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Title: Captain's Fury
Series:
Codex Alera #4
Author: Jim Butcher
Rating:
5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages:
656
Words: 175K
From Wikipedia
Two
years have passed after the Night of the Red Stars and the Battle at
the Elinarch (in book three of the Codex Alera, Cursor's Fury). Rufus
Scipio/Tavi had been repelling attacks from the Canim forces for two
years and the war against Kalare raged on. Senator Arnos, who is in
charge of the war committee, is pushing for the destruction of all of
the Canim forces in Alera. Isana is faced with telling Tavi who his
father is and confronting her own abilities. Tavi must find a way to
end the conflict between the Canim and Alera or it may mean the
destruction of all of his forces. Gaius Sextus and the Count and
Countess of Calderon take on a secret mission to stop Kalare.
Senator
Arnos comes to the Elinarch to take over military command against the
Canim. Senator Arnos is working with Invidia Aquitaine to remove Tavi
as the leader of the battle and to eliminate him entirely. Arnos is
accompanied by several singulares, who are a constant threat to Tavi
and who attempt to eliminate him throughout the book.
Isana,
after several attempts of trying to tell Tavi that she is his mother
and that his father was Gaius Septimus, was unable to do so. Araris
delivers the message instead.
Tavi
has a meeting with the Canim leader, Nasaug, where he tells Nasaug
that he knows that the Canim are trying to build ships to get them
back to their homeland. He strikes a deal with Nasaug that he would
help them but Nasaug says that the only way that a deal can be struck
is if Tavi returns Ambassador Varg to them. Arnos spies on this
meeting and through the plotting of Arnos, Invidia and
Marcus/Fidelias, Tavi is removed from his command as Captain for
conspiring with the enemy. Prior to leaving, Tavi places Crassus in
charge of the Alerian forces.
Tavi
escapes from the prison and with Isana, Kitai, Ehren, and Araris,
they board a ship to take them to Aleria Imperia. During the voyage,
they are attacked by Arnos’ singulares and the group uses
furycrafting to board the enemy ship and kill the witchmen that are
hiding their presence from the leviathans. The enemy ship is
destroyed by leviathans but Arnos’ singulares escape. During this
battle, Isana’s powers grow and she is able to heal Araris who was
seriously injured without a bathtub, a feat usually performed only by
the most powerful healers and high lords and ladies.
Gaius
takes Amara and Bernard into Kalarus’s lands, as he tells them that
Kalarus has woken one of the Great Furies in the Kalare mountains and
if Kalare is killed, the mountain will erupt and kill everyone in the
region. Gaius intends to disarm the Fury. During their journey, Gaius
cannot use his powers as this will signal Kalare that he is on
Kalare’s lands and ruin their mission. Gaius gets an infection as
his feet blister from walking 300 miles to the mountain and he must
be tended to along the way. As they approach the mountains, the group
is discovered by a legion of Immortals led by Brencis Minoris,
Kalarus’s son. Gaius heals himself and destroys the legion. He then
releases the great fury which destroys Kalare and all who reside in
the area. Amara, who is angry at the First lord for lying to her,
throws her silver coin in his face and leaves him.
At
the same time, Tavi is able to free Varg from the Grey Tower and
returns him to the Canim forces. He then announces his identity as
Gaius Octavian and challenges Arnos to a Juris Macto. Phrygiar
Navaris, who is the deadliest cutter/sword in all of Alera,
represents Arnos in the duel. Marcus (Fidelias) is instructed by
Invidia to kill both Arnos and Tavi after the duel, using a balest,
to make it look like a Canim attack. Marcus aims the balest and is
able to strike both Arnos, as he tries to escape after Tavi wins the
duel, and Invidia who Arnos grabs for protection. Invidia survives
the initial injury but has the poison of the garic oil in her system.
Tavi
is able to strike a deal with Gaius Sextus allowing the Canim to
return home and to send a cohort with them to ensure their safe
passage and assist them in destroying the Vord that have taken over
their lands. In the end it is also revealed that Tavi is now able to
furycraft.
Another fantastic entry in the Codex Alera series. By this point I
hope you all realize I am hopefully biased in favor of this series
(this is my 3rd read since 2010) and I simply cannot find
any faults. I enjoy my time reading this and while I acknowledge it
isn't at Dickens level of character development, it fulfills every
expectation that I have for an Epic Fantasy.
If I HAD to choose something to complain about (because really, when
don't I complain about anything online?), it would be the whole
sub-story with Gaius, Bernard and Amara. Just like they were slogging
through miles and miles of marshes and swamps, reading those sections
was a slog too.
I really liked reading about Tavi though. You know what though? It
took me until this time around, with the author shoving it right
under nose, that “Tavi” was short for Octavian. Sigh, sometimes I
wonder how I put my pants on in the morning and drive to work. Tavi
is smart, kind, empathetic, charismatic, mentally pliable and above
all, most competent. He is the wish fulfillment of all my dreams for
myself.
On the story side, the Canim make for great antagonists. As a race
they are 9ft tall bipedal wolves. Individually, Butcher has done a
great job of creating some really interesting characters among them.
Nasaug, Varg, etc are fun to read about and the interactions between
them and Tavi gives me that feeling you get when going down a slide,
one of fun and wonderment. The scene where Tavi and friends break
Varg out of the maximum security prison was fantastic.
Finally, Tavi learning that Isana is his mother and that Septimus was
his father hit the emotional side of things just right for me. Couple
that with the continued assassination attempts by Senator Arnos and
his fury-assisted Assistants and you get a perfect combination of
action and emotion. I enjoyed it all.
★★★★★
