Jim Butcher is more famous for his Dresden Files series–urban fantasy with a mysterious twist. Codex Alera, his second series, is also well worth a read, and shows the same deft touch with character and humour that makes Harry Dresden so much fun to follow. In the Codex Alera series, we follow Tavi, a common worker on a steadholt, concerned with the normal order of life, and sheep, and girls–and despairing because he has so little access to the fury-influenced power that allows Alerans to perform their form of magic. First Lord’s Fury is the final instalment, and we find Tavi, now Gauis Octavian, a young man grown into power and influence and prepared to defend his home against the greatest threat they have ever faced, the inhuman Vord.

Tavi begins the story with, as is typical for him, an impossible situation.  How is he to get the last of the Canim, refugees from a continent overun by the Vord, to safety in Alera? How is he to get the army he has gathered across the continent to where it is needed most? How will he learn to control the furies he has well enough to be able to defeat the Vord queen?

As usual, Tavi’s solutions are both creative and efficient, and Tavi, the Canim, and the ice-ships that the Alerans so inventively created finally reach Alera, where they realize that the Vord has taken over nearly the entire continent. The last of the Aleran Legions, the greatest gathering of Aleran military force and fury-driven power, waits on the field for the Vord Queen, aware that this battle is for the fate of their country and could very well be their last.

This is not the first time the odds have been stacked against Tavi, but he has grown during his campaign in Canim and learned to use the powers he has to their fullest extent. Tavi’s greatest talents have always focused on his ability to gather the most capable people around him and then use each of them to the extent of their (always formidable) abilities. Each of Butcher’s characters is more than just an expert swordsman, or just a formidable healer, they have dreams and loyalities, some of them fiercely divided.

This is the final novel, and there are a number of plot threads to wrap up. Butcher balances between three distinct locales: the Vord army, the Legions, and Tavi’s cohort. He manages to swap between locales without stalling any of the storylines, and the shifting from Aleran Legions to Vord Queen allows the final battle to build without feeling as if the story was being drawn out unnecessarily. The humour that highlights the other novels in the series keeps the tone light, and following the twisty solutions that Tavi uses to solve his problems is an adventure all on its own.  The Codex Alera novels are fun reads, and Tavi, and the rest of the cast, are excellent company.

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