What can I say about this series now that it is almost over? One thing that is obvious is that Jim Butcher‘s writing is getting better and better. Princep’s Fury is the fifth and penultimate book in The Codex Alera series. My reviews of books 1 (Furies of Calderoon), 2 (Academ’s Fury), 3 (Cursor’s Fury), 4 (Captain’s Fury), and 5 (Princep’s Fury) Thankfully, his old allies and family are still alive and fighting for the survival of Alera. But to do that he needs to take down the queen and that is quite a task. The First Lord is dead and Tavi needs to hurry back to resolve the succession question at the same time as he utilizes any and all means to prevent the further spread of the Vord. Invidia Aquitaine is still fighting on the Vord queen’s side while her husband is the leader of the people left behind in Alera.

This gives Tavi some hope that Alera might prevail against them in the end. She has limited the number of queens and made them sterile to boot.

However, the first Vord queen is a bit off for a Vord. Their only aim in life is to convert Alera into Vord (land and creatures). In Princep’s Fury Tavi discovered once and for all that the Vord were impossible to talk with/to. But this trait is also what has brought enemies to help and now another enemy needs to be brought into the battle against the Vord. (Yes, I do realize he is a fictional character!) Sometimes people like this can be terribly annoying because giving up can be soooo tempting. Tavi sees allies in traditional enemies, possibilities in impossibilities and hope where the rest of us give up. Not often, but enough times to know how precious that ability is. Me, I lack that piece of genius that I sometimes meet in other people. Just crazy enough to see possibilities where the rest of us aren’t able to. I think the reason I like Tavi’s character is because he is a bit crazy. First Lord’s Fury is almost 700 pages long. The last book of The Codex Alera is another brick.

Isana codex alera