On This Page
Description
In the acclaimed Codex Alera novels, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher has created a fascinating world in which the people of Alera use their unique bond with the elemental forces of nature for protection. But even nature may not be enough to stave off the coming storm…Tavi of Calderon, now recognized as Princeps Gaius Octavian and heir to the crown, has achieved a fragile alliance with Alera’s oldest foes, the savage Canim. But when Tavi and his legions guide the show more Canim to their lands, his worst fears are realized. The dreaded Vord—the enemy of Aleran and Canim alike—have laid waste to the Canim homeland. And the Alerans find themselves trapped alongside their former enemies.
Meanwhile, war-torn Alera rebuilds while politicians and nobles vie for power. But from the south comes the news: the Vord have come to Alera. For a thousand years, Alera and her furies have withstood every enemy, and survived every foe. But the thousand years are over... show less
Tags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
Member Reviews
This fifth book in Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series had better balance than the previous instalment, which had sections that dragged; Butcher’s talent for pacing is a double-edged sword, because when he adopts a lazy attitude to certain things, the reader immediately notices the lag. It was nowhere near as intrusive in this volume; although, sending Tavi overseas just to have to retreat again, giving events in Alera time to position themselves for the last book, was a bit too obvious a plot-holder. Then again, it was at least an enjoyably written plot-holder that had me fooled into believing it was the point of the book for a long time… I love Tavi’s relationship with the Canim (or perhaps I just enjoy the thought of giant, show more fluffy warriors).
While Tavi is rescuing Canim from the Vord – or at least manoeuvring them until they rescue themselves, and him, and the Free Alerans with them – back in Alera, the Vord are destroying the humans in their path with little effort. Taken fighters and citizenry, with their attending furycraft, bolster the enemy’s position until whole cities are abandoned or destroyed. Isana negotiates a truce between the Icemen of the north and the legions holding them back, to free the forces to engage the Vord, but every advantage gains them only time. For once, all the lines of story – Isana’s, Amara and Bernard’s, and Tavi’s, were each as engaging as the other, so there was no frustration in the switching of points of view. And once more, Butcher uses personalities layered with varying loyalties, friendships and family bonds to devastating effect.
I think, even had this book been a puddle of sludge, pace-wise, I would have forgiven it everything for the appearance, finally, of Tavi’s manifest Fury, and the means by which he gained it (cryptic to avoid spoilers, sorry). That was well worth waiting for.
Each of these books has left me with an eagerness to read the next, which is the only reasonable marker of a great series, fantasy or otherwise. First Lord’s Fury looks to be the thickest of the books, and I look forward to lots of intrigue, fighting with various foes and conscripting of unlikely allies, and some proper Vord ass-kicking - because they give me the creeps. show less
While Tavi is rescuing Canim from the Vord – or at least manoeuvring them until they rescue themselves, and him, and the Free Alerans with them – back in Alera, the Vord are destroying the humans in their path with little effort. Taken fighters and citizenry, with their attending furycraft, bolster the enemy’s position until whole cities are abandoned or destroyed. Isana negotiates a truce between the Icemen of the north and the legions holding them back, to free the forces to engage the Vord, but every advantage gains them only time. For once, all the lines of story – Isana’s, Amara and Bernard’s, and Tavi’s, were each as engaging as the other, so there was no frustration in the switching of points of view. And once more, Butcher uses personalities layered with varying loyalties, friendships and family bonds to devastating effect.
I think, even had this book been a puddle of sludge, pace-wise, I would have forgiven it everything for the appearance, finally, of Tavi’s manifest Fury, and the means by which he gained it (cryptic to avoid spoilers, sorry). That was well worth waiting for.
