So... I went to the book store to get into Dresden, I searched for Jim Butcher, and lo and behold a vast amount of books with Dresden in them! And then... I noticed they had multiple copies of every book in the series except the first one -_-.

So, I picked up the first book in the Codex Alera series.

Read it straight through in one night. Fucking loved it.

I figured we could use a new thread about this awesome series, mainly because the next oldest thread I found mentioning them was a specific question, and I would have felt very necroish had I posted there.

What I love:
~Furycrafting. Not wholly original, but certainly a fresh look at magic, and a damn cool magic system.
~Fury-less Tavi. The fact that the hero has no magic, when EVERYONE else does (no exceptions) is fucking cool. His character is so well done it bamboozles me (I honestly couldn't think of another word). I'm starting the second book, and am damn excited to see Tavi will be a BMF without magic.
~Fidelias. Enough said.
~The Marat. Also enough said.
~Fade. Not to spoil, but even though I saw it coming, the foreshadowing could not have been better.

What I did not like:
~The contrieved "everyone important lives" BS. But whatever, they're all pretty awesome characters, it just irked me how they ALL lived.
~The parts from Isana's POV bored the crap out of me. Even the Amaris parts bored me a bit. I wish he would concentrate more on his main character.
~Bernard/Amara had me WTFing a bit.

This series has such ridiculous crossover possiblities. Its magic system deserves more light in the fandomme world. While I would not want to see any Codex Alera fanfiction (authors would be far to tempted to give Tavi a fury, which would not be good IMO), I really want to see this magic system used in fics, Harry Potter and otherwise.

 

That's actually what has kept me from reading this series. How does Butcher manage to pull it off? I've been meaning to get an intelligent perspective on how that part works out. Care to help?

 

I think you should read more of the series before you reject it completely.

 

Me and Sree have been pimping this on IRC for fucking ages now, and you pick it up on your own? Fuck you.

Oh, and the first book is indeed rather good, but it is mere setup for the unending awesome that is the following books. And that Bernard's sekrit loliwife creeps you out just means you don't spend enough time on DLP.

 

The first book was the most boring of them all to me. It was a struggle to read but I liked it. Once I got to the 3rd book it really picked up.


As to how Butcher pulls off the main character being the weakest of them all is simple. He compensates by using his brain and what he has at the moment.

 

The third book (Cursor's Fury) is the best one, yet.

The First Lord is fucking awesome, let's just say something about a volcano erupting, and leave it at that.

Amara and Isana are both boring, Isana more so than anyone else. Her story continues to worsen in the levels of boring, IMO, throughout the series.

Tavi's furycrafting or lack there of doesn't not make him any less of a bad ass. In fact, he has soudly defeated many of the powerful furycrafters without any furies what so ever.

Fidelias is a very interesting character, his story is one of the most intriguing ones, in the series...

Spoiler

Kitai bugs me, a lot. We criticize fanon for having soulmate bonds, yet the whole Kitai/Tavi thing is based on that. Although Tavi does benifit from it, in a major way. Still I hope she dies in one of the future books...

 

I wasn't a fan of the first book, but I found the second one amazing. I didn't like the first one because I'm not a fan of Amara, and that was an Amara heavy book. Isana was slow in the book, but I've come to like her character, and how it has evolved.
Tavi is just badass, and he only gets more and more badass as the series progresses, which I think is why I liked the second one. The second one is the point where I think he becomes awesome, and his band of sidekicks kickass.
Maximus is by far my favorite character. For some reason I tend to enjoy the badass, sleep with countless chicks, drunk sidekicks in fantasy the most.

 

Spoiler

I've been thinking of writing a Knight Omnis!Harry. Harry casts spells utilizing wind, fire, water, etc. and Tavi, who witnesses this and is building alliances to secure his position as Princeps, decides to propagandize him as a Knight Omnis.

When he founds out that Harry's punch is piss-weak and can't seduce a gal for beans, he'll make a joke that he isn't an earthcrafter.

I disliked the Marat essentially being domesticated in a single book.

But what I found most nforgivably amateurish was Tavi's +500 luck. Something he didn't know compelled him to go the right house where the Black Cat was planning on dropping by?

It undermines the whole handicapped protagonist who must compensate using his brains routine.

 

Book 4 spoilers.

Spoiler

I'm really intrigued about the 'soul bond'. Considering that, in the 3rd book, it Kitai was who shut off the fury lamp, I'm wondering if he'll reverse their positions: that it will be her who'd develop the external furies while his remain internalized

 

I've always wondered why everyone on this site always mentioned the Dresden Files, but never mention the Codex Alera.

I actually liked the Codex Alera a bit more than the Dresden Files. I missed the humor and the quirky comments of the Dresden cast, but you could really see the characters grow in the Codex, and that is what I like to see the most.

Now, it's been months since I read Captain's Fury, so I don't really remember anyone's name, so I can't really go into detail about why I love each character and everything.

What I can say is that each book gets more and more epic, and I danced around like a fool when I found out the next book is coming out in December. I can't fucking wait.

 

I love Codex Alera. I had some reservations going in, and it took me awhile to get over furyless!Tavi, but it gets better and better. I can't wait till the next book comes out (I think this December).

PS, major spoiler:

Spoiler

Tavi actually starts showing signs of small scale crafting in book 4. I have a feeling this will be a big factor in the future books. His power will almost certainly grow. I mean, afterall, he is the Princeps, and with everyone that's going to be after him, he's going to need more than cleverness, sword skill, +500 luck, and small scale crafting to survive

.

 

Any rumours abou the release date of the fifth book?

 

Yesh. Here it is:

Amazon

 

Philly_Homer:

Spoiler

The Kitai/Tavi relationship is no more a soul bond than what Doroga has with his gargant or Hashat has with her horse. They work better with each other than they do separately, know each other's relative locations, and a couple of other perks. The reason for their (ahem) mutual pleasuring is that they're horny teenagers, not TWU WUV SOULBOND.

 

I figured out it was a big setup when I read the titles of 2 through 4. I'm stoked to read them. And it wasn't the loliness that had me WTFing it was how it wasn't foreshadowed very well. Unlike the other twists, Fidelias early on, Fade, the Marat ect.

He's also crazy lucky. But I got over that. At least he has the brains to take advantage of said luck, unlike HP.

Oh, and I could give a shit about the soul bond thingy. They didn't immediately get together, and I have a thing for pale, athletic, topless chicks with bleach blonde hair. Go figure.

 

Alright, cool. I'll go pick these up, then. Thanks a lot guys.

 

Yall have convinced me to read the series.

 

Me too, but I just went to my library and the first book is checked out