Review: Academ’s Fury by Jim Butcher

Academ's Fury Series: Codex Alera #2
by Jim Butcher
Also by this author: Furies of Calderon, Cursor's Fury
Published by Ace Books on November 28, 2006
Genres: Epic
Pages: 720
Source: Library
Also in this series: Furies of Calderon, Cursor's Fury

   

Binge Count # 2 of 6
Continue Binge? ✔ Yes!

In Furies of Calderon, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher introduced readers to a world where the forces of nature take physical form. But now, it is human nature that threatens to throw the realm into chaos…

For centuries, the people of Alera have harnessed the furies—elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal—to protect their land from aggressors. But no fury can save them from the dangers they face within. A mysterious attack from across the sea has weakened the First Lord. Should he fall, a bloody civil war is inevitable. The responsibility of fending off assassination attempts and treachery within the First Lord’s circle of spies falls on Tavi, the one man with no fury to call...

Academ’s Fury picks up 2 years after the conclusion of the first Codex Alera book, so Tavi has been at the Academy for a couple of years. Honestly, I thought maybe this would book would be of the more typical school setting books, but it didn’t have quite that feel to it. Yes, Tavi was at school, we got to meet his friends, who are great (and enemies, who suck), and even some of his professors, but I think because along with his POV, we also had chapters for Isana and Amara, the book was never fully focused on the school its self, so the book felt like book 1, but Tavi just happened to be within a school setting. If that makes any sense to anyone other than myself. And I am not saying this is a positive or negative of the book, it was just a little different from my expectation, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Anyway, we quickly learn that Tavi’s school experience has not been all sunshine and rainbows, but that he has made a small, solid set of good friends, and unfortunately has also found some enemies amongst his classmates. We get to see Tavi maturing more in this book, and he continues to find strategies to compensate for not having furies. He has a practically unnatural level of resourcefulness, which he tends to need as he also has an uncanny ability to find himself in the middle of major conflicts. At times, I may have tired a little of “he’s such a genius” moments, but no too much yet. I’m just going with it and will see how it pans out in the end.

In addition to Tavi, Kitai, Isana, Amara and Bernard all play parts in the larger story and all of these characters have interesting story lines of their own. While I do enjoy reading the book, I have to admit, I feel like some things are maybe supposed to surprise the reader, but really, the largest surprise I have is that it is surprising to the characters. I feel like most things you can see coming or figure out as a reader well before they are revealed in the story. My philosophy with this so far is as long as I am enjoying the in the moment reading, to let that slide. It’s another aspect of the series that I am curious how it will go for me as a reader going forward. At this point, there are 4 more books, so I may change my mind.

While I continue to enjoy this story overall, I did have some of the same impatience with some of the battle and fight scenes as I did in the first book. I fully expect this to continue through the series as it is just part of the story and characteristics of the books. There’s a strong military aspect to them and I cant really fault them for being what they are, just acknowledging that these sections are by far my least favorite aspect of the books (and for other readers, it could be their favorite)

Overall, I am still interested enough to keep reading the series, but at this point, I am not absolutely certain if the series will continue to hold my interest through all 6 books. There’s only one way to find out, so I am diving straight in to the next book.