Each of these books has left me with an eagerness to read the next, which is the only reasonable marker of a great series, fantasy or otherwise. First Lord’s Fury looks to be the thickest of the books, and I look forward to lots of intrigue, fighting with various foes and conscripting of unlikely allies, and some proper Vord ass-kicking - because they give me the creeps. show less
**Codex Alera** continues to be stunning Fantasy – I'm honestly not sure how this Jim Butcher is the same who wrote the Dresden Files. Those are good, but nowhere near Codex Alera. In the second to last volume, we see a great mix of character development, new characters, characters with legitimate but opposing views, and of course brilliant last minute tactics. All characters we care about get a fair bit of development, and since nearly all characters are very very nuanced, including the deeper introduction of non-human cultures, I'm more than willing to accept the one or two plain villains. Seeing an end-of-the-world level struggle on all sides of the three plots (Amara and Bernard, Isana with the frost people, Tavi on an entirely show more different continent) was a good mix, even though I felt the chapter endings/POV switches were not always executed at good points.
I'm pretty sad this series is over soon now, especially since I'm not one for re-reads (I'd love to, but in the same time I could read *new* books!) So I hope the last volume, First Lord's Fury, will be an appropriately awesome ending. show less
I'm pretty sad this series is over soon now, especially since I'm not one for re-reads (I'd love to, but in the same time I could read *new* books!) So I hope the last volume, First Lord's Fury, will be an appropriately awesome ending. show less
In Princeps' Fury, the empire of Alera finally sees the face of its true enemy, and it's not the barbarian Maraat of the first book or the wolfman-like Canim of the second and third, or even the vicious Aleran slavers and upstarts of the fourth. Alera has finally discovered an enemy that makes all the others seem reasonable and relatively friendly: the Vord. These creepy-crawly bug critters are single-mindedly invading all of Alera, covering it in the glutinous "croach" that they draw their sustenance from, killing and enslaving the citizenry--and time is running out to stop them. Meanwhile, Octavian, Princeps of the realm, is out of reach, on a quest to return a band of invading Canim to their homeland. The high king, Gaius Sextus, show more assisted by the high lady Isana, the ex-cursor Amara, and her loyal husband Bernard, and hindered by the intricate, petty, and vicious Romanic politics that invade every part of Aleran society, must stop the Vord invasion before it is too late.
Princep's Fury builds on the strong cast of characters introduced in the other books. One aspect that gives this series such depth is that the stories of the previous generation are incredibly significant in motivating the characters and changing the tide of events, and the past is only slowly unraveled to the reader. One can draw comparisons to the Harry Potter series here: just as many of the events in HP are fated by actions of the previous generation, the story of Codex Alera is intricately bound up with the long dead Gaius Septimus and the course of action his murder caused his allies and enemies to follow.
Why is it that the only epic fantasy series I know of with strong female characters is written by a man? As always in Butcher's books, there is some amount of pandering to male readers with rather explicit scenes of women (acting with or without free will) as willing temptresses and completely objectified, but hey, what else is new? At least women with character exist! Princeps' Fury certainly doesn't stint on male protagonists, and that isn't to say that I find all the characters strong or well-drawn; it's just that female characters have an equal opportunity at personality and badassery. Kitara, Tavi's love interest, is significantly more tough in combat than he is, and although she isn't quite as good at scheming, this book has one of the few times Tavi's friends manage to one-up him. The complementary battle-couple pair, Amara and Bernard, has Amara acting as the brains and Bernard as the gentle giant muscle. The other two important female protagonists, Isana and Lady Placida, were given a lot of page space, but with mixed results. High Lady Placida fails (as usual) to live up to her name, but in this book, she also acts far outside the character she previously displayed. Poor Placida seems bound to be a foil for someone. In the previous books, she acted as the kind, upright, and down-to-earth aristocrat to contrast with Lady Invidia's amoral scheming. In this book, she acts as an intolerant firebrand to act as a foil for Isana. Isana is probably the character I dislike most in the entire series, and although she has a lot of pagespace in this book, she also comes into her own a bit, in her own way. All the same, her character strikes me as arbitrarily contradictory: she is supposed to be the kindly, understanding, forgive-all character, willing to empathize with those who may cause the downfall of the empire--yet she is more than ready to put the same empire at risk to spite enemies with about the same amount of blood on their hands. Go figure.
