Reviews

Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher

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karinlib's review

4.0

Non-stop action, almost too much of a good thing. I am continuing to enjoy this series.

Cursor's Fury is the third book in the larger Codex Alera. Tavi, apparently the only person in his country who doesn't have a fury (an elemental who essentially performs magic), has now left the Academy and is on assignment for the First Lord himself. He has been assigned to a new type of Legion, one made up of Citizens from all the different states within the country. The theory is that a Legion without strong ties to any one state will be more loyal to the First Lord. In reality, the Legion will potentially be a breeding ground for spies. Tavi goes undercover as a Legion officer to spy on the spies within the Legion. He discovers a treachery worse than anyone had feared. Amidst a civil war, Tavi must defend his country from an even worse threat from the outside.

It took me a little longer to get into this book than it did the other two, but once I did get into it, I couldn't put it down. I like the characters in these books and find them to be well-developed. Maybe a little one-dimensional, but still pretty fully realized, at least in my imagination. The plot rarely drags and, like I said, I really couldn't read about the last half of the book fast enough. Tavi's world is so well-described, it almost becomes almost real.

My problems with the book: This one's kind of minor, but it really bugged me. In the first several chapters, there were some really awkward sentence constructions that I had to go back and re-read a few times in order to understand what was being said. That really broke the flow of the book for me.

This one's the big one: I'm really kind of ready for it to be over. I was expecting a trilogy, but now there's at least a fourth book, and with all the unanswered questions from this book, I bet they can squeeze out at a fifth one.

Spoiler

Some questions were answered, such as, "Why doesn't Tavi have furies of his own?" and "Is Tavi the heir to the throne?" It's pretty obvious by now that Tavi will eventually become the First Lord's heir and gain the most powerful furies in the country. There's not really any tension left in that anymore. Just get it over with already.

Overall though, these books are still some of the best fantasy I've read in a while. (Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind is another good one I stumbled on recently though.) I recommend them for fantasy lovers who like more than just a fantasy story--the ones who like a well-written fantasy story.

imakandiway's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

tvrandhavane's review

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3.0

This series is overrated. There are many problems with this book. The main character has really thick plot armor and makes the entire plotline unbelievable. The stakes appear fake because everyone is going to be safe anyway. There are parts that are extremely boring. The underlying story is good but the execution is subpar. I give three stars because of the ending and for the underlying story, otherwise, I would've gone with 2 stars.

buckeyeordie's review against another edition

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4.0

This was better than the first 2 books. Tavi's story carried the book. His development was earned and fun to read. Amara's part was ok, it was nice to see how powerful the high ladies and lords are. Isana's part was pretty lame and was healing Fade for a seemingly very long time while other parts of the book were happening.