In this, the second book of the Codex Alera, we move past the starter villains of the first book and really kick the ongoing plot lines into gear. In the first book Furies of Calderon we are introduced to our 15 year old protagonist Tavi and finish with him being offered a scholarship from the ruler of Alera  (Gaius Sextus) to his academy. In book 2 we start with the 17 year old Tavi still being an outsider due to his lack of magic, bullied by spoilt nobles, and having some good friends – particularly the delightful Maximus Antillar (bastard […]

Furies of Calderon is the first book in Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera. The book series came about as the result of a discussion about whether a good premise could overcome a bad writer or vice-versa – that a good enough writer could come up with a story even from a bad premise. Jim’s response was to say give him two terrible ideas and he’d write the book combining them; so here we are with a book that combines the Lost Roman legion and Pokemon! This is not my first time reading this series and I actually read it before The […]