[Phenom]

Okay, so when I was younger I was a huge Pokemon fan. Now, as I'm older the premise of someone going on an adventure and capturing creatures while using them to battle still interests me. Are there any books of this sort that anyone knows about?

Thank you.

[Myshkin]

I'm told that Jim Butcher partially based his Codex Alera series on the pokemon concept. I believe that the characters are able to capture sentient elementals to help them in everyday life.

[jackal912]

I don't think Codex Alera quite uh.. fits - the elementals are something someone is born with, and are for the most part almost mindless, they only gain personalities because the people they're linked with anthropomorphise the elementals, who shape themselves after whatever the furycrafter in question wants.

Also, you can never 'capture' more of them, the ones not under the control of people are for all intents and purposes forces of nature (a storm, an earthquake, a forest fire) that can only be scared off or at best bullied into an action by the elemental the person in question controls.

Not to mention, the entire story revolves how the main character is a 'cripple' - born with no elemental when even the lowliest peasant has one, and how he compensates and rises to greatness without them.. at all.

[Phenom]

I don't think Codex Alera quite uh.. fits - the elementals are something someone is born with, and are for the most part almost mindless, they only gain personalities because the people they're linked with anthropomorphise the elementals, who shape themselves after whatever the furycrafter in question wants.

Also, you can never 'capture' more of them, the ones not under the control of people are for all intents and purposes forces of nature (a storm, an earthquake, a forest fire) that can only be scared off or at best bullied into an action by the elemental the person in question controls.

Not to mention, the entire story revolves how the main character is a 'cripple' - born with no elemental when even the lowliest peasant has one, and how he compensates and rises to greatness without them.. at all.
Thank you so much guys. Codex Alera might not be exactly what I'm looking for but it does seem interesting. I'll try to pick up the book sometime this week.

Looks like there hasn't been quite anything like Pokemon in fantasy which is really odd...

[Radone]

I don't think Codex Alera quite uh.. fits - the elementals are something someone is born with, and are for the most part almost mindless, they only gain personalities because the people they're linked with anthropomorphise the elementals, who shape themselves after whatever the furycrafter in question wants.

Also, you can never 'capture' more of them, the ones not under the control of people are for all intents and purposes forces of nature (a storm, an earthquake, a forest fire) that can only be scared off or at best bullied into an action by the elemental the person in question controls.

Not to mention, the entire story revolves how the main character is a 'cripple' - born with no elemental when even the lowliest peasant has one, and how he compensates and rises to greatness without them.. at all.

That's not quite true. You aren't born with them. They come to you as you get older. And you can gain more, but that isn't easy. The furies do have personalities. In the very first book, within the first few chapters, one of the main characters comments that a person's fury was a murderer. There are moments when furies do something for their crafter because they know that's what the crafter needs at the time. The basis of this series came about from a bet: a person at a con challenged Butcher that a good book/series coulodn't be based on a very bad concept. The bad concepts were specifically a lost Roman legion and Pokemon. Butcher took the bet, and has won it easily.

[Phenom]

That's very interesting. I hope more writers would be challenged like that. ;)

[jackal912]

That's not quite true. You aren't born with them. They come to you as you get older. And you can gain more, but that isn't easy. The furies do have personalities. In the very first book, within the first few chapters, one of the main characters comments that a person's fury was a murderer. There are moments when furies do something for their crafter because they know that's what the crafter needs at the time. The basis of this series came about from a bet: a person at a con challenged Butcher that a good book/series coulodn't be based on a very bad concept. The bad concepts were specifically a lost Roman legion and Pokemon. Butcher took the bet, and has won it easily.

I'm pretty sure I remember a mention about how some of the nobles who don't bother with such 'nonsense' as giving them names, or imagining they have personalities and shapes, have furies that lack personality or form.. but that might be something that the people in the series themselves aren't quite sure of.

Also, while sure you can't use them from birth, it's still something you're 'born' with - your fury's affinities and strengths appear to be heavily predetermined by genetics (nobility being nobility due to their demigodlike power). I'm not quite sure how the exact mechanics of how 'your' furies interact with the environment and other furies around you, but I can't recall a single case in the entire series where someone permanently acquires a fury..

[fk1523]

i remember one of the books mentions that certain powerful furies may be passed down from generation to generation. Sorta like how the last book ended with Tavi meeting Alera...