Members with This Book
Most Helpful Reviews
see all reviews
Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “I really enjoyed this book. High fantasy, good world buidling, very fast action - with comprehensive and wild fight scenes. Quick read, but need to go over it a second time.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
see all reviews-
“annapi said: 4 stars
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Young Tavi is now studying at the Academy by the generosity of the First Lord, and he is secretly training to be a Cursor, a spy for the kingdom. Politics and plots abound as treachery threatens the life of First Lord Gaius, and his enemies fight each other for a chance to seize the crown. Once again Tavi finds himself a pivotal point for events he has no control over, and his lack of fury crafting feels like a crippling disadvantage as alien insectoid creatures called the vord infiltrate the country and attempt to foment a civil war.
Butcher ramps up the intrigue and action in this second volume of the series, and the tension is kept high from the beginning to its exhausting end. In places it has the feel of being deliberately written with a movie in mind, or maybe it's just that it abounds with action movie cliche scenes. But those do not detract from the enjoyment of the story. The hints at an eventual plot twist are stronger in this book than in the first, but the exact nature of the final revelation, which I suspect will occur in the 4th or 5th book, are still unclear and tease the reader into looking for the next volumes.
rowanthea said: 4.5 stars
This is the second book in the Codex Alera series. Tavi is now living and going to school in Alera. He is the only student who doesn't have a fury. Between training to be a cursor and messenger to the First Lord he barely has time to sleep. He has made powerful enemies and great friends while wading through the political morass. The First Lord collapses from exhaustion at the worst possible time. Tavi's Uncle Bernard is fighting for his life against a foe that could destroy humanity. His Aunt Isana is alone in the city isolated from family and friends who could help send re-enforcements. As the story unfolds it's hard for Tavi to know who can be trusted. Believe me when I tell you I've only scratched the surface about this story.
Unlike every other book I've read by Butcher, this one had a slow start. It bogged down a bit in the first third of the book and then took off like a house on fire. It didn't take away from the storyline but made it somewhat hard to get into. Excellent series none the less.”
“This is the second book in the Codex Alera series. Tavi is now living and going to school in Alera. He is the only student who doesn't have a fury. Between training to be a cursor and messenger to the First Lord he barely has time to sleep. He has made powerful enemies and great friends while wading through the political morass. The First Lord collapses from exhaustion at the worst possible time. Tavi's Uncle Bernard is fighting for his life against a foe that could destroy humanity. His Aunt Isana is alone in the city isolated from family and friends who could help send re-enforcements. As the story unfolds it's hard for Tavi to know who can be trusted. Believe me when I tell you I've only scratched the surface about this story.
rowanthea wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Unlike every other book I've read by Butcher, this one had a slow start. It bogged down a bit in the first third of the book. It didn't take away from the storyline but made it somewhat hard to get into. Excellent series none the less.”
“I liked the second book of this series. Action packed, great piece of writing. They are well written books, although they seem to be stretching out...”
¤Kaiti¤ (Arya/Maranwe/Arryn) wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I'm going to read anything that Jim Butcher writes. His Dresden Files series is probably my favorite, but his Codex Alera series is awesome also.”
Bryan Q wrote this review Tuesday, December 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Good stuff, keeps the story going along. Not near as good as his Dresden books but still pretty good.”
am91962 wrote this review Thursday, October 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great book. Love then new series. Butcher is a great writer.”
Mike H wrote this review Tuesday, September 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Well, I liked it, overall. The story was interesting and kept me wanting to know more. And it ended in such a way that makes certain I'll read A Cursor's Fury. But something kept me from FULLY enjoying this one and I'm not sure what it was. It just wasn't a page-turner for me. It took me almost 6 days to read this normal-sized paperback. I started off slightly irked when I found two editing errors. One was a word left out of a sentence and another was a letter left out of a work. I don't read books looking for this kind of stuff and would think that most of it would get by me, but these two were rather obvious. Anyway, I don't feel like I want to say a whole lot about this book. I'm not sure what my deal is with this one, but I didn't fully enjoy it, though I can't figure out why.
Jennifer J wrote this review Thursday, August 27 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
”
“After enjoying Butcher's fantastic first volume in this series, Furies of Calderon, I found Academ's Fury to be somewhat disappointing. So much of this book just drags on with endless conversations that seem to go nowhere. I certainly don't require a story to be action from the first page to the last, bur nor do I like a novel to go on and on endlessly with no real development. Moreover, there wasn't as much character development this time around. Granted, that may be a product of the fact this is the second book in a series, but characters I really enjoyed in the first novel -- Tavi, Isana, Doroga, Kitai -- were either ill-used in this novel and reduced to boring plot lines that dragged on forever. Moreover, interesting characters were introduced to only be quickly killed or little used.
Jimmy T wrote this review Sunday, July 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This is not to say that the book was all bad. I'm a huge Jim Butcher fan. I like his writing style and he's very good at creating interesting worlds for his characters to inhabit. While it's true Alera is nothing more than a fictional representation of Ancient Rome, it's what Butcher has done with his version of Rome that makes it so interesting. It's because of this interesting world and the potential I see in the series that I can give it three stars and move on to the next novel. If there's one thing Jim Butcher does it's entertain. It may have been in short supply with Academ's Fury, but I feel certain Butcher won't disappoint with future novels in this series.”
“This series has me hooked!”
ChloeCatharsis wrote this review Friday, July 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Outstanding stuff. Tension, political intrigue, epic battles and more, but always moving on and never laboured. Breathlessly starting the next one already!”
Mark Clarkson wrote this review Wednesday, May 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
