This is a really fun book and a quick read, highly recommended as long as you don't think too hard about it. It's uplifting and leaves you feeling good.However I had the whole night to think about it, so here are some issues that would come up if it wasn't a fantasy (these things in no way detract from the book, just suspend disbelief for a while). K, the biggest and most obvious issue with the plot is of course Tavi the commanding general of the Legion. Right. So, so much you have got to be kidding me. The day before he has been wandering around wearing sewer scummed pants to the degree that he has been given an offensive nickname by the legion who otherwise have no idea who he is, other than a minor official. And then the next day he's Supreme Commander and they all love him and follow him loyally.I call bullshit. These people are from different cities and all hate each other, let alone Officer Shitstink. They would be deserting in droves when their officers were cut down. And seriously? Every Single Officer? He's a third sub tribune. There wasn't some second subtribune in some other area of the military who happened to not be needed at that particular conference? Yeah, right.So they wouldn't agree to follow him, they would split into factions and act independently because of the already existing internal tensions. But let's assume they were acting together. Acting as a team. Would they act together well? Fortunately being an AFL supporter I happen to know the answer to this. When you take a bunch of *veteran* players and put them together with a few green players, and put them under the command of a very competent general who they respect and trust, you get - the Gold Coast Suns. In their first year they managed to win one match (and it was by what, one point?). And it wasn't from lack of belief in themselves, or from lack of skills, or equipment. It was lack of practice working as a team. They had to create a team from disparate parts, put them together under leadership that hadn't worked together before either, and somehow create a winning team against a skilled enemy. They got thumped. Again, and again, and again. By huge margins. Because this is reality, darlings.So that was one team facing one equal sized team. This is one incompetent Legion against 60,000 warriors who are conservatively the equal of two humans each.And after they left, where did they go exactly? Marauding off along the coast or something? Are we not concerned with defending the coastal innocents? I missed that part.Alright, moving on. Isana and Fade. Imagine this scenario. You are in chaos, having invited the leaders of the country to congregate in one city for talks and celebrations. It is effectively like when the Kings of England used to go on tour and stay at various nobility's castles and have pageantry and feast until they moved off to the next place. If the King wanted to prove a point or deeply inconvenience a vassal, all he had to do was stay there longer than intended. Three months, and the entire surrounds are bankrupted. There will be shortages and possibly famine. So take that historical reality, and enter back into our fantasy. They are having a big shindig. Then there is a night of assassinations, then a siege. This is on a town already struggling under the influx of visitors. Now they have to feed more people than they have capacity to without being able to get in any supplies. The writing is very clear on this. They cannot get a single person to fly out. That means they cannot get a wagon load of food in. That means starvation and death very, very soon. Protracted sieges only happen in places like Troy where supplies can keep rolling in from the back. Otherwise it's squalor and death all round, and these people can't just save all their water for drinking, they also need great baths of it for healing.In these circumstances, you cannot waste a whole months food, a tub of water, and one of the best healers you have on a hopeless task to save a man who is insignificant politically. Within the first week when one of those healers who takes the night shift took over, there would be a pragmatic discussion about resources and Fade would get his throat slit, and Isana would just have to deal with it. I also got a bit lost as to who was in the town and who wasn't. Sir Miles was, does that mean Gaius was? In which case they wouldn't be trying to get messages to him? I also don't buy Rook's only connection to the bad guy whose name I can't remember being her daughter. You do not send a spy into those sort of sensitive conditions with only one hold over her - one daughter conceived by gang rape, or at least 12 different partners in the same month. You could not trust her to not have switched sides and be sending back false information. You cannot trust the loyalty of someone that weakly tied to you under those conditions. You would choose a different spy for the job. I'm sure there were other things but those ones stood out to me. Otherwise it is a four star book, it really is a good read. Don't think too much and roll with it.
