nedge's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
marynolanpleckham's review against another edition
4.0
Trying a different series by an author I love. This book was way too long, and the world building was about 70-80% there, but didn't fully make sense. There's a decent number of characters to keep track of making it a little bit cumbersome. However, a fun story and I'll likely pick up the next in the series.
madamgreene's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
ikon_biotin_jungle_lumen's review against another edition
DNF.
TW for SA. I am ANGRY about this book, even weeks after putting it down.
I don't give star rating for books I don't finish, but this would score an easy 0 from me. I was FURIOUS at this book and increasingly horrified at the content until quitting near the 60% mark. (My DNF ratio is about 1 in 100, for reference.) Boring, one-dimensional characters. Lazy tropes. Backward moral tone. 'Noble savage' racism. You might say "I suppose that can be overlooked. Fantasy in the 80s was all pretty awful." Except, "Furies" was published in *2004.*
I'm willing to accept the possibility that Jim Butcher has come a long way since 2004. The only book of JB's I have for comparison, "The Aeronaut's Windlass" (p. 2014) is just fine. But "Furies" set off every creep alarm I have. Before I bailed around the 60% mark, there were more references to and descriptions of sexual assault than in my top 15 Fantasy books *combined.* And the protagonist of this book is a non-magical teen boy so the tired empowerment/revenge justification doesn't hold.
Fantasy is a genre for exploring stories beyond the bounds of the real world, including the laws of thermodynamics and civil society. A lot of Fantasy content is obscene and offensive, and many people respond by writing off the genre entirely. I'm an avid fantasy fan with broad context for this evaluation, and I consider "Furies" an inexcusable example of reckless and even deliberately gratuitous sexual violence. Detailed descriptions of adult women with magically immature bodies? Magic-assisted sexual torture and violence against said women? Not to mention the abrupt scene change from rape to a relationship between an injured 23/yo apprentice magic user masquerading as a slave and... a powerful landowner twice her age. (Surprise, the situation is also a rape fantasy.)
Beyond that, the writing for every female character, with one exception, is full of casual sexism. Women are objectified within seconds of being introduced. Female bodies are described with incredibly creepy language, frequently being compared to children's bodies. What the fuck, Jim? Women's conversations fail the Bechdel test and are filled with petty fights over men's attention, and one discussion of SA too disturbing for me to write.
Some argue that the Fantasy genre is a designated safe space for exploring societal taboos, SA included. After all, they say, the characters aren't real so what happens to them doesn't matter, right? I do not agree with that position. Social responsibility is important, and "Furies" is an example of gross irresponsibility with the freedom afforded to the genre.
TW for SA. I am ANGRY about this book, even weeks after putting it down.
I don't give star rating for books I don't finish, but this would score an easy 0 from me. I was FURIOUS at this book and increasingly horrified at the content until quitting near the 60% mark. (My DNF ratio is about 1 in 100, for reference.) Boring, one-dimensional characters. Lazy tropes. Backward moral tone. 'Noble savage' racism. You might say "I suppose that can be overlooked. Fantasy in the 80s was all pretty awful." Except, "Furies" was published in *2004.*
I'm willing to accept the possibility that Jim Butcher has come a long way since 2004. The only book of JB's I have for comparison, "The Aeronaut's Windlass" (p. 2014) is just fine. But "Furies" set off every creep alarm I have. Before I bailed around the 60% mark, there were more references to and descriptions of sexual assault than in my top 15 Fantasy books *combined.* And the protagonist of this book is a non-magical teen boy so the tired empowerment/revenge justification doesn't hold.
Fantasy is a genre for exploring stories beyond the bounds of the real world, including the laws of thermodynamics and civil society. A lot of Fantasy content is obscene and offensive, and many people respond by writing off the genre entirely. I'm an avid fantasy fan with broad context for this evaluation, and I consider "Furies" an inexcusable example of reckless and even deliberately gratuitous sexual violence. Detailed descriptions of adult women with magically immature bodies? Magic-assisted sexual torture and violence against said women? Not to mention the abrupt scene change from rape to a relationship between an injured 23/yo apprentice magic user masquerading as a slave and... a powerful landowner twice her age. (Surprise, the situation is also a rape fantasy.)
Beyond that, the writing for every female character, with one exception, is full of casual sexism. Women are objectified within seconds of being introduced. Female bodies are described with incredibly creepy language, frequently being compared to children's bodies. What the fuck, Jim? Women's conversations fail the Bechdel test and are filled with petty fights over men's attention, and one discussion of SA too disturbing for me to write.
