Furies of Calderon Audiobook By Jim Butcher cover art

Furies of Calderon

Codex Alera, Book 1

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In this extraordinary fantasy epic, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files leads readers into a world where the fate of the realm rests on the shoulders of a boy with no power to call his own...

For a thousand years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive and threatening races that inhabit the world, using their unique bond with the furies—elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal. But in the remote Calderon Valley, the boy Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light his lamps. Yet as the Alerans’ most savage enemy—the Marat horde—return to the Valley, Tavi’s courage and resourcefulness will be a power greater than any fury, one that could turn the tides of war... Epic Fantasy Action & Adventure Fantasy Epic Feel-Good Fiction Rage Military

Critic reviews

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

“A stay-up-all-night-’til-you-finish-it-book, Furies of Calderon is a marvelous read.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs

“Filled with plot twists and white-knuckled suspense, this is a ripping good yarn that delivers terrific magic and nonstop action.”—National bestselling author Deborah Chester

“A fascinating world and magic system...the start of a promising series.”—Locus

“Butcher has created a wonderful new world of fantasy...This first book in the series introduces all the main characters and the creatures and events that make Alera a great world in which any reader can get lost.”—SF Site

“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
Unique Magic System • Engaging Fantasy World • Excellent Narrator • Intricate Plot Twists • Captivating Adventure Scenes

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If you follow my reviews, you know that I like to roll the dice, to randomly buy a series on a whim, on the luck of the draw. Sometimes, it's a bust.

This time, it's a definite win, but if you go by how the series was created, you'd probably run in the opposite direction.

Here's one for the books: Jim Butcher is well-known for his "Dresden Files" series, created a fantastic fantasy series on a BET. Yep, a bet. Read on.

To quote the Codex Alera Wiki site, "the inspiration for the series came from a bet Jim was challenged to by a member of the Delray Online Writer’s Workshop. The challenger bet that Jim could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and Jim countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger’s choosing. The “lame” ideas given were “Lost Roman Legion", and “Pokémon”.

It DOES sound lame.

Well, Butcher makes it work. To the nines.

I've finished this first novel, and I'm enjoying this unique story line of humans with Roman similarities binding with elemental furies. Add unique races, backstabbing, politics, military battles, duels and an interwoven story line that pulls it all together, and you get a fantastic story that's simply put, a VERY VERY good listen.

The whole concept of fighting alongside elemental familiars used here is wonderfully executed. It's deep, well-thought magic-based partnership of man and magical creature is a pleasure to experience.

So, what about the writing?

Again, if you follow my reviews, you know that I love ENGAGING fantasy or scifi writing. Anything less won't do. And this is definitely engaging. There's great characters that plot, backstab, challenge, fight for their beliefs, devour their enemies, and celebrate their victories. You're taken on a great romp of a story, and in the end, isn't that what we all want in a good listen?

I know I do, and I so enjoyed this first audiobook in the series, that I bought the entire series. Yep. And I'm not disappointed with the decision.

Who knew that Lost Roman Legions and Pokemon could knock it out of the park?

Home run, Jim. Home run.

Lost Roman Legions...And POKEMON?

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For some reason they have added trumpet sounds at strange places throughout the narration. It's very annoying and really is not not well performed either. The narrator is great. It is just the sound effects that are bad.

Sound Effects

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If you could sum up Furies of Calderon in three words, what would they be?

Battles galore!

What did you like best about this story?

Actually, the saga is fascinating and will clearly lead to more books in the series. It stimulates the mind to consider what went before and what will come after - not just in the story, itself, but for humankind.

The characters are well-drawn and engaging, but I find that the author relies too much on battle behavior to expand information about a number of the characters, but left far too many holes in the actual development.

Which scene was your favorite?

Tavi going back for Kitai

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I must admit, I did get bored with all the battles. Each one was extended and highly detailed making it feel like the series was little more than one VERY LONG battle. IOW, there was more battle description than actual story.

But what there was of story and of character was strong and engaging.

Any additional comments?

The single biggest irritation were those awful fanfares with reason for them - just stuck in from time to time in the middle of a conversation. It was almost as if they were put in to mask an edit-join in the recording. However, instead of masking them, they highlighted them and the sounds were absolutely TERRIBLE and disruptive to the narrative.

What is with the idiotic fanfares?

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Having just finished the story, I'm confident in saying that I liked the book, thought it was definitely worth the time and money, and look forward to listening to the next book in the series. The author definitely has some quirks, though; the aesthetic of the story was split, making it a little difficult to tell who the story is really for.

The aesthetic is split between:
1) adventurous coming-of-age on a wild frontier, complete with exciting encounters with dangerous people, monsters, weather, etc, and
2) low fantasy war with lots of gruesome moments, despair, cannibalism, and death

Added to that second aesthetic is female slavery psychological horror. Odiana's segments, as well as some other mentions of promiscuous powerful females, felt really out of place in the rest of the story. This aspect of the story was not very interesting to me, and distracted from the story, which is why I did not rate the story 5 stars.

The two aesthetics feel very separate because they are occurring to different characters for most of the story. This makes this book difficult to recommend to a certain type of listener. I cannot really recommend it to readers who primarily like fantasy coming-of-age stories unless they also tolerate or like jumping between that and low fantasy elements, including a pinch of psychological sexual horror, as well. I cannot really recommend this for young adults, either, though the parts of the book I liked most could have certainly been made to include that audience.

The characters are a lot of fun, for the most part. I would have loved if the story focused more on Tavi and Kitai; their adventure was my favorite aspect of the book and I look forward to seeing what becomes of them more than any other characters.

Adventurous, though Caught Between Two Aesthetics

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Excellent series. Familiar feel that allows you to easily fall into the story. Characters that you develop a relationship with and want to hear more about.

What did you like best about this story?

Multiple converging story lines that show the world and what's happening from many points of view.

What does Kate Reading bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Kate Reading brings the characters to life. It was easy to tell the different characters apart. Since most of the characters are male it was especially interesting. Her male voices sounded male and each character had it's own voice. I will try other books read by her because of her talent alone.

Excellent series.

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