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Lord Of Dorkness


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Nov
4th
2016

Codex Alera — My Thoughts · 4:39pm Nov 4th, 2016

AKA, the stupid bet about mixing the two dumbest ideas he could think up that Jim Butcher laughed all the way to the bank on.

Those two ideas/old chestnuts—for the initiated, being, Whatever Happened To The Lost Legion—an alternative history work-horse whipped way, way post going rancid—and Pokemon.

And... I honestly don't know if I like it, or despise it. To me, at least, there was just this constant under-current of: 'Huh, so this is Jim phoning it in, and slamming his head against a keyboard for a pay-check for a few hours while giggling madly.'

It's like reading the notes of that one kid in class that gets straight A's in the classes he enjoys, but just drags his feet in all others. And it's infuriating, because he still never has the decency of dipping bellow a good and solid, if uninspired B- while you're struggling to get C's. :twilightangry2:

Now, granted, the above might be me having read the Dresden books to the point of obsession, but it was still simply not I could ever stop noticing, and it did severely lesson my enjoyment of the entire series.

And the truly infuriating thing?

I'm still recommending it. :facehoof:

Because that blurb? 'Lost Legion with Pokemon, versus themselves, Wolf-Furry Klingons and The Zerg?

Same reason I'm not even trying a plot synopsis: This is the paper-back equivalent of a buxom lady one-man-band playing polka while riding a mini-motorcycle on gravel and wearing only clown make-up.

Because quality? In this one case it simply doesn't matter. If Lady Beppo's Amazing Motorized Musical Juggling Act intrigues you, you're going to watch it if so captured by a toaster modified to shoot celluloid. Just as a person turned off by any of them same isn't going to care if it was so shot by Hitchcock and shown at their local iMax.

(Although given Blow Job, maybe a Warhol flick would have been more likely a director of that movie...) :trixieshiftright:

Anyway, there's just no other series quite like it, and any fan of Jim Butcher should at least check it out. It's a love it and or hate it story, though, so you might want to use your local library for at least the first part.

I will say this one thing, though, as a true negative: this series has the worst plot-tumor I've ever seen in any series, books or otherwise. One teeny, tiny thing in book one grows and grows, until it just eats the entire world, and becomes the entire focus of the series by book six. Personally, I found it made sense in hindsight, but I can imagine—and have heard anecdotes to that effect—some people loving the first few books, only to hate the last half, and it ruining the whole series for them.

So if your reading time is limited, and you don't feel like giving a 'maybe' a chance? May want to keep looking in that case.

Comments ( 10 )

I have the epubs for them but I've never actually taken a crack at them...

Honestly, I should get back into reading actually published work... Fanfiction and Translated Chinese Webnovels basically took over my reading life :rainbowlaugh: There is just so much of them.

I do love Codex Alera, though I concede it is the weakest of the three main Jim Butcher series (Dresden, Cinder Spires, and Codex in that order.) I had to struggle through the first book more than a bit, but by book three I was starting to dig it despite its flaws. The whole vord/zerg thing becomes a bit too all consuming by the end I agree, but makes perfect logical sense for a wormhole dumping ground planet like Alera. After all that is exactly what happens when you introduce a species to a foreign ecosystem without the checks and balances it evolved with.

No one is going to argue it is as good as Dresden, but I'd go so far as to say the best book of Alera is better than the worst book of The Dresden Files (which I think we all know is Fool Moon :raritywink:.)

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No one is going to argue it is as good as Dresden, but I'd go so far as to say the best book of Alera is better than the worst book of The Dresden Files (which I think we all know is Fool Moon :raritywink:.)

:flutterrage: Heresy! :flutterrage:

In all seriousness, though, my personal vote for worst Dresden book is Ghost Story. So far the only one in the entire series I haven't read more then once.

Don't get me wrong, it was really interesting seeing the crazy stuff Mort deals with everyday from the side of somebody that normally can run circles (bada-bom, tish) around him and it has some really, really strong scenes...