This book continues on the trend from the last few in letting us see into the civilization and culture of the Canim, and we also finally get a glimpse of the Icemen mentioned in all of the previous books. The only thing that is a little weird: we almost never see female Icemen or Canim; except for two female Marat, all named members of other species are male, and there is an explicit comment that indicates that Canim females are subordinate to their men. These patriarchal societies are somewhat offset by the fact that the Big Bad--the Vord Queen--is obviously feminine.
All in all, I found this book a lot of fun--bloodier and darker than the fantasy I typically enjoy, but fun nonetheless. show less
Princep's Fury builds on the strong cast of characters introduced in the other books. One aspect that gives this series such depth is that the stories of the previous generation are incredibly significant in motivating the characters and changing the tide of events, and the past is only slowly unraveled to the reader. One can draw comparisons to the Harry Potter series here: just as many of the events in HP are fated by actions of the previous generation, the story of Codex Alera is intricately bound up with the long dead Gaius Septimus and the course of action his murder caused his allies and enemies to follow.
Why is it that the only epic fantasy series I know of with strong female characters is written by a man? As always in Butcher's books, there is some amount of pandering to male readers with rather explicit scenes of women (acting with or without free will) as willing temptresses and completely objectified, but hey, what else is new? At least women with character exist! Princeps' Fury certainly doesn't stint on male protagonists, and that isn't to say that I find all the characters strong or well-drawn; it's just that female characters have an equal opportunity at personality and badassery. Kitara, Tavi's love interest, is significantly more tough in combat than he is, and although she isn't quite as good at scheming, this book has one of the few times Tavi's friends manage to one-up him. The complementary battle-couple pair, Amara and Bernard, has Amara acting as the brains and Bernard as the gentle giant muscle. The other two important female protagonists, Isana and Lady Placida, were given a lot of page space, but with mixed results. High Lady Placida fails (as usual) to live up to her name, but in this book, she also acts far outside the character she previously displayed. Poor Placida seems bound to be a foil for someone. In the previous books, she acted as the kind, upright, and down-to-earth aristocrat to contrast with Lady Invidia's amoral scheming. In this book, she acts as an intolerant firebrand to act as a foil for Isana. Isana is probably the character I dislike most in the entire series, and although she has a lot of pagespace in this book, she also comes into her own a bit, in her own way. All the same, her character strikes me as arbitrarily contradictory: she is supposed to be the kindly, understanding, forgive-all character, willing to empathize with those who may cause the downfall of the empire--yet she is more than ready to put the same empire at risk to spite enemies with about the same amount of blood on their hands. Go figure.
This book continues on the trend from the last few in letting us see into the civilization and culture of the Canim, and we also finally get a glimpse of the Icemen mentioned in all of the previous books. The only thing that is a little weird: we almost never see female Icemen or Canim; except for two female Marat, all named members of other species are male, and there is an explicit comment that indicates that Canim females are subordinate to their men. These patriarchal societies are somewhat offset by the fact that the Big Bad--the Vord Queen--is obviously feminine.
All in all, I found this book a lot of fun--bloodier and darker than the fantasy I typically enjoy, but fun nonetheless. show less
9/10
Tighter storylines and surprises at every turn. I like the fact that, while it is ultimately Tavi's story, there are strong female characters who get almost as much ink as Tavi.
Tighter storylines and surprises at every turn. I like the fact that, while it is ultimately Tavi's story, there are strong female characters who get almost as much ink as Tavi.
As the book-before-the-last-book, it's inevitable that there is a bunch of table clearing and then table setting for the final volume. Princep's Fury is filled with lots of action that provides little actual consequence. Tavi takes a holiday in scenic Cain, where he learns animal husbandry and kills a vord queen. Isana becomes a diplomat, where she works for peace with the poorly-realized Icemen. Amara and Bernard are set on another mission impossible in which this reader would have rather seen one, or possibly both, not return. And then there's Gaius.