Does Butcher jump two years between each book? I'm on book three now and he's jumped two years for each consecutive book. I initially thought it was so Tavi could get he rocks off with the Marat, but no. Any who. Tavi and his GF haven't done the deed but are frisky LOL and yes, sick of hearing him whinge about her :( Interesting he's in the Legion, but tis about time. Amara/Bernard sound like they're still going hard but still no young yet :( Hopefully their time off soon will help like Burnard suspects. I liked that he FINALLY stood before the council and told all. Naturally, there has to be some Moronic, Know all, Idiot blocking him about the Vord *Sigh* Speaking off. I fail to believe they went underground for 2 years. Probably planning no doubt. And what is with all the damn "Fury Storms" that happen at the beginning of every dang novel *Sigh* Strange Ehlan is on a Island/Dock as a slave. Hope he's OK. The traitor girl has feelings for her "Friends" aye. And a child to boot. Hopefully she and her babe can outrun Kalere?The aunt. Bernard's sister. Sounds as though SHE was the one pregnant with the First Lords heir. Which means Tavi isn't Fade's but Gaius's. Which makes him a Prince. Yes? No? The sister sounded to young to have Tavi then. Hope she can handle Lady Aquitaine. Hhmm, so it was Septimus (Gaius Son) that was Isana's husband and lover, and I suspect Tavi's father. Fade must have been running defense to keep Gaius from finding out :( Hope not. So Kalere/Canum are in cahoots. Gaius/Lady Aquataine are working together for now. Was a powerful first move from Kalre, not surprised Gaius was playing with him LOL. Where are the damn Vord! Looks like Tavi's legion will see action after all. Not a surprise. Naturally. Tavi will do something heroic, and play down the praise. Good to see Kitai near Tavi. Again, not a surprise. *Cups Eyes* *Looks to horizon* Now we just wait for Doroga/Walker to "Magically" appear on the horizon. Oh forgot. For no apparent reason at all *Rolls Eyes* Oh man. Isana indisposed again. Ever the dramatic flower. Poor dear. Liked the way Amara showed Lady A that you can have compassion and STILL get what you require. Hopefully, they can infiltrate Kalere and rescue everyone. Hopefully the girl wont turn. Any getting frustrated Bernard is this tough guy, yet Fade waltzes in like an oil slick? Puh-Leae. So after Tavi's little encounter with Max's brother, I don't think Max's step-mom is a traitor. WWAAYY to coincidental. OK, so Lady Antillar WAS a traitor. It sounds as though Max's brother ISN'T her son like she's pretending. We don't see her again after this, so be interesting to see what happens. Don't believe Kalare is gone for one second. Spare me. Naturally Isana was a damsel in distress, naturally Fade had the hots for her, naturally it had to come at the detriment of Isana's little sister :( So Tavi, scuse me, octavian, IS a prince. I am curious about what Gaius was going about at the end "She will find out" then we see Tavi/Kitai fury crafting lamps! He did excellent as captain, hopefully Hashat will send some scouts. I did for a moment think Max/Brother's fury's were his :( Sad to hear Amara/Bernard aren't pregnant after all. So not a surprise Aquataine/Odiana/Alderick were traitors. Nicely played though. Quite a cool jail break LOL. I got a feeling it's the vord that drove the Cane from their lands :( So looks like everyone gonna have to grit their teeth and work together. Knew it was to early. Good to see Fade has dropped the act and is back in action OFFICIALLY! Over all? The series is slowly starting to pick up.
What do You think about Cursor's Fury (2006)?
