I actually only started reading Butcher’s “Codex Alera” series this year, having just followed his Dresden Files series until now, but I’m glad I branched out. Course, it means I’ll have to buy twice as many books from him a year, but at least his writing and storycrafting deserves it.
If you don’t already know, the Codex Alera series starts with Furies of Calderon, and combines a Romanistic empire–complete with military and social structure–with a fantasy world full of elemental beings that can bond with people to perform magical feats of strength, fire-calling, flight, etc. In this land where everyone has at least one “fury” as a companion, a boy named Tavi is born without any apparent fury-calling ability and grows up labeled as a freak. Because of this lack, however, Tavi is forced to rely on his wits and other personal strengths to overcome enormous challenges that daunt even magically-enhanced people.
The fifth book in the series, Princeps’ Fury, is coming out this winter, and Butcher has recently posted some prologues and chapter samples for it. Check them out here:
http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/alera/5/
Codex Alera is a great companion series to Butcher’s more urban fantasies. Seeing how the furies are used in pretty much every aspect of life is another testament to his worldbuilding skill, and he always manages to weave in a solid handful of intriguing storylines and characters we care about without ever losing sight of the main conflict that drives the plot forward. So if you haven’t taste-tested this series yet, give it a shot and see if you can catch up before the next one comes out. It won’t be time wasted, I guarantee it.
I see that smile.