And the implications of what a good, caring and decant man Dresden would have been without the stain of dark magic was really damn tragic and tear jerking. Especially that bit where Murphy even doubts if it's really him. :pinkiesad2:

But at the end of the day, the book just didn't quite work for me as a whole. Not sure why, but for comparison I've re-read Fool Moon 3-4 times or so.

Think it was the bleakness, actually. Just was too long and hard a punch in the gut seeing such a hope-bringer as Harry brought so low and impotent—and what horrible echoes his death sent out in the world.

Again, get that's the point, but again-again, only part of a 15+ series I haven't re-read. Think that says something.

In comparison, I found the four pronged take on werewolves in Fool Moon very interesting, and true to near all the myths out there. As well as one I simply didn't see coming at the time. since at the time I was so used to seeing the 'moon = curse' style being the only one in vague.

What bugs me most about the Codex series, I was part way through re-reading it when a thought popped into my head, "So Changelings are what happen when the Vord end up in Equestria.". That was over three years ago and it still won't leave.

:rainbowlaugh: All right, that's got to be my new favorite description for the series.

It's like reading the notes of that one kid in class that gets straight A's in the classes he enjoys, but just drags his feet in all others. And it's infuriating, because he still never has the decency of dipping bellow a good and solid, if uninspired B- while you're struggling to get C's. :twilightangry2:

It, ah, might be a good thing you never went to school with me, then. :twilightblush:


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I must admit, I personally find Codex Alera to be the most enjoyable of Butcher's series so far. I wouldn't say I'm qualified to debate whether it's better-written (I'd need to reread all of them again and compare for that), but it's the one that I had the most fun reading. A lot of that's probably due to it appealing to specific tastes (in particular, I suspect "everyone has magic" instead of "the chosen few" and the worldbuilding tip the balance quite a bit), but I do think at least some of it is similar to Lord Of Dorkness's reaction to Ghost Story: Codex Alera strikes me as a lot less bleak and dark than the Dresden Files.

...Ugh, I want to follow up on that, but after fifteen minutes of inadequate attempts it's becoming apparent that's not going to happen right now. Well, I'd be interested to see what people have to say about the idea, so I guess it's worth throwing out there anyway. Hopefully once I'm not half-asleep I'll be able to elaborate more usefully (and won't regret having posted this before then...).


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Honestly, the whole setting is just begging for a FIM fusion crossover (or a "normal" crossover, considering that both settings have inter-world travel effects, but that's not as fun - though having Tavi/Octavian from Alera run into "Tavi"/Octavia from FIM seems like it could be made amusing). All the major species/races and some of the minor ones have an obvious FIM analogue, furycraft and (to a lesser extent) the other magics pair up with the FIM counterparts with little tweaking needed, and some of the messages implicit in the setting match up nicely. If you want, I can try to dig up some of my old speculations on the subject (or perhaps reconstruct them... I'm not sure they got backed up properly).

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I must admit, the whole: 'world of magi' thing was probably one of the series greatest strengths, and I should have mentioned it above. Added a lot of tension to each fight, since you simply didn't know what flavor of power even the lowliest mook would have until they started using their furies.

I would really have liked to see the... well, gotta catch 'em all aspect in play more, though, since even for such desperate times the concept of fury-taming barely comes up.

Granted, the whole idea that your number of furies almost always correlates with social standing, and that those that try to advance past their 'given' lot are to be mistrusted is a very Ancient Roman concept and makes sense, but I'd still like to have seen it in play at least a tiny bit more.

Minor soldier that gets maimed by a wood-fury, but captures it, and at some critical moment the stealth bonus thing saves his life at the cost of mistrust from his comrades, or something. Think that would have been a really cool moment of world-building.

The thing about this series is that Furies of Calderon? That one is genuinely good. I actually liked it. The rest is just so amazingly, amazingly boring every time the focus isn't on Tavi, and sometimes even when it is. I would claim I read the entire series, but summing it up? I probably skipped over 3 books worth of content from sheer disinterest. I feel like I missed nothing important there.

