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Academ's Fury | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Jim Butcher | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| The Codex Alera | Furies of Calderon, Academ's Fury, Cursor's Fury | ||
It never rains, but it sure pours.
Enemies are gathering on Alera's borders. Magic-crafted storms are battering its coast. Cursors are being murdered, Steadholders attacked. And just when his land needs him most, the First Lord's health begins to fail, providing his nobles with ample temptation to fight for the throne. Yet none of this is the greatest danger, for an inhuman monster out of inhuman myth has arisen, and if not stopped soon — very soon — it will overwhelm a world. The fate of Alera once again rests on the shoulders of one young man who doesn't even have any magic to his name. Only this time, the fate of everyhing else may just rest there as well.
Butcher had done a wonderful job in Furies of Calderon, creating a world that is far from the standard Tolkienesque fantasy of elves and dwarves and a great evil threatening all. And he follows through here with some great battles and lethal politics. The climax is thrilling — there's really no other word for it, as much as I think the word is overused. And it lasts for over a hundred pages, yet is never drawn out or padded in any way. That kind of detail in a desperate fight is merely what readers ave learned to expect of this author, and he delivers.
As always, Butcher crafts an engaging, exciting story that never lets up the tension. One is never sure how intact the good guys will be after each of their various encounters. Indeed, since the story soon coalesces into three distinct paths, it's not even alwas certain that they'll make it at all. A hallmark of an excellent epic is that failure is an option; the war won't usually be lost if the antagonists win a battle or two.
Academ's Fury is a complex tale, even more so than the first book. Plots weave and duck around each other, allegiences shift, and there's plenty of surprises to be had. Never once was I confused by what was going on, however. And while I anticipated several of the plot's revelations, I was never dismayed that the characters didn't see them coming as well. Their ignorance was necessary for the story to unfold as it did, but more importantly it was perfectly reasonable, an understandable lapse on their parts. It is a fine line to walk, and Butcher does it beautifuly.
And yet, for some reason I liked this volume just a bit less than its predecessor. I'm not entirely sure why, I confess. However, a large part is definitely because Tavi's instincts tell him things instincts simply could not. They don't just tell him someone is behind him or watching, they hell him they mean to beat him. He is able to know exactly which place to stake out, and what is the best place to do it from, without looking around; he just goes there and stops, somehow knowing this is the place to be.
There is also the fact that one entire leg of the plot is a running battle between besieged Alerans and a foe superior in numbers and power both. Running through most of the book, it actually feels a bit wearying by the time the climax arrives. Desperate at the start, it only gets worse as the book progresses, and after a while it reaches a point where additional problems mean little. But the author nevertheless keeps piling it on.
This is a good book, make no mistake. But it simply wasn't perfect, not in my estimation. The race against time and the thrill of a well-written fight can't quite make up for what I perceived as flaws. But the book is thill well worth reading, and those who have read Furies of Calderon will not be disappointed in its sequel.
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