(Original review: http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2008/01/...)Story: GoodCharacters: FairRe-Readability: GoodOverall: GoodStory: This is a return to Butcher’s fantasy world, populated by apparent descendents of Ancient Rome (a mystery still only brushed against), and where magic manifests as bound / familiar elemental spirits, or furies. Furies can not only manifest themselves as elemental creatures. but also give to their controllers great power — strength for Earth, speed for Air, endurance for Metal, etc. Everyone in the realm of Alera has access to fury-based power — everyone except Tavi, who has only his wits and reflexes to save him from various dangers, and the prime protagonist of the series. Ostensibly an orphan from the boondocks, Tavi has already come under the watchful eye of First Lord Gaius Sextus, ruler (and most powerful furycrafter) of the empire, and has gone from farmboy to student to, in this volume, one of the First Lord’s Cursors, or secret service agents. In that role, he ends up undercover in a newly-formed Legion — which finds itself, unexpectedly in the middle of both a civil war and an invasion. Can Tavi balance soldierly loyalty with loyalty to the First Lord? Can he rise to the occasion as battles thrust him to the forefront of dealing with the invasion? Can he overcome yet again his lack of furycrafting?Well, yeah, of course he can, it being that sort of fantasy novel – but not without a lot of hard work, heartache, and danger. But the book would only be half its 544 pages if that’s all there were to it. Instead, Butcher, following the pattern of the second book, runs at least another half-dozen major characters through their own separate tales, dealing with politics, magic, old loyalties, and devil’s bargains made and broken. Butcher manages to do this pretty successfully, even if some characters get a slightly short shrift. And he does it all with wheels-within-wheels conspiracies, secrets both hidden and (to some) revealed, plots, counter-plots, soap opera, and plenty of unexpected twists and turns (some of which are payoffs from earlier volumes, others of which hold plenty of interest for future books). The good guys win, mostly, but never easily, and always at a cost.There’s probably three novels worth of material here, but Butcher does a good job of keeping it managed and coherent — and entertaining.Characters: As noted above, the book has several primary, and several more secondary, characters, most of whom we’ve met in earlier volumes, all of whom are involved in an elaborately woven series of plots and circumstances. The characters tend to be well-written, if not terribly complex, falling into fairly standard fantasy/adventure roles. The story holds some surprises, but not many of the characters do. The impressiveness is that Butcher keeps all of the balls in the air, rather than that any of the balls themselves are works of art. That’s not to say the characters are badly written, by any means — they’re just not all that uniquely written. The fun is in the plots that Butcher runs them through, and how they react to it.Re-Readability: Though I haven’t gone back to them yet, the series feels eminently re-readable. Indeed, as more secrets are revealed, I’m sure that an eventual re-read will be even more interesting.Overall: Another solid, successful effort by Butcher. The next volume of the series – Captain’s Fury – is already out, and despite it only being in hardcover, I’m sorely tempted to pick it up. Hard to ask much of an author than that.
—***Dave Hill
This review covers the full 6-book series:This is by far one of the best fantasy series I've read! Jim Dresden has created characters that are well-rounded and fleshed out to the point that they feel real. Tavi is the kind of character that every kingdom needs--someone who sees right and wrong but recognizes the impossibility of making choices that benefit all. That never stops him from doing what he thinks is best for all Alerans despite what it might cost him. He isn't afraid of change and isn't afraid to break from the traditions of the past. My greatest compliment is that the way in which Jim Dresden helped Tavi solve problems was simply masterful!! The problems mounted and became heavier and more complex with every page and yet Tavi was able to come up with a crazy, yet reasonable, way to solve them...and I never felt like there was a predictable solution. I love being surprised and not seeing exactly where the author is going with a storyline!!I've read other reviews and I can see some of their critical points, but I just didn't care! Despite any real or perceived flaws, this series was one I wanted to read, wanted to escape into and one which I read in two weeks...all six volumes. Well done!! I recommend these to anyone who loves a great action/adventure/fantasy!
—Janyse
Bit of a letdown from the first two. Maybe it's because I had lower expectations from them? Taking a break from this series so it'll be fresh when I get back to it. DF worked that way too. Two books at a time was good. Third was asking too much. Too much military stuff. I don't mind it as a topic but it made the book monotonous. If the side plots played bigger roles I wouldn't have minded so much, but they were very minor compared to Tavi's plot. Monotony aside the relative unimportance of the side plots really threw off my sense of time. Especially with Isana sitting in the same damn room for a month. Maybe her plot would have done more for me if I hadn't seen its big reveal coming so far off. Finally GRRM has spoiled me. I really want a character or two to die. Not Dumbled... er ... Gaius because that'll happen anyway. Bernard or Amara should go. I think it's too late at this point. Max could go at this point. Anyway I think JB gets a lot of the historical combat stuff right (he even says mail instead of chain mail) but I've stopped worrying about the fights because I'm convinced nobody can die.
—Jon
