GREAT!
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Was given this book on Saturday afternoon by Sunday afternoon I had finished it! A wonderful book, brilliant characters, good action sequences, and enough pace to keep you hooked all the way to the end. Left me wanting the next in the series NOW! Tavi really grows up in this story.
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Excellent! - Not Your Run Of the Mill Fantasy Novel
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This is the Third Novel in Butcher's Codex Alera Series, and leans more towards to the traditional Fantasy genre than his Modern Day Dresden Files Novels.
The First 2 novels in the series are The Furies of Calderon and Academs Fury, dont let the unwieldy titles put you off they are very good books and this one is the icing on the cake.
The plot of the series initially starts off firmly in Eddings/Belgariad territory, but before long it becomes a multistranded epic comparable to George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, but with more focus.
In terms of writing style the books are very similar to the Dresden series, but splitting the narrative across 3-4 main characters.
It is set 2 years after the end of the 2nd book.
The three strands basically continue as follows :
We see Tavi getting his first assignment after graduating the Acadamy as a Cursor (Spy or Agent), Bernard and Amara getting deeper into the Machinations of the High Lords, and Tavi's Aunt struggling to cope with the decision she made to throw in with one of the Series main factions.
The characterisation is excellent throughout, with all of the main characters developing logically, both Male and Female characters are equally well written, a strength Mr Butcher seems to have.
The politics are worthy of a George RR Martin or CJ Cherryh novel, but never interrupt the narravite flow of the book, and Mr Butcher intersperses plenty of action in between.
The World Building of Alera continues apace with more and more of the Series World coming into focus.
What makes this series special is that Tavi - who lacks the power to control the Furys that everyone else can control, still manages to be a hero through his courage, intelligence and integrity. So far Mr Butcher has managed to avoid granting these powers and has written a more interesting book as a result.
The only slight downside of this book is that Kitai - Tavi's love interest is sidelined for much of the book, probably a necessary evil given the main plot line.
As with the Dresden series each book brings bigger and harder trials and tribulations, until the point you are drawn into the novel, willing the character not to break.
In short this series is a breath of fresh air into the stale world of mainstream fantasy.
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