It's not really a spoiler, since every half-alert reader knows that Butcher has been telling us that Gaius will die for the previous four volumes. Without it, Tavi cannot ascend to power. show more Despite the fireworks, Gaius's death actually fails to affect anything important to the story. He apparently didn't even take down a Vord queen. Oh yeah, and his wife was poisoning him, another spoiler that doesn't really mean anything.
My disappointment with this book starts and ends primarily with Invidia. By all rights, she should be dead at the end of the Captain's Fury. Instead, like a poor parody of a Monty Python sketch, she pops up again (with a chest hugger). "I'm not dead. I think I'll go for a walk." show less
It's not really a spoiler, since every half-alert reader knows that Butcher has been telling us that Gaius will die for the previous four volumes. Without it, Tavi cannot ascend to power. show more Despite the fireworks, Gaius's death actually fails to affect anything important to the story. He apparently didn't even take down a Vord queen. Oh yeah, and his wife was poisoning him, another spoiler that doesn't really mean anything.
My disappointment with this book starts and ends primarily with Invidia. By all rights, she should be dead at the end of the Captain's Fury. Instead, like a poor parody of a Monty Python sketch, she pops up again (with a chest hugger). "I'm not dead. I think I'll go for a walk." show less
Compared to the previous books, [b:Princeps' Fury|2903736|Princeps' Fury (Codex Alera, #5)|Jim Butcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315082776s/2903736.jpg|2930878] changes focus somewhat. For the first time, we're not actually focussed solely around Alera and the domain and battles of the humans. Instead, we're going to Canim where unfortunately the Vord have taken over nearly anything . It's a neat change of focus and a crazy escalation of stakes--although admittedly not unexpected.
The parts with Tavi are pretty wonderful. He's really likeable and does a great job of overcoming problems by outthinking them, even now that he's actually coming into powers of his own. It's almost unbelievable just how good he is at planning, but show more he's the protagonist. It works.
The change of scope is a bit weird, better matching the first two books than 3 or 4. But they all sort of work together once you realized this is where things feel like they were going all along.
The one thing that's a bit weird is the treatment of Fidelias. Given that he betrayed his apprentice and the entire realm in the first few pages of the first book and has personally tried to kill any number of the main characters (and often succeeded)... I'm not sure what to think about where Butcher is taking him. It's an interesting story and I'm glad he did it. But I don't have to like it.
Onwards! Only one more! show less
The parts with Tavi are pretty wonderful. He's really likeable and does a great job of overcoming problems by outthinking them, even now that he's actually coming into powers of his own. It's almost unbelievable just how good he is at planning, but show more he's the protagonist. It works.
The change of scope is a bit weird, better matching the first two books than 3 or 4. But they all sort of work together once you realized this is where things feel like they were going all along.
The one thing that's a bit weird is the treatment of Fidelias. Given that he betrayed his apprentice and the entire realm in the first few pages of the first book and has personally tried to kill any number of the main characters (and often succeeded)... I'm not sure what to think about where Butcher is taking him. It's an interesting story and I'm glad he did it. But I don't have to like it.
Onwards! Only one more! show less
Yet more glib plotting from Butcher. Mary Sue Tavi is beginning to seriously get on my nerves, Isana is rapidly heading that way and even Amara who has been the one reliable character is in imminent danger of gaining superpowers. Fortunately Kitai is still enjoyable, hence it's a shame that just about the only lines she gets are endearments at how wonderful Tavi is.
Plot: well it is as this series has been throughout, extremely scattered. Tavi is off in Canim being an ingenious hero, Amara and Bernard are off scouting again, Isana is having an argument on the shieldwall, while Gaisus himself gets a small part blowing things up. It's the grand unite against a common foe time - the totally unbelievable Vord. Who have changed since we last show more met them. With no explanation, as usual.
