Why would you recommend me the Codex Alera series? I've liked the Dresden Files, so I was thinking about jumping into this one.

 

I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to.

 

Isn't that reason enough? If you liked one series by an author, you should be willing to give the other one a chance.

 

True, but I looked it up online, read the first book and the basis of the ideas behind the series...

I wasn't that impressed. The writing wasn't as good as Dresden Files, and the idea (Lost Legion/Pokemon) wasn't as intriguing as made out to be. Plus most of the characters sucked.

 

Matter of taste I guess. Alera is more of your classic fantasy novel, with multiple characters, some of which can be quite dry. I wouldn't judge the whole series on Furies of Caulderon. I think the general consensus is that the series doesn't peak until around Cursor's Fury and Captain's Fury.

 

As I recall, I found the first three books in the series pretty indifferent. Not painfully so, but the world, the magic system, the characters, politics, fantastic races, none of it was original and/or well written enough to truly capture my interest. I kept reading because there were some good moments interspersed throughout.

Then I got to the fourth book, and it was fucking awesome.

The series took a sudden military bent, and fulfilled all the potential of a society founded by a lost roman legion and armed with magic. The main character was in his element, and I actually started to like him. Captain's Fury is the highpoint of the series imo. Princep's Fury was alright, and I haven't read the last book yet.

So I wholeheartedly recommend the forth book. Unfortunately, you have to read the first three to get there. If you've read The Furies of Calderon, you know the series' weaknesses. Most of the characters still annoy the hell outta me, and the magic system remains uninspired. The good news is none of the books are worse than the first. So overall, the series might be worth reading, if you have the time/patience.

tl;dr Alright series, has high-points, not as good as Dresden Files. (Which, yeah, also started pretty slow.)

 

It's not a bad series, but it's not a great one by any stretch. The characters infuriated me by the last couple of books, and although I finished them, and mostly enjoyed reading them, I promptly gave the entire set away to a friend. I don't think I'm going to miss them in years to come.

 

Read the whole series. Not as good as the Dresden Files (by a long shot), but everything 13thadaption says.

I don't say the same about the characters, though. I liked them a lot. Though I wish that resentment had a greater role in the series, the books are still pretty good. They kinda start getting a bit predictable in a while, and Tavi leans a lot towards Mary-Sue (Gary-Stu, whatever), but its still pretty good.

 

I recently reread them, and the first book is by far the worst of the lot. The second is decent, third good, and it just keeps getting better, until the very end.

 

I liked Codex Alera more than Dresden Files, since the first book. Matter of taste I guess. If you like magic Roman military at all, read them all.

 

Tavi becomes awesome, that's why.

His name is Tavi, right?

 

Finished reading all the Codex Alera books.

The Vord are meh. Not bad or anything, but they came off as a more competent version of the Zerg or Tyranids, and the concept is overdone in recent history.

Canim were epic. They had realistic internal problems, came off rather well and were far better than the Vord in my opinion. Had they been the ultimate enemies of the series I might have liked it a lot more. Varg and Nasaug were great, and Sari and Kharl were just the right amount of douchbaggery.

We didn't see as much of the Icemen as I'd liked, but they were okay, primitive watercrafting and all. There could have been a few more things to be done with them, though.

Marat were pretty cool, though I can't decide if they were Neanderthals or Elves. Kitai and Doroga were great characters, and they were generally badass.

Overall, it was a decent series. I might re-read again once or twice, if only for the greatness that is Tavi (seriously, most other chapters not involving him in some way I just brushed over) and the epic Canim. Best fantasy race I've read in a while, honestly.

 

Codex Alera does suffer from what I call Sam & Frodo syndrome. In Two Towers, all you wanted to read about is Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli stomping over all over orcs at Helms Deep and Isengard, but the action cuts away to Sam & Frodo being led through the Dead Marshes. Boring.

Does anyone really care what Isana or Bernard are doing?

 

Hehe, i was kind of the opposite. Not particularly because Sam and Frodo were doing anything nearly as awesome as the rest of the cast, but because I'm the kind of reader who, like a baby bird, imprints on one character as the Hero, and I can't quite give a shit about anybody else in the story. *shrug*

Luckily in Codex Alera, Tavi takes a more central, and kickass role the further along you progress. It's rare to find an author who can legitimately write a real clever protagonist, and that's my favorite thing about Tavi. He's kind of like a Lock Lamora or a Kvothe that way.

edit: Hashasheen, how the hell did you read them so fast? o_o

 

I'm done with exams for the last two weeks. So two days ago I thought, hey why don't I read the Dresden Files and Codex Alera now? And then I did.

First I read the Dresden Files (before posting this thread), and through the course of the day this thread was posted, I read the others.

 

I liked Bernard's story somewhat because it involved Gaius in a pretty major way, and Gaius is awesome incarnate.

 

You read nineteen books in two days ?


I read Furies of Calderon two or three years ago and disliked it, but my sister bought the others and convinced me to read them.

IMO, Cursor's Fury was epic, Academ, Captain and Princeps good, Calderon and First Lord meh.

 

For all that I do love this series, and I do, it has some of the most ridiculous cliches eg. soulbond with Kitai, long lost prince etc, and most of them are so obvious that I inevitably ended up facepalming at every 'revelation'.

Its a good thing the series is so goddamn epic that none of that shit matters.

 

Eighteen. I'd already bought and read Turncoat months ago. But yes. When you're stuck on campus till the end of the school year because you booked your plane ticket for the last day, you tend to get bored when your friends aren't there. So I started reading. And then I finished.