANGE from Robert Jordan's long winded style with plots that go nowhere, then this is your book.

Excellent Beginning

First understand that this book sets the foundation for a 6 book series and is not meant to wrap up all the loose ends by the end of the book. Having said that, Butcher shows true writing excellence in this book.

In book 1 you are introduced to several characters that you will follow throughout the series, each character is well thought out and each adds to the overall story. In all there are more than 10 characters that encompass the main story and the writing style makes it easy to follow each and every one.

Throughout the book the characters share adventures and also break off into multiple story lines. But in the end each contribute to the final climax of the book.

My only regret is having to wait till Nov, 2009 for the finale.

Extremely Engaging

I've been a fan of the Dresden Files for quite a while now so I thought I would check out Butcher's other series, Codex Alera. I find that I liked the world and the characters and even though there wasn't really much new in the book it was engaging enough that I want to keep going. Tavi is a wonderful character that I'm glad that I got to know. There are certain secrets in this book that are more than a little obvious to me that I won't go into but I do like that you are given clues without being beat over the head with the truth. Also, the narration is awesome. Kate Reading should read all books.

Furiously fun.

A wild mix of themes that make things interesting to be sure, "Furies of Calderon: Codex Alera" is a bit difficult to pin down if asked to answer the question "Who was this written for?"

It has lighthearted moments and humor with a story that revolves around a teenager getting involved with a series of chaotic events after he loses some goats. Then it flips things on it's head to much more of a dark and mature realm of two women suffering the most horrible abuses from slavers. Then the audience is given something in between as a man and women struggle to prepare a garrison for a battle they might not win. It's a mix of everything. This audiobook is neither a coming-of-age story, war story or a horror survival story, yet all of these at once.

The result is something incredibly intense and unpredicable in a very entertaining way as long as a listener isn't anticipating anything with a consistent tone. The characters at first seem like stereotypes, only to become fully fleshed out and memorable personalities in ways that are hard to see coming. The setting is well thought out; familiar yet complex in off the wall details. The story flows in an even and comprehensive way while never giving an open view of what happens in the next chapter. The narrator, Kate Reading, performs with just the right touch of calm yet dramatic flare.

This audiobook is highly recommended for people who love fantasy adventure, but still need a story arc that will shake things up just far enough from anything too standard to the genre. Jim Butcher also wrote the "The Dresden Files" series and he knows how to keep things lively in his storytelling, that is for sure.

Great, but...

Usually, when the main character of a book is fifteen years old, my knee-jerk reaction is to figure that it's a Young Adult title, and adjust my expectations. Not only is Furies of Calderon not a YA book, but my expectations were totally blown out of the water.

The story is a fairly run-of-the mill "the kingdom is in danger!" story with a twist. The world is very different from our own, and basically everybody has access to some sort of elemental magic—Fury crafting. What sets the characters apart in this book is that the main character doesn't. In my experience, that's the general opposite of most Epic Fantasy. So for novelty value alone, it's really interesting.

Characters are solid. They all feel like they're living, breathing and—most importantly—thinking people. People in real life don't ever do something for no reason, so why should a character? Jim Butcher does a great job in making all the characters feel right.

The world is deep and interesting, with a history, geography, science and myriad cultures to populate it. This adds to the epic-ness of the feel, and it lets us feel that there is always going to be something that we don't know that the characters do. When you add that to characters that come alive and a fairly basic story with a funky twist, it brings you into the book all the more.

As for the recording, Kate Reading does a fantastic job at not only putting emotion behind the words, she does a great job at differentiating the characters in a way that doesn't interfere with the listen. Meaning that none of the differences are over-the-top.

As has been said in other reviews, the biggest (and perhaps most irritating) failing with this recording is the RANDOM TRUMPET NOISE!!! During the book, there are places where it sounds like the transfer cut a second out, or maybe that's where they spliced the recording. Regardless, why couldn't they do the same, and splice out the RANDOM TRUMPET NOISE!!!? It is significantly louder than the spoken dialog, so whenever you get the RANDOM TRUMPET NOISE!!!, it all but melts your eardrums. Particularly so if you happen to be listening to it with earbuds. While the RANDOM TRUMPET NOISE!!! isn't enough to tarnish what is a great book, it certainly deserves mention, as it is annoying, loud and often comes out of the blue. RANDOM TRUMPET NOISE!!! If you can't live with that, you are robbing yourself of a great book, so you should try anyway. Hopefully the same isn't true of the next installment...





RANDOM TRUMPET NOISE!!!

Great Story!

kind of choppy with the editing. Great Story!
Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Pokemon, Lord of the Rings mix. otherwise known as codex alera

Terrific Read and Excellent Performance

The title says everything. Butcher has yet to disappoint me, but I must point out Kate Reading was awesome!

Great story, OK reader

Story was solid. Hard to follow the reader sometimes as most males sound the same.

Great read= great listen

I thought the performance was really well done, however It would be nice if the horns could be edited out.