Author: SilentBen

Not often silent, but undoubtedly always Ben.

Cursor’s Fury

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Wow.  Jim Butcher manages to continue amaze me with his writing.  I’d grown addicted to The Dresden Files, and now I’ve been drawn into The Codex Alera series hook, line, and sinker.  My only hope is the fact that there are only six books in the series, so I have a definite end in sight.

The first book slowly drew me into the canon – having not read a book of this genre in so long, this took a bit of time – but leveraged my sense of intrigue to.  The second book kept pulling me through on the hooks of anxiety and anticipation.  This third book had plenty of intrigue and dramatic tension, but most of the draw through this story came in the form of excitement and elation.  There were so many small pay-offs through the story (and some big ones towards the end), that I found myself becoming outwardly happy and almost giddy as I progressed through the book.

In this volume, we are once more taken a few years forward.  Tavi, the primary protagonist, is studying some ancient Romanic ruins – the reminiscent of a preceding civilization that did not have furycrafting abilities (which sort of suggests that this realm is an alternate progression of Earth history) – and is then retasked to join a newly formed legion as an officer (despite his lack of military experience or requisite furycrafting).  In this he manages to blend in more than well and the turn of events presents him with unexpected challenges.

Cursor’s Fury is an exciting and satisfying read from start to finish.  It is full of compelling twists and turns and is both fantastic and believable.  And the end, in true Jim Butcher form, leaves you salivating to dive into book #4 (which I most likely will do shortly).

Have Funds, Will Travel

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I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten into a habit of writing nothing but book reviews lately.  That is mostly because I’ve been doing little else but reading in my spare time.  I’m sure there may have been other things to write about in the meantime, but a lot of that writing time I’ve been, well, reading.  So today I will break that trend (and then tomorrow I’ll likely write another book review).

It seems that June is going to be a stressful month in many ways – some positive, some negative, and most of it stemming from a confluence of just a couple of events.  My company is sending me to two conferences that take me in opposite parts of the country.  Also my wife will be managing a farmers’ market launch and juggling a few photo shoots including a wedding.

I’m both excited and nervous about the conferences.  While they will be fun and positive experiences and allow me to see some new sites (one is in SF, the other in NYC), and it is great that the company is willing to pay my way (it seems the worst of the effects of the recent economic downturn have passed – at least for us), but it is a long time to be away from my family and it is a lot of money to spend in a short amount of time between food and lodging.  I don’t envy my wife’s role in this – a 3-year-old and 6 year-old all day every day for 2 weeks without reprieve is a test of anyone’s patience.

Additionally, the second conference will bring the added pleasure of traveling, rooming, and spending most of my time with a colleague who has a rare talent of pushing my buttons (he knows it too).  Professionally, I can respect his talent and appreciate his contributions.  But personally, he can drive me crazy sometimes.  I’d be remiss to say that his affect on me hasn’t had an upside – his insistence on challenging my ideas has drawn me to rethink some and become more confident in others.  And I’d like to think that I’ve helped steer him towards being an improved version of himself (you can never be sure how much is your influence and how much will stick).  But while we’d learned to worked well together, lately we’ve been pushing each other’s buttons more than we intend to and I worry that this conference could bring the straw that breaks one of our backs.  Most likely he will push my buttons, but I’ll roll with it, stew over some of it for a few days after, and then flow back into our regular routine.

Anyway, two weeks of conferences with travel should be fun.  But I know that tensions from my absence from family and/or work will build up.  I’ll likely have to work on both while I’m away.  Still looking forward to it, though.  I just have to remember to pick up some books to read on the planes.

Ill Wind

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I learned two things I didn’t expect while reading this book:  (1) I learned a whole bunch of facts about weather patterns I hadn’t fully appreciated, and (2) I realized that I’ve read very few books written by women.

After finishing the Dresden Files series (at least what has been written so far) and being left with a penchant to read more, I came across this series by Rachel Caine called the Weather Warden series.  A friend mentioned it to me as Jim Butcher actually endorsed the series.  Given I haven’t read anything by him that I haven’t liked, I figured his recommendation was worthy of consideration.  So I picked up book one from my local Barnes & Noble and dug in.  I have to say that I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

The book follows Joanne Baldwin, a powerful Weather Warden, on her quest to clear her name of murder charges and free herself of the demon mark that was forced upon her.  The setting is modern day United States and posits a secret group of people with elemental abilities that are self-governing in the use of these abilities to guide earthly phenomena such as hurricanes, wild fires, earthquakes, etc.  This version of our world also includes the existence of genies (referred to as Djinn) as powerful and immortal being that can be bonded to a host and their power used to enhance these elemental forces.

Rachel Caine builds an interesting and believable world and set of characters.  While the story starts in the midst of action and tension, Rachel eloquently weaves in back story elements that help give Joanne and the other characters she interacts with greater substance.  She also manages to paint a vivid picture of the events as they unfold.

While I have read plenty of books where part or all of the story was from a woman’s perspective, it seems that a story written about a woman BY a woman yields a perspective that I haven’t previously experienced.  Perhaps it is a bit cliché, but as a man it is inherently difficult to fully understand how certain experiences are perceived from a feminine perspective.  In that respect, this book was rather educational and inspires me to possibly explore this perspective further (though I don’t necessarily see myself running out to purchase Sense and Sensibility).  In the least, perhaps my wife will consider reading something that I liked and we can share that.  I gave her the book – that is all I can really do without being a nuisance.