JB seems to have no concept of fantasy. It isn't a place where the rules change as you write another book. In order to maintain the reader's disbelief you have to establish and maintain concepts. JB does neither. The furycrafts, furies, vord and character's temperaments have all shifted widely without explanation over the course of the series so far. All of which is a major distraction to what is essentially a fun tale set in an intriguing world.
As individual scenes JB writes some cracking fantasy, particularly good battles, interesting characters with some clever dialogue. However as a whole it is much less than perfect. Many of the characters could do with a great deal more time devoted to them and explaining their motivations, or even just their actions since the last book. Or we could equally cope with less passing mentions of people. The plot as above, is ropey in places. And together with the usual disjointed scene changes makes this a much below par offering. It's readable because JB can write well, and fun in places, but considering the vast warfare happening on two continents not a lot actually happens.
I will probably get around to reading the last in the series to see how JB has chosen to contrive a final ending, but I'm in no rush to do so. show less
Plot: well it is as this series has been throughout, extremely scattered. Tavi is off in Canim being an ingenious hero, Amara and Bernard are off scouting again, Isana is having an argument on the shieldwall, while Gaisus himself gets a small part blowing things up. It's the grand unite against a common foe time - the totally unbelievable Vord. Who have changed since we last show more met them. With no explanation, as usual.
JB seems to have no concept of fantasy. It isn't a place where the rules change as you write another book. In order to maintain the reader's disbelief you have to establish and maintain concepts. JB does neither. The furycrafts, furies, vord and character's temperaments have all shifted widely without explanation over the course of the series so far. All of which is a major distraction to what is essentially a fun tale set in an intriguing world.
As individual scenes JB writes some cracking fantasy, particularly good battles, interesting characters with some clever dialogue. However as a whole it is much less than perfect. Many of the characters could do with a great deal more time devoted to them and explaining their motivations, or even just their actions since the last book. Or we could equally cope with less passing mentions of people. The plot as above, is ropey in places. And together with the usual disjointed scene changes makes this a much below par offering. It's readable because JB can write well, and fun in places, but considering the vast warfare happening on two continents not a lot actually happens.
I will probably get around to reading the last in the series to see how JB has chosen to contrive a final ending, but I'm in no rush to do so. show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
NPRs your picks: top 100 Sci-Fi/Fantasy books
297 works; 80 members
Books Read in 2014
2,343 works; 86 members
Author Information
Jim Butcher was born in Independence, Missouri on October 26, 1971. He is the author of The Dresden Files series, the Codex Alera series, Side Jobs, Ghost Story, and the Cinder Spires series. He has also written a Spider-Man novel entitled The Darkest Hours and a novelette entitled Backup. He has contributed to numerous anthologies including My show more Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, Blood Lite, and Many Bloody Returns. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Princeps' Fury
- Original title
- Princeps' Fury
- Original publication date
- 2008-11-25
- People/Characters
- Tavi; Bernard; Amara ex Cursori; Isana; Antillar Maximus; Ehren (show all 9); Gaius Sextus; Kitai; Demos
- Important places
- Alera; Alera Imperia; Canim
- Epigraph
- Farewell, mother Roma.
The shining columns,
The endless roads,
The mighty legions,
The peaceful fields.
Born in fire,
The light in darkness.
Farewell, mother Roma.
Never... (show all) again will your sons return.
~A poem, inscribed in stone in the ruins of Appia
Good riddance, gluttonous whore! Victory Germania!
~An addendum to the poem, scratched in far cruder letters. - Dedication
- For Shannon and JJ, who make life worth all the fuss and bother
- First words
- Prologue
"This way, my lord!" screamed the young Knight Aeris, beckoning as he altered the direction of his windstream and dived through the twilight sky. - Quotations
- Max shook his head. "There's something broken inside your skull, Calderon. You do all your thinking sideways." (p. 10)
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She regarded him with steady, bright eyes, and he noticed that neither her hair nor the mist of her dress stirred with the evening wind.
- Blurbers
- Green, Simon R.; Chester, Deborah
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 3,254
- Popularity
- 5,281
- Reviews
- 54
- Rating
- (4.23)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 22