Some argue that the Fantasy genre is a designated safe space for exploring societal taboos, SA included. After all, they say, the characters aren't real so what happens to them doesn't matter, right? I do not agree with that position. Social responsibility is important, and "Furies" is an example of gross irresponsibility with the freedom afforded to the genre.
sillypunk's review against another edition
1.0
If you like constant threat of rape for women, this is your book. If you don't, give it a miss: https://blogendorff.ghost.io/book-review-furies-of-calderon/
enbyglitch's review against another edition
4.0
Jim Butcher demonstrates his range with this forray into high fantasy - and does it quite well. His characters and worldbuilding match if not exceed the early Dresden Files books.
This was the hardest I've had to work to push through one of his books since Fool Moon, but the latter half of the novel was well worth the effort. Looking forward go eventually continuing with Amara and Tavi!
This was the hardest I've had to work to push through one of his books since Fool Moon, but the latter half of the novel was well worth the effort. Looking forward go eventually continuing with Amara and Tavi!
kutterek's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant writing
This book was great! I find the world and magic to be so interesting and I love the character development. Very rich, diverse and interesting characters. I was able to predict a handful of things, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend this one.
This book was great! I find the world and magic to be so interesting and I love the character development. Very rich, diverse and interesting characters. I was able to predict a handful of things, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend this one.
iam_griff's review against another edition
4.0
Jim Butcher is an amazing writer. This is the third series of his I’ve enjoyed. Originally when I say these books I thought they were a YA series with the main character being 15 years old. Of course getting into the first few chapters & some of the content quickly changed that. My only complaint about this book is that there isn’t much on”world building”. No explanations as to how or why the elemental attach to someone or what determines the element they get. I will continue this series as it’s too good not to.
bigbear73's review against another edition
5.0
If I ever meet Jim in person, I may have to kiss him full on the mouth because of this book.
edelm's review against another edition
2.0
I think giving this book two stars was in fact very generous of me. I had high hopes for this book due to all the hype surrounding it and it really just did not live up to them.
The world-building:
Not believable at all, what I look for in a good book is a great world where I can become so immersed in the world that I almost believe that it could be real. I just did not feel that way at all for this story.
While the magic system was somewhat new (Pokemon's influence is evident) I did not find myself really understanding it like I understand Sanderson's magic systems. Sanderson explains his systems so well you almost believe that it could be real and that is what this story was lacking. Believability. I just did not understand this world or it's setting, the random rapes just thrown in there with no real explanation, it all just felt like a mish-mash of tropes thrown into one book.
Characters:
The characters were so flat and so incredibly boring, I found myself really not caring about any of them. Tavi was the most annoying character ever. He was so incredibly childish and I could not imagine him as being any older than twelve. I did like the idea of him not having any powers while all the others did but that was pretty much all I liked about him. Amara was a complete pain in the butt, your typical I-will-do-whatever-my-boss-says-even-though-I-will-most-likely-die-because-of-the-CAUSE. Ugh, think June from Legend when she was all "hurrah to the Republic", you know the kind of character that is really up herself because she thinks she is such a superior fighter and obeys orders to the letter of the law. Annoying.
Most of all though, what this story was lacking was action. This book is over 500 pages long so you would assume that there are tonnes of kick-but action scenes in this, but there just were not enough, and the ones that were there were not all that interesting.
The plot was unbearably slow, the characters were boring and the magic system just did work for me. All-in-all a painful 500 page read.
The world-building:
Not believable at all, what I look for in a good book is a great world where I can become so immersed in the world that I almost believe that it could be real. I just did not feel that way at all for this story.
While the magic system was somewhat new (Pokemon's influence is evident) I did not find myself really understanding it like I understand Sanderson's magic systems. Sanderson explains his systems so well you almost believe that it could be real and that is what this story was lacking. Believability. I just did not understand this world or it's setting, the random rapes just thrown in there with no real explanation, it all just felt like a mish-mash of tropes thrown into one book.
Characters:
The characters were so flat and so incredibly boring, I found myself really not caring about any of them. Tavi was the most annoying character ever. He was so incredibly childish and I could not imagine him as being any older than twelve. I did like the idea of him not having any powers while all the others did but that was pretty much all I liked about him. Amara was a complete pain in the butt, your typical I-will-do-whatever-my-boss-says-even-though-I-will-most-likely-die-because-of-the-CAUSE. Ugh, think June from Legend when she was all "hurrah to the Republic", you know the kind of character that is really up herself because she thinks she is such a superior fighter and obeys orders to the letter of the law. Annoying.
Most of all though, what this story was lacking was action. This book is over 500 pages long so you would assume that there are tonnes of kick-but action scenes in this, but there just were not enough, and the ones that were there were not all that interesting.
The plot was unbearably slow, the characters were boring and the magic system just did work for me. All-in-all a painful 500 page read.