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The thing about this series is that Furies of Calderon? That one is genuinely good. I actually liked it. The rest is just so amazingly, amazingly boring every time the focus isn't on Tavi, and sometimes even when it is. I would claim I read the entire series, but summing it up? I probably skipped over 3 books worth of content from sheer disinterest. I feel like I missed nothing important there.

Hmm... Have to admit I really likes the series up to Cursor's Fury I think it was. The one that's nearly all one big siege against the dog creatures. After that, the plot-tumor just ate too much of the other plots for me to genuinely enjoy reading the series.

Still, I will admit, I think this series would have been far stronger with the Dresden Files first-person perspective of Tavi only, letting you really feel how he grows and learns from fury-less farm boy to Emperor. There was about one scene in ten I actually enjoyed from his mom's perspective, for instance, and the only reason I didn't skip entire chapters was this nagging voice in the back of my head they otherwise I'll never, ever read the whole books.

I'll give the books this much, though: The Emperor was always interesting when he was actually allowed to be conscious and on-screen. Reminded me of a (slightly) less rabid Donald Morgan, in a good way. Those bits I would have genuinly missed if the series was re-imagined in first-person.

So definitely the weakest Butcher series I've read so far. I recently splurged a bit and ordered both the first Dresden graphic novel and that Spire book, so we'll see if that judgement holds up after I've gotten and read them both, but for now I'll stand by that assessment.

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Still, I will admit, I think this series would have been far stronger with the Dresden Files first-person perspective of Tavi only

I agree, really. The Tavi sections were all fairly enjoyable to read until about Captain's Fury, because nothing can make military life interesting unless it's Black Company. The problem is that they really just became more and more sparse as the series goes on and the digressions less and less interesting in themselves. I read nothing that was centered around that one air girl, for example, I can't even remember her name. She's vitally important to the plot, but I still just couldn't give a damn about her.

The Emperor was always interesting when he was actually allowed to be conscious and on-screen. Reminded me of a (slightly) less rabid Donald Morgan, in a good way. Those bits I would have genuinly missed if the series was re-imagined in first-person.

While I agree and thought the Emperor was always fun to read, I actually think that particular role was filled more by Fidelias. They came to a very different conclusion, but the sheer dedication to duty and their loyalty to their nation, such as it is, defines the characters in very much the same way. They both do what they think is necessary, whatever having to do so costs them personally.

I agree, really. The Tavi sections were all fairly enjoyable to read until about Captain's Fury, because nothing can make military life interesting unless it's Black Company. The problem is that they really just became more and more sparse as the series goes on and the digressions less and less interesting in themselves. I read nothing that was centered around that one air girl, for example, I can't even remember her name. She's vitally important to the plot, but I still just couldn't give a damn about her.

While I agree and thought the Emperor was always fun to read, I actually think that particular role was filled more by Fidelias. They came to a very different conclusion, but the sheer dedication to duty and their loyalty to their nation, such as it is, defines the characters in very much the same way. They both do what they think is necessary, whatever having to do so costs them personally.

Speaking of loyalty, I actually really enjoyed just how those three played out in the end.

(Massive spoilers!)

First introduction of the Emperor, and he speaks about how there's two types of people. Those that live and breathe loyalty to the bitter end, and those that simply does not get it.

And he's absolute right (in universe at least), just as he's absolutely wrong on which side Fidelias and the Wind-lass is on. She turns her back on him after one nasty moral dilemma despite being a trained spy becuse she cannot look past her own petty morals while a nation is bleeding, while Fidelias unmakes himself several times over for the empire by the end of the story because that is what's needed for the Empire to survive.

Thought it was really neat foreshadowing. One of the series high-lights even.

I do admit that the girl herself is as deep and interesting as a puddle with a few drops of oil in it, though. Fitting for the culture, but still not very interesting to read about. Heck, can't remember a thing about her except how her wind-fury had this neat horse theme.

...Granted, that's a problem in the whole series thanks to the Roman culture's emphasis on social standing as the be-all, end-all, to a persons worth, but still.

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