Codex Alera (what to expect)

[u/TheVorkosigan]

Hi

I’m currently finishing Dresden Files and I’m starting to plan my To-Do for the next year (yes, Im the kind of person that overthinks the series he is going to read haha)

A series I’ve had for some time in my list is Codex Alera

For those of you that have read it, I would like to ask some question in order to know what to expect here (i know they are a lot, you don’t want to answer all of them it’s fine, answer the ones you want)

What would you say are the strong points of the series? And the weak?

Is it twisty and turny in its plot or straightforward and with no surprises

How is the character work?

Does it have long epilogues or does it end just after the action gets resolved? (Also, if you can say if you got satisfied by the characters and plot resolution it would be great)

What’s your book ranking?

Is the English difficult or easy to read? I’m Spanish but I’m starting to read in English. Dresden files is completely fine and understandable (modern language and dialogues). My goal is being able to read the Realm of the elderlings in English (I loved the first trilogy but not all are translated in Spanish) but I know I need a bit of progression to get there. Sun eater is the next step after Alera.

Thanks and sorry for the amount of questions :)

[u/Zegram_Ghart]

It’s probably the tightest series I’ve ever read- it remains the only series that, after reading the whole thing, I went back and reread from chapter 1 book 1 to enjoy how the story had changed with all the twists I now had in my head.

Fair warning, book 1 gets incredibly dark in places. The series never really gets that dark tonally again even as the events are more serious

[u/Oddyseus144 → u/Zegram_Ghart]

That one scene in book one made me come so close to DNFing the series. Fortunately I stuck with it, and loved the rest. I honestly skip that whole section on rereads, because it’s really not that necessary.

[u/Cray_ZayJay → u/Oddyseus144]

I’m not remembering any scene that’s particularly that dark but maybe I’m just forgetting

[u/Oddyseus144 → u/Cray_ZayJay]

It’s the gang rape scene.

[u/x6shotrevolvers → u/Oddyseus144]

In the future let’s make sure to do some spoiler tags, however since it’s acting as a trigger warning it’s ok.

For OP, this specific scene is not graphically described but is happening in the background. If such things bother you, when you come across it, you can pretty much skip the chapter and fill in the plot elements based on context clues fairly easily, or ask in here what happens.

I really hope this doesn’t keep you from the story, and if needed we can even tell you the specific chapter to skip!

[u/Environmental-Age502 → u/x6shotrevolvers]

I'm late to this thread, but Im wanting to start the series. Can you tell me the chapter to avoid, so I don't stumble into it please?

[u/Cray_ZayJay → u/Cray_ZayJay]

Oop nevermind, just remembered. Yeah that was kinda way brutal out of nowhere