[Myshkin]

I asked this over at the westeros board but I didn't get very many responses, so I thought I'd ask you guys:

I am currently 174 pages into Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon, and frankly so far it sucks. The characters are flat, the plot is going nowhere, and the writing is bad, with endless repetitive introspection and flat dialog. Now I've heard that this is a slow starter, and I'm a fan of Butcher's Dresden books, so my question to any of you who've read this book is: Does it get any better? Should I stick with it, or should I just move on to something else?

[Rob B]

I haven't read it myself, but love his Dresden Files books. But that isn't what you wanted to read/hear. ;)

You might find something on the Alera books here:
Jim Butcher (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13539&highlight=alera)

[Cranky Hamster]

I don't know if later books get better, but no, that one doesn't. In fact it gets stupider. I gave up on the series after that and won't be going back.

It's weird because I too am a fan of the Dresden Files series, and I don't quite understand how an author who's so good at urban fantasy writes such incredibly awful high fantasy*, but there you have it.


(* -- Well, actually, one clue would be the rumor that he invented his world after a buddy challenged him to come up with a setting that combined Pokemon with the Roman Empire. But still.)

[rockmonkey]

I was pretty disappointed in the first Codex Alera book as well, but stuck with the series based on pretty just faith, and now love it even more than I do The Dresden Files. If you really want to like it, give it until the end of the 2nd book. If you get halfway through book 2 and it still isn't growing on you then give up.

I can say that each book has gotten better than the one before it with book 3 and 4 being pretty equal.

I feel Storm Front was by far The Dresden Files weakest installment, so there is that.

[Avenger2.0]

Keep reading, the second book is better than the first.

[joacqin]

I sure hope the series is good. I recently bought the three first books in one go simply because I enjoyed the Dresden books so much. Not that I found them to be brilliant literature but rather amazingly entertaining and easily red books which should never be underestimated. Not everything needs to make you think and challenge you, sometimes you just want some entertainment and the Dresden Files are excellent for that. Haven't started with the Codex Alera yet but it would kinda suck if they, well, sucked.

[Radone]

The first book had its moments, but if the entire series had been like that, I would have quit midway through book 2. Luckily, the series picks up tremendously in quality. Book 2 was actually my favorite of the series, but 3 and 4 are also very good. Also, he's promised, and consistently held firm to his promise, that there would only be 6 books in the series. BTW, he did write as a bet that he could combine Pokeman and a lost ancient army (Roman legion in this case).

[JHerzog01]

I gave it up after the first book

[Janus]

I thought Furies of Calderon was an ok book, and I continued because I saw promise in the series. And of course I'm a big fan of The Dresden Files.

After the second book I was completely hooked and now actually prefer Codex Alera over The Dresden Files. Though they are both very close in the ranking :).

[dits]

Just read the first 3 books. I agree that the first book is a little weak but like The Dresden Files, it improves as the series goes along. A thing that I like a lot about The Codex Alera is how formidable the antagonists are. Nice to see the protagonists really work for his victories. Also appreciate the fact that Tavi didn't go full emo on us during his teenage years.