Being that I am a fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, I thought it would be interesting to check out this book called The Furies of Calderon. It's a fantasy novel set in an original world, and is the first part of a series. I didn't really have any expectations about this novel, other than knowing the author's previous works have been quite good. Now that I have finished reading it, I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

I thought the setting seemed to be very loosely based on Roman times because it uses terms like ‘legionnaire' and ‘citizen' quite regularly. Even the politics seemed similar. I had just finished watching the complete series of HBO's Rome and that's how I made the connection. Even so, it's still an original world that has a bit of magic in the form of furies, where people are connected with elements like earth and water and can control them when needed.

The plot to this novel is quite complicated. It involves conspiracies, rogue warrior tribes, slavers, and more. To explain everything would be too much for here, but basically there is an old war that is reignited when one of the tribesmen is killed, and what follows is a complicated series of encounters between the power players in the story. There's fighting and then there's in-fighting, and lots of grudges make some people enemies on the same side of the battle.

At the heart of this story is a boy named Tavi who has no furies. To be without a fury makes him sort of a social outcast, so of course he has to prove himself using other means. I liked how the hero of the story is the exact opposite of the hero in most every fantasy story. Instead of having some special ability or magical object, he's special because he does not have those things while everyone else does. It's a nice break from the norm. When war breaks out, Tavi finds himself in the middle of it.

This story is filled with action. The last 100 or so pages of the novel depict one giant siege with all kinds of battles and swordplay. Throughout the story there is a good bit of action and intrigue, and I liked how it builds up to that big ending. Too often the first part of a fantasy series tends to be kind of boring in how it spends too much time building up all the characters (like George R.R. Martin's Songs of Fire and Ice) and this one manages to keep things interesting while introducing a fleet of players.

Fans of the Dresden Files should expect something totally different with The Furies of Calderon, but it's still worth a read. Butcher is a great author who knows how to keep the pace just right and I can't wait to read the next one. There are already several books in this series.

Recommended: Yes