Book Review: Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like many fans of the Dresden Files, I was a little hesitant to listen to Furies of Calderon. I had started to read the paperback once or twice before and just couldn't get past the first chapter. I had the same issue with Butcher's The Aeronaut's Windlass. However, with both books, audio proved to be the right format for me.

The problems with these two books versus the Dresden Files, I believe, are that, first, Butcher's strength lies in deep characterization, which he pulls off superbly in the first-person point of view (POV) of Harry Dresden. I guess I'm a bit spoiled by how easily carried along with that story I get. There is also more humor in the Dresden Files than there is in Furies of Calderon or Aeronaut, which makes it much more compelling.

Listening to this book felt nothing like listening to the Dresden Files, although maybe that was Butcher's intention.

In the end, it took me a while to get into Furies, with its constantly switching POVs. We hear from both the good guys and one of the bad guys. As I've said, I've gotten spoiled by the single POV. It took a while to see enough of the individual characters to really feel like I knew them, but once I did—my favorite characters were Tavi and Isana—the story moved along much faster. I really enjoyed it at the end, especially the bits of humor that finally started to peak through.

That said, I'm still deciding on whether to move on to book 2. The book very heavily depends on battles, and I prefer my fantasy to have a bit better balance of happy and sad, travel, adventure, and battle, personal and global challenges. I guess I will read some reviews of the next books to see if they are as battle-heavy as this one was before I decide.

(from my original review as Janell Robisch)

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