Author: Jim Butcher
Book 1 of the Codex Alera series
My first book review should be something spectacular. It should be inspiring, stirring, awesome. If I were to try that, I’d be sitting here from today until the world embraces international peace and creates a utopian society, before I could choose which book best meets that criteria. (I was going to say ‘until the apocalypse,’ but that’s more likely to occur. So, I’m simply going to begin with my most recent read.
And without further ado, here it be:
A unique fantasy world with good characters.
I had a hard time getting into the book, until about 15% in. There’s a lot of fighting – the brainless sword slashing type, where i skimmed through whole chapters of multiple murderous maneuvers.
The world is a unique blend of Roman era culture and magic. There are multiple POVs, and while I didn’t care for them all, they were nicely done. There’s a young farm boy to hero trope, but it was enjoyable, and he earned his place.
Some books focus on characters, and others on a complex plot. This one had an even balance on both, but neither in extreme depth I normally enjoy reading from a villain’s POV, but the villain wasn’t fully rounded out. They had their evil agenda, but weren’t sympathetic enough, and never explained their reasoning, aside from a short mention from the hero’s POV. I’m hoping this will be developed further in the next books.
I give this book a 3.7 star rating (out of 5). It was an enjoyable book. I’ll be looking for the sequel.
TBR Next 