Furies Of Calderon: The Codex Alera: Book One

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Bernard was a centurion in the Rivan Legion nominally overseen by the High Lord of Riva, Rivus Grantus. Bernard has the earth and woodcrafting skills of a Knight Terra and Flora, though he never joined the Knights ranks by his own choice. Nice Girl: Isana is quite possibly the kindest and most considerate person in all of Alera, being both selfless and altruistic while always looking out those for less fortunate than her. Notably, her reaction to seeing the collared Alerans the Awakened Vord Queen has roped into serving as her Praetorian Guard is not one of fear, but pity. The entire realm is called to arms against the Vord as the Vord War rapidly gains momentum. Bernard is angry because he warned his own leige, Lord Rivus Grantus of Riva, to no avail. He tried to alert the senate, including Senator Arnos, but his words fell on deaf ears. Gaius Sextus asks Bernard and Amara to travel secretly into the heart of vord territory to discover how the queen is transforming loyal citizens into mindless slaves. They learn about the Slave Collar. Took a Level in Badass: She gets a lot more powerful after a little swim in the Leviathans' Run. Interestingly, it's not entirely clear why this is: maybe she got them from the swim in the ocean in a stressful situation, but then again maybe she had that power all along or Septimus left her some furies of his own when he died and she didn't realize it. In either case, any extraordinary use of her power in her homeland is more normal where she is familiar with the place, and because she's a nobody from the hinterlands, she just assumed she couldn't possibly be that powerful otherwise. There are 4 main view points in this book and I’m not breaking them all down individually. We have the true protagonist, Tavi, his uncle Bernard, his aunt Isana, and the real secondary character in this book, Amara, a cursor of the high lord. Essentially a secret agent.

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.

Mercenaries

Took a Level in Badass: In the first book, he's a steadholder's nephew with an eye for adaptation and a cool head in a crisis. In the second, he's a prize pupil at the Academy, the First Lord's personal assistant, a Cursor in training, and is good enough at combat that his trainer has him fake being bad to practice being undercover. He only gets better from there. Bernard is probably about 33-35 when the series begins. Book 1 says Isana is 37, and that B is younger than her ( Furies of Calderon, chapter 4). My God, What Have I Done?: Following the Battle of the Elinarch, he feels completely unsatisfied with his victory, noting to Kitai that all he really feels is a weary resignation with the fact that he now has even more work to do along with being quietly regretful for having had to kill so many Canim over the battle whose worst crime was being dumb enough to trust the leadership of a loathsome Evil Sorcerer like Sarl. Similarly, he's understandably ashamed about having initially failed to properly court Kitai in the traditions of her people (with Max directly spelling out to him how Innocently Insensitive that was of him) and having failed to tell Crassus of his mother Dorotea's fate.

Mandatory Motherhood: In Alera, female Citizens are required to have children, at least in part because furycrafting talent is hereditary and Alera constantly needs skilled furycrafters to keep their enemies at bay. A large part of Amara's angst in the series comes from her infertility (not helped by the fact that she also legitimately wants children of her own someday) which could potentially take away her Citizenship, but she and Bernard eventually invoke some Loophole Abuse through deciding to adopt the unrecognized bastard children of Aleran Citizens (i.e., Masha).

Publication Order of Codex Alera Books

Does Not Know His Own Strength: Isana is an incredibly powerful watercrafter – one of the strongest in all of Alera. She never really grasped how powerful she was, assuming that her great strength came from familiarity with the Calderon Valley's furies. It isn't until later on that she begins to understand her true strength, and suspects that Septimus passed on many of his furies to her when he died. Bow and Sword in Accord: Being both a powerful earthcrafter and woodcrafter, he's just as capable shooting targets at long range as he is at smashing them to a p 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] 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. epilogue: Bernard is Lord Calderonus. His sister Isana marries Araris and Tavi dubs them Count and Countess Rillwater. They wear the Calderonus colors of green and brown.

Master of One Magic: As a single-element Crafter, Isana wouldn't normally be considered very impressive as Alerans rank their powers – but as mentioned above, she can do a lot with what she's got. She is this to the Icemen when they sense she is truly honest about wanting peace, that peace might finally be achieved between their peoples. Notes: This, the Queen killed by the Marat, and the first Queen the Awakened Queen created to inhabit Canea are the only Vord Queens to have never been seen in the series.Healing Hands: Watercrafters can heal using their furies, but all but the most powerful need a tub of water to immerse the patient in. Beneath Notice: Despite eventually becoming a huge celebrity in Aleran politics, Isana is remarkably skilled at maintaining a stoic and demure demeanor that makes her come across as a lot less dangerous than she really is, making it all the easier for her to subtly interrogate and manipulate other people. Her incredbly strong empathic abilities only help her in this regard, with her being able to read other people's emotions and respond accordingly. Kitai: [to Tavi] You are mad, Aleran. You can be strong. Hard. But beneath that, you bleed for the fallen. Even those who are not your own folk. Mindlink Mates: With Kitai thanks to her bonding with him. They can sense the other one's presence and general moods. And when he gains furycrafting, she gains it too, while Tavi gains enhanced senses and endurance from her. Humans Are White: Averted. While most of the viewpoint Aleran characters are described as being either white or at least having pale skin (i.e., Tavi, Fidelias, Isana and Invidia), many other Alerans (mostly those hailing from the southern reaches of the Realm) are described as having dark skin tones, most notably Amara and Ehren. Makes sense, as the Alerans were founded by a Lost Roman Legion mostly staffed with people hailing from the Iberian Peninsula, Central Europe and the Mediterranean.

Yes, this is the most traditional hero’s journey possible that we’ve all read a hundred times. Incompetent farm hand becomes god tier level warrior in the near future. It’s a good trope, no problems. Deadpan Snarker: Tavi can really lay the snark on when he wants to. Special mentions should be given to him telling the Canim Ambassador to his face that he has bad breath when they're on the verge of a Mutual Kill.

Notes: This Queen is the only known Vord to refer to "the Purpose," which is the nebulous and unknown goal of all Vord. The Magocracy: Though not as obvious about it as other settings using the same trope, Alera is effectively one of these. One's political power within Alera is dependent on their capacity for furycrafting, with the First Lord being generally held as the most powerful furycrafter. High Lords, just below the First Lord, are nearly as strong, and are each a virtual One-Man Army. Below these are Citizens, who possess strong furycrafting in one or more disciplines and can prove that strength in a furycrafting duel with another Citizen. Everyone else (who aren't slaves) are freemen, who have some basic furycrafting but usually not enough to stand out. Isana even weaponizes this by giving Invidia hope of escape from the creature on her chest as a means of getting her to betray the Vord Queen. 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.