Book Review: Princeps' Fury (Book 5 of the Codex Alera)

Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jim Butcher had done a very good job building up the excitement in the first half of the book. In fact, his writing does excel in highlighting despairing situations. Like all other codex alera books, I greatly enjoyed the first half (or third) of the book more so than the rest put together.

There is plenty of action and plot twists all around the book. But by now, the twists have been used to prevalently throughout the series that they now come as expected. I pretty much felt that whenever the characters deign to plan anything, chances are it will somehow go wrong or something will change.

Somehow, the author just failed to deliver according to the anticipations built up in the earlier portions of the book. The book, like the rest of the series, suffers from some major issues in the plot. The most obvious ones lie with the ultimate villian - Why was the vord so insistent on killing them down to the last person? What will they eat then? Why would such a strong opponent seek an outright war with them if they seem most effective in a war of stealth? I still find the Takers more frightening than the rest of the Vord capabilities. As powerful as the Vord may be, they do not seem particularly frightening except for the sheer volume of numbers. In fact, they yet had to rely on human technology to keep their human victims in check. How then, were they able to defeat both the Canim and the Marat(before) just by their own strengths before? The Vord's reliance on human furycrafting seems to suggest human superiority that contradicts the notion about how each race is complicated yet equally valuable.

The main character, Tavi, was also described to be so brave and selfless (to the extent he completely lacks self-preservation) that he is almost unbelievable. Lets face it, realistically a person like him would have long expired if not for the ever trustworthy sense of instinct or the combination of luck and ingenuity turning events into his favour. Aside from this characteristic flaw to consistently put himself in the harm's way, there is a lack of a genuine character flaw that marks him as human, and therefore, a more relatable character.

I find this series' another main problem is its inability to maintain my level of excitement and interest when the armed conflict starts. Something is just missing from Jim Butcher's narrative when it comes to large scale conflicts, perhaps a sense of detachment in his narrative. I have read fantasy books that draw me in during large scale battles, and Jim Butcher simply failed to meet these expectations. In fact, the legion battles are about the most boring parts of the book.

All in all, I still rate 4 out of 5 because the author has managed to do a very good job with the first half of the book. Any less would be too harsh because I honestly did enjoy reading it. My review simply highlighted some problems the book suffers from, but perhaps disparate attention was paid to the good aspects of it. I am very unsatisfied with how Jim Butcher resolved the conflict in this book, and hopefully the next in the series would do a better job.



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