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Furies of Calderon
January 2019: Action-Adventure
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The Furies of Calderon - Jim Butcher 4/5
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For those who didn't know, here is an excerpt from an interview of Jim Butcher that explains how this series came about:Q: How did you come up with the original idea for CODEX ALERA? We’ve heard rumours that it involved a bet on whether you could combine the Roman empire and Pokémon… is that true?
A: The bet was actually centered around writing craft discussions being held on the then-new Del Rey Online Writers’ Workshop, I believe. The issue at hand was central story concepts. One side of the argument claimed that a good enough central premise would make a great book, even if you were a lousy writer. The other side contended that the central concept was far less important than the execution of the story, and that the most overused central concept in the world could have life breathed into by a skilled writer.
It raged back and forth in an ALL CAPITAL LETTERS FLAMEWAR between a bunch of unpublished writers, and finally some guy dared me to put my money where my mouth was, by letting him give me a cheesy central story concept, which I would then use in an original novel.
Me being an arrogant kid, I wrote him back saying, “Why don’t you give me TWO terrible ideas for a story, and I’ll use them BOTH.”
The core ideas he gave me were Lost Roman Legion and Pokémon… Thus was Alera formed.
What an awesome story-I wonder if the guy that threw those two "terrible ideas" ever had the chance to talk with Butcher again-
THAT is awesome, Anna! I picked up on it, but didn't realize how it came to be.
I'm totally lukewarm on the Dresden books (sorry everybody), so I wasn't all that inspired to read this. A friend read it recently and really enjoyed it so I decided to try the audio.
It was very good. At first it felt like so much fantasy I've read before, but it was different enough that I could appreciate it. I even moved on to the second book in the series, though not sure I'll make it to the third.
Fun, engaging fantasy.