Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Two things at the beginning: 1. Don't believe the 'official" summary above since it is full of mistakes (Odiana, for instance, is definitely NOT Amara's companion). 2. Don't expect this to be anything like the Dresden Files series by the same author - trust me, both series are really great, but whereas the hard-boiled-thriller-like adventures of Harry Dresden are a fantastic mix of humour, horror elements and pop cultural references, the Codex Alera series is, indeed, pure fantasy. Many fantastic novels have been dubbed "inspired by Tolkien" - which, I might add, mostly turns out to be a rather disappointing and uninspiring approach. Been there, read that. However, this new series is both very original and a very good read, without being to light or even trivial (*cough, Salvatore, cough*). I might not even wait for the paperback edition of the second book... :-)
As for the story: The Realm of Alera - which shares many similarities (like names and military hierarchy) to the Roman Empire - has been more or less peaceful for the last 15 years, and the cruel hordes of the Marat - tall and pale-haired barbarians who bond with animals and partake (i.e. eat) their enemies to devour their strength - have stayed outside the Aleran borders for that time. But exactly at her graduation exercise to become a cursor (a trusted supporter, furywarrior and messenger (i.e. spy) for the First Lord), the girl Amara realises that her teacher Fidelias, of all people, has become a traitor because he believes the Realm to be threatened by the heirless old First Lord Gaius Sextus and tries to install a younger and more powerful Lord on the throne. Amara can escape the trap of her teacher and is sent to the Calderon Valley, where she is to warn the legions at the garrison from a possible attack.
The people living in this particular valley are more or less simple farmers, but the harsh surroundings have made them strong furycrafters - an aspect that is vital to the fantastic background of the story: everybody in this world has at least one fury, an elemental spirit of either earth, air, fire, water, wood or metal that may provide for instance the powers to heal, to fight or fly. The fifteen-year-old Tavi, however, is still furyless. One day, when he neglects to bring in the sheeps at night and has to set out the next day in order to retrieve them, he and his uncle are suddenly faced with a fully grown Marat. From this moment, Tavi is on the run: first the Marat tries to kill him, and then Fidelias and his companions are after him in order to kill him before he can warn the legions of the oncoming Marat attack. On his flight, he meets Amara, and they both are sucked into a series of dangerous adventures...
What I really liked about the story is, apart from the fast-paced and gripping writing, the fact that there is hardly any black-and-white depiction of the characters and/or political fractions. Well, there are "bad" and "good" people, but they are rarely evil without a reason: Fidelias for instance has his reasons for betraying the First Lord, and also the Marat are not orc-like evil creatures without any brains and feelings. In fact, we learn rather quickly that the Marat are almost human, and that not all the Marat are evil (even though they all devour their enemy's hearts...) Occasionally, we can also see a glimpse of that particular humour we are so used to from the Dresden Files. I also really appreciated that there are slight hints of things to come in future instalments of the series without ending the story in too much of a cliffhanger. In fact, the story could be read as a stand-alone story. Personally, I'm very much looking forward to the next part of the series, because a lot of the characters have already grown on me. Moooore! :-)

First I'll have to say that the quoted likeness to Tolkien's stories on the cover is merchandising and has nothing to do with the content of this book. Guess what, I nearly did not buy it because of that quote. Rest assured, Furies of Calderon uses unique concepts and is not another novel about elves, dwarves, orcs, hobbits and high magic. There isn't even the classical destroy-this-artifact, recover-that-artifact nor the save-the-kingdom quest, I'm happy to say.

What I liked about this book:
novel magic system
more than one main character
the world, while being fantasy contains hints at different races and other worlds
brilliant ideas (creatures, magic...) and their description

What I really hated (contains SPOILERS):
It's very forseeable. Not one of the twists in the final chapters was a surprise to me and I'm pretty sure I can predict a lot of the long term plot in the next books.
When a situation sets up a character to die, it should do so. A miraculous recovery or the devil's luck is nice once, but not every time any of the main chars seems to die! Yes, every single one of the good main chars survives unscathed in the end and even all of their main adversaries do.
Consequence, Mister Butcher!
Gods, I really hated them all to survive after clearly being declared dead. All of them. Again and again. Dresden Files were better.

Conclusion:
All in all, I'd recommend this book for mature children and teenagers.
If you've been reading fantasy for a few decades, this can still be new and enjoyable, but expect to be put off by action and consequence not working for this story.
For grittier fantasy with chars dying try Stephen Erikson, where they may come back, but at least die from fatal wounds.

How anyone could compare FURIES OF CALDERON, book one of THE CODEX ALERA, to Tolkien is a mystery to me. True, it's epic fantasy (and not urban, like the DRESDEN FILES), but that's were the similarities end.
Through the whole book there always seemed to be some running, fighting, fleeing, bleeding and magic going on - fast paced action doesn't quite capture it. (I wonder if this is a male writer thing?) It was well balanced by sensitive characterisation (there're strong females too) and a fine sense of humour that's neither heavy-handed nor misplaced.
The only flaw is the orphaned-shepherd-boy-becomes-hero-(and probably heir to the throne)-cliché, but every once in a while this is nice to read too (especially if it's executed so well).

After a thousand years the Aleran Empire (Roman flavoured) is on the brink of collapse. Even furycrafting isn't enough to hold the realm together (furies are elemental spirits bonding to humans) when the royal line is failing, savage Marats are threatening the realm and powerful nobles are nursing treason
On a mission to investigate a renegade Legion the young spy Amara discovers a conspiracy that reaches into the highest layers of Aleran nobility. Barely escaping with her life she stumbles over fifteen year old furyless Tavi, who is on the run from a vanguard of Marats. This sets off a desperate race against the time, because Amara believes the conspiracy and the Marats to be connected and tries to reach the local garrison before it's too late. But she and Tavi encounter more obstacles than they could have dreamt up in their wildest nightmares ...