Academ's Fury Book 2 of the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher Fantasy
480 pages




This is my review of the 2nd book of the Codex Alera. I have to state again that I am a HUGE Jim Butcher fan, so please keep that in mind in regards to this review. :) It is hard not to be biased when you are reviewing someone's work that you really appreciate.

You can check out my review of the first book here. Furies of Calderon Review

Ok, in book two of the serise Tavi is now training to be a Cursor (spy mostly) and it is two years since the events of the first book.  As usual, he tends to be in the right place at the right time and discovers a plan to kill the First Lord of Alera.  Meanwhile, Bernard and Amara are trying to hunt down a mysterious, yet deadly enemy known as the Vord.  They have the ability to shapeshift and take over someone (after killing them) and control them, which includes making them fight.

That is as much as I will say about the plot in the non-spoiler part of this.  The book is better than the first one because of the maturity of Tavi.  He has to deal wit things that are beyond his age and intellect, but he does this very well.  Since he does not have a fury, it forces him to use his brain instead of always depending on a fury (which is what most other people do).  This allows him an edge from time to time since he is able to figure things out quickly.

Overall, this is a great second book to the series.  You can really see that Butcher's writing is getting better the farther he gets into a series.  The characters shine and mature and the story does as well.  The plot becomes much more complicated and the lines of allegiancet are blurried.  Good stuff.

( Review with mucho spoilers )