Furies Of Calderon: The Codex Alera: Book One

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Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Realm of Alera is a society very similar to Western Rome at the peak of its empire. Justified since it was founded by a Lost Roman Legion. That being said, Alera has several distinct elements that show how far it has diverged from ancient Roman culture, particularly with a more executive system of government where the Senate, High Lords, and First Lord exist side by side, the fact that slavery is a divisive topic instead of the norm, and the use of several aspects of the medieval European feudal system, such as Counts ruling over regions under the High Lords and the title of a Knight of the Legions. Furthermore, unlike the very religious Romans, the Alerans are highly agnostic and secular, to the point of outright claiming to have Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions as "gods" and "prophecy". In book 1, Bernard is merely Bernard, steadholder of Bernardholt in the Calderon Valley. However, because old Gram is unavailable, he must lead the defenses against Marat invaders and Aleran traitors. Heal It with Water: Healing magic is one of the watercrafting arts and one of the most commonly used for its Mundane Utility. It usually requires the patient to be immersed in a tub of water, but the more powerful practitioners don't need to do so.

One popular fan theory suggests that the Vord are actually biological weapons in service to a more intelligent species, intended to "terraform" planets by exterminating the locals and laying down croach for whatever is to follow. Status: Deceased, killed by First Lord Gaius Octavian of Alera with the assistance of First Lady Gaius Kitai of Alera and the Great Furies Garados and Thana Lilvia Livia. An unabridged audiobook edition of the novel was released by Penguin Audio on November 26, 2008. [9] It was followed by the release of an audio CD on December 1. [10] Notes: This, the Queen killed by the Marat, and the third Queen the Awakened Queen created to inhabit Canea are the only Vord Queens to have never been seen in the series.We also haven’t seen a cost to using any of the furies outside of becoming a bit tired. Apart from the water casters who, when doing a very difficult amount of healing, can become lost in it, not dying immediately but becoming catatonic and then dying soon after due to no nourishment. She becomes increasingly beloved by the common folk of Alera as the series goes on, with many in the Dianic League seeing her as one of the main reasons to actually hope for the end of slavery in everyone's current lifetime. Fictional Disability: For the first twenty years of his life — and the first half of the series — Tavi is incapable of furycrafting, making him be seen as a glorified special needs child since he lives in a society where Everyone Is a Super. He eventually comes into his furies when he's around 20 years old — when most Alerans come into their furies during puberty or even earlier — effectively making him a late bloomer par excellance. This is because of his mother Isana having watercrafted him to stunt his growth to protect him from being noticed as Septimus' son. Status: Deceased, killed by Princeps Gaius Octavian of Alera with the assistance of the Narashan Hunters Sha, Nef, Koh, and Warmaster Varg. Secret Legacy: Tavi grows up being told that his father (a nameless legionare) and mother died at the First Battle of Calderon, killed by Marat. Turns out that his father was actually Gaius Septimus, legitimate heir to the First Lord; his mother, Isana, survived and went underground as his aunt to continue to raise him; and Septimus was assassinated during the battle by a cabal of Citizens.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He has no way of knowing that cutting himself in the Wax Forest would wake up the Vord Queen, but it did. Or that it would absorb his and Kitai's blood and inherit their traits. Family Relationship Switcheroo: She claims to be Tavi's aunt with a sister that died in childbirth. In actuality, she is Tavi's mother while her sister did die due to Tavi's birth. Butcher, Jim (2004). Hardcover - Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera) by Jim Butcher. Ace Books. ISBN 0441011993.

Mercenaries

Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's a bit of a late bloomer (what with Isana slowing his growth and all), but even in Furies of Calderon Amara notes that he's a good-looking boy. By Captain's Fury, he's repeatedly mentioned to be quite tall and rather attractive, with Kitai's cousin Enna openly leering at him when she interrupts Kitai and Tavi in an intimate moment. As evidenced by both his uncle Bernard and his father Septimus, this seems to run in Tavi's family. Called "the Keepers of Silence" by the Marat and more often referred to as "wax spiders," the Keepers are spiders the size of large dogs, light-weight, and covered in tough, pale chitin. Custodians of the croach, they act to repair any breaks in its surface as well as entomb captured prey beneath for digestion. Keepers communicate with others of their kind through chirps (generally for passive vocalizations) and whistles (for aggressive communications and alarms). They are also armed with a deadly and fast-acting venom. Keepers are capable of infrared vision, which allows them to see at night and locate enemies (as Tavi established they have 'heat vision'). ( Furies of Calderon ch.33-34) It is mentioned that they actually have far too many legs to resemble spiders in the traditional sense, but "wax spider" is still used as a descriptor for them. The novel was well received, with critics praising Butcher's turn at a more traditional fantasy setting, fast pacing, action, and his characterization of the antagonists. According to Ehren ex Cursori, the croach naturally creates enough wax spiders to keep itself alive and spreading, suggesting that they are the most common form of Vord.

Some did not like the ridiculous situations that are in the book, and some repeated things and ideas that get old throughout the six books of the series. Some found that the pacing in the novel was quite bad. Bernard is an overwhelmingly powerful earthcrafter. He has the ability to manifest his earthcrafting in the form of a great dog named Brutus. Bernard channels his earthcrafting to bolster his already impressive might, allowing him to perform superhuman feats of strength. Bernard has moved large boulders like pebbles, smashed large and dangerous enemies, and lifted impossible heavy loads frequently and easily. He has demonstrated his ability to manipulate the excitement of others through his earthcrafting, primarily using it to calm down animals like horses and dogs. He can use his earthcrafting to bring minerals together, such as gathering the salt in the earth to encase an arrowhead in salt. Invisibility: Both wind and woodcrafters can accomplish this, though through different means. Windcrafters have a more "traditional" form of invisibility, where they craft the air around a target so it reflects light away. Meanwhile, when enough plant matter is present, woodcrafters can accelerate and adjust plant growth around them so that they are hidden in the resulting shadows and leaves, making them effectively invisible.

Becoming the Mask: He starts Cursor's Fury as a civilian Cursor who joins the First Aleran undercover as a junior officer, despite having zero time in the Legions. When the book ends, he's become The Captain, so much so that he spends the next years serving primarily as a legionare instead of a Cursor. This is foreshadowed when Magnus outright tells him that this will happen, with regard to his military career: "When you start, it'll be an act. At the end, it won't be an act anymore."

Mama Bear: Virtually everything she does is because she wants to protect Tavi. This even gets mildly deconstructed in Captain's Fury where not only does Araris have to warn Isana away from becoming so swept up in defending her son that she becomes no better than those she is fighting against, but she also realizes that she took the wrong lesson and was so protecting of Tavi that she forgot how Living Is More than Surviving. Archer Archetype: One of the best archers in the kingdom capable of taking down High Lords with his arrows. Humans Are Bastards: The Marat, Canim, Icemen, and Vord all think so. And considering how the Alerans are the only species to practice slavery, they're presented as not being entirely wrong. Eventually, though, the series makes it clear that aside from the Vord being literally born to regard all other species as resources for expansion, no species on Carna is inherently "superior" to any other morally speaking.Non-Standard Character Design: When furies are physically manifested, they most often take the form of some type of plant or animal (i.e., Count Gram's fire fury Phyllis taking the form of a hummingbird, and a feral fire fury in First Lord's Fury being described as taking the form of a swaying willow tree). Isana's water fury Rill instead never directly manifests as anything other than a faint reflection of a younger Isana (specifically, around the time she first came into Rill's power) in the water she is currently controlling. Why exactly Rill looks so different from any other fury is intentionally left as a Riddle for the Ages.