Anyway, the bottom line here is that I did enjoy this book and I am giving serious consideration to continuing the series.  If you like the contemporary fantasy genre (à la Dresden Files, etc.), then you may enjoy this series as well.  If you do, let me know.  If you didn’t like it, I’d like to hear why.  If you’d like to just discuss the Coriolis Effect, I’m open to that too.

Academ’s Fury

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In case you are wondering why I’m reviewing the second book in a series for which I reviewed the first book last week, if isn’t because I finished the second book in a week.  It was more like 2 weeks.  I just realized partway through the second book that I never wrote a review of the first.  Now that I’m done with the second, I will share my thoughts on it with you.

In Academ’s Fury, the second book in the Codex Alera series,  Jim Butcher jumps 2 years forward from the end of the first novel.  In it we return to Tavi being 2 years into his training to become a Cursor, we find his uncle and former steadholder, Bernard, comfortable and confident in his new role as a count, and we find his aunt Isana artfully navigating the trappings of steadholding and citizenship.  We also find some new enemy’s threatening these heroes, their ways of life, the First Lord, and the realm of Alera itself.

I have to say that within a chapter or two I found myself nearly incapable of putting this book down.  I spent many nights reading later than I intended to and many spare moments stealing a page or two more.  Butcher has an interesting style of writing in that every chapter manages to be a cliffhanger.  I noticed this trend in the Dresden Files as well, but it nearly always paid off since those books were in the first person.  These being in the omniscient third person, I often would read forward due to a suspenseful ending only to have to wait 2 or 3 chapters to be satisfied (and in the meantime have 2 or 3 more elements hanging that I’d want to read more about).  To be clear, I say this as a compliment as it is very fitting and the story well structured.  I commend his ability to pull it off so well so often.  I also greatly enjoyed the author’s complete sense of the realm he has constructed – down to the details of having historical and theoretical discussions and debates.

After finishing this second tome, I am confident that I am going to need to continue the series – most likely to completion (assuming there is and end in sight).  While the book certainly had a compelling set of arcs including riveting climaxes and satisfying denouements, there is clearly a longer arc at work here that one cannot simply abandon.  And I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find that 2 of my hunches I’d formulated in the first book were revealed to be true by the end of the second (at least one very subtlely).  I’m happy that Jim did not try to hide these revelations through to the end of the series – to do so would have been an underestimation of the audience.  It is good to see that Butcher does not think so little of us, but rather gave us the gift of acknowledgement.  I look forward to what will come in the next volume (once I find the time to purchase it).

Furies of Calderon

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After receiving pressure from numerous sources and finding myself in a mood to read more but without anything of interest to read, I finally relented to read the first book in Jim Butcher’s The Codex Alera series.  I have not typically been a huge fan of the traditional fantasy genre – usually preferring contemporary sci-fi/fantasy or near-future sci-fi.  But I hve to say that this experience has turned me around on that stance.

For me, the introductory segment kicked off a bit slow – though this may be due to some of my own ambivalence rather than the writing.  And to be fair, most novels that are part of a series can seem to start slow in order to thoroughly build the environment and character-base (both of which are inherently larger when a longer series arc is to be expected).  But once events started moving along, I was hooked.

The realm that Jim Butcher creates in this series is an interesting one:  one which exhibits a human populace with technology on par with the Roman Empire, but where some more modern conveniences are enjoyed via an interesting form of sorcery; one where each member of this society has the ability to wield some forms of magic by way of ethereal companions known as furies; and one where the main commonwealth is in a tenuous peace with various volatile forces from every direction – many of these groups being very similar to human themselves.  In the course of this first volume, the tenuity of this equilibrium is challenged from a few angles, and an unlikely protagonist in the middle of these events is a 15-year-old boy named Tavi who is unique in his complete lack of ability to wield any furycrafting.

To elaborate on the nature of the fury magic in the series, it seems that there are 6 types of furies that one can wield:  fire, water, air, earth, wood, and metal.  Each of these types includes the ability to manipulate objects of that element as well as other abilities related to it.  For instance, a watercrafter can not only manipulate water (change its state, move it at will, manipulate it within other things), but also can feel the emotions of others around him/her and heal wounds with this craft.  Woodcrafters have the ability to camouflage themselves, aircrafters the ability of flight as well as the ability to use air to buffer sound around them or magnify distant objects.  And many people have the ability to wield more than one type of furycraft.  Though most types also come with weaknesses (e.g., aircrafting can be damped by earth such as mud or salt, earthcrafting requires access to the ground).

Among the contending forces to their realm are a group of human-ish people to the east called the Marat (which seem very much like albino Native Americans).  The Marat have no ability to wield furies, but instead bond to animals and align themselves in tribes related to the animals to which they are bound.  And while these people are largely enigmatic and most know of them mainly by reputation due their involvement in a major battle a generation prior, they are not the worst enemy the realm of Alera seems to be facing.

I have to say that this book, much like Jim Butcher’s other works, has piqued my interest to continue reading.  The story was often riveting and in the end well encapsulated, but with all the makings of a continuing saga that one would want to follow.  And it has definitely changed my view of the traditional fantasy genre.