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Book List 2010
Apr. 2nd, 2010 08:35 pm#9. Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher
(Yes, that's two Jim Butcher books in a row. So what?)
The next in the Codex Alera, this story picks up almost immediately after the end of Captain's Fury, with the Princeps of the Aleran Empire, Gaius Octavius (known to the reader as Tavi, up until the last book), sailing for the homeland of the wolflike Cane, with whom he has brokered a peace (of a sorts) with on behalf of his grandfather, the First Lord of the Empire. The journey and arrival in the Cane lands across the ocean (if the Aleran Empire sits where the real world's Roman Empire was located, the Cane are located in North America) takes up part of the story. While Tavi goes to Cane lands, his mother, Isana, goes north to the northern provinces to broker peace between the Empire and the bestial Icemen. This peace is needed, because the First Lord's spies tell him that the insectoid Vord, who were first fought in the second book of the series, Academ's Fury, have begun to take over parts of the southern Empire. All of this is happening as Tavi reaches the West ... and finds what dangers and strangeness lurk there among the Cane.
Butcher fills this book with a lot of non-stop action, and it's fun to read. I enjoyed this better than Proven Guilty, perhaps because, unlike the Dresden Files, I managed to not read these out of order. Also, I really like the Codex Alera setting. It's a neat spin on epic fantasy. Butcher does a good job of making sure that most of the characters are not wholly good or evil in a black and white sense, and developing each into a unique person. He also does a good job of incorporating his system of spirits and magic into the society completely, rather than the sort of tacked-on feel that many fantasy stories have had. The events are an interregnum, unfortunately, and the story does not stand on its own, which is a weakness. But, on the other hand, it does ensure that I will be buying the next book as soon as I can.
(Yes, that's two Jim Butcher books in a row. So what?)
The next in the Codex Alera, this story picks up almost immediately after the end of Captain's Fury, with the Princeps of the Aleran Empire, Gaius Octavius (known to the reader as Tavi, up until the last book), sailing for the homeland of the wolflike Cane, with whom he has brokered a peace (of a sorts) with on behalf of his grandfather, the First Lord of the Empire. The journey and arrival in the Cane lands across the ocean (if the Aleran Empire sits where the real world's Roman Empire was located, the Cane are located in North America) takes up part of the story. While Tavi goes to Cane lands, his mother, Isana, goes north to the northern provinces to broker peace between the Empire and the bestial Icemen. This peace is needed, because the First Lord's spies tell him that the insectoid Vord, who were first fought in the second book of the series, Academ's Fury, have begun to take over parts of the southern Empire. All of this is happening as Tavi reaches the West ... and finds what dangers and strangeness lurk there among the Cane.
Butcher fills this book with a lot of non-stop action, and it's fun to read. I enjoyed this better than Proven Guilty, perhaps because, unlike the Dresden Files, I managed to not read these out of order. Also, I really like the Codex Alera setting. It's a neat spin on epic fantasy. Butcher does a good job of making sure that most of the characters are not wholly good or evil in a black and white sense, and developing each into a unique person. He also does a good job of incorporating his system of spirits and magic into the society completely, rather than the sort of tacked-on feel that many fantasy stories have had. The events are an interregnum, unfortunately, and the story does not stand on its own, which is a weakness. But, on the other hand, it does ensure that I will be buying the next book as soon as I can.
