# Book ID help - vague
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-help-vague/664029
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 20, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-help-vague/664029 "2013-07-20T13:20:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-help-vague/664029/1 "2013-07-20T13:20:45Z")
This is pretty vague, sorry, but maybe someone here will recognise this description.
It’s a fantasy book, probably less than 10 years old and more than 3, the first in a series. It is set in a non-Earth world. The main characters are the leaders of their people, lords and ladies type thing. They may or may not all have some kind of supernatural abilities. One character I remember in particular could fly. He wasn’t a noble himself, I don’t think, but was used by them as a messenger. He really loves flying, it’s his ticket to freedom. Most of the people were busy fighting a war, but the flying guy had to chase some lord’s runaway daughter, who had gone off to a big city and gotten in with a bad crowd. Flying guy rescues her by knifing a guy that’s attacking her in a graphic, gory scene.
I don’t remember much about the war, but it was against some known foe from the past, or another dimension, or a different race/species. Something about a valley and they wanted to flood it, or stop it being flooded, and the nerdy scientist types had to solve the engineering dilemma. There was also a lot of descriptions of the fighting, it wasn’t just about the engineers. There was a fairly big cast of characters.
It was around 300 pages, and I think the author was male. It was a tense, exciting book, and I wish I could remember the name, or the author, so I could find the rest of the series.
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### Author:  [@Surok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surok)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2013, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-help-vague/664029/2 "2013-07-21T11:15:12Z")
No idea, I’m afraid, but you might try asking over on Goodreads: there’s a group called [What’s the Name of That Book???](https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/185-what-s-the-name-of-that-book) which seems to be fairly good at tracking down half-remembered books, particularly fantasy and YA.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-help-vague/664029/3 "2013-07-21T23:31:14Z")
Is it one of the _Codex Alera_ books by Jim Butcher? I’ve not read them (I gave up about 50 pages into the first book; it just wasn’t my thing) but what you wrote seems to match up at least partially with what I remember reading.
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-help-vague/664029/4 "2013-07-22T01:33:22Z")
I was thinking that it sounded like one of the _Codex Alera_ books, too. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since I’ve read them, and my copy of the first one, _Furies of Calderon_, is packed away so I can’t check it.
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### Author:  [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-id-help-vague/664029/5 "2013-07-23T12:40:18Z")
> [@Weedy](#):
>
> This is pretty vague, sorry, but maybe someone here will recognise this description.
>
> It’s a fantasy book, probably less than 10 years old and more than 3, the first in a series. It is set in a non-Earth world. The main characters are the leaders of their people, lords and ladies type thing. They may or may not all have some kind of supernatural abilities. One character I remember in particular could fly. He wasn’t a noble himself, I don’t think, but was used by them as a messenger. He really loves flying, it’s his ticket to freedom. Most of the people were busy fighting a war, but the flying guy had to chase some lord’s runaway daughter, who had gone off to a big city and gotten in with a bad crowd. Flying guy rescues her by knifing a guy that’s attacking her in a graphic, gory scene.
>
> I don’t remember much about the war, but it was against some known foe from the past, or another dimension, or a different race/species. Something about a valley and they wanted to flood it, or stop it being flooded, and the nerdy scientist types had to solve the engineering dilemma. There was also a lot of descriptions of the fighting, it wasn’t just about the engineers. There was a fairly big cast of characters.
>
> It was around 300 pages, and I think the author was male. It was a tense, exciting book, and I wish I could remember the name, or the author, so I could find the rest of the series.
Steph Swainston, the [Year of Our War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_Our_War).
Jant flies, he’s one of the Circle (all with powers), and they flood a valley to kill some Insects.
I recommend reading the rest of the series, and must catch up on it myself!