Furies Of Calderon: The Codex Alera: Book One

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We do get one example of a more powerful user, as we are told the high lord created a mountain in a day to honour his fallen son, the prince. The high lord also called the fury storm on the Calderon Valley. We know that large things can happen, but no specifics. In Cursor's Fury he has this revelation after a moment of self-examination. He is missing Kitai deeply and their strong bond makes being apart for long distances painful. However, he realizes that for the past few days, that pain has been gone and he has stopped talking about her in a forlorn manner. It takes him only a moment to realize Kitai has moved into the Legion camp he is stationed at, under the guise of a blind beggar. Beware the Nice Ones: She's one of the nicest people in the world. She can also fight a High Lord in a Duel to the Death and make him admit defeat by psychoanalyzing him mid-fight, absolutely destroys six monsters that could kill experienced soldiers with water and manipulates both what amounts to a Physical God and her Dragon to put them in a vulnerable position while they knew she was jerking them around. Alera: With savagery. Skill. Discipline. They came from a place where they were unrivaled masters of war and death. Their enemies here had never seen anything like them. Your forebears could not return whence they had come. They were trapped here, and only victory gave them survival. So they became victors — no matter the cost.

Humans Are the Real Monsters: Many Canim, Icemen, and Marat believe this after being exposed to Aleran practices like slavery, organized massacres, and Civil War. Woodcrafting: Manipulation of plants, including encouraging them to grow, or animating them directly, which also (as the name implies) applies to dead wood. It also grants the ability to create veils when enough plant matter is present, specifically with shadows. Most woodcrafters are archers, since control of both the arrows and bows gives them Improbable Aiming Skills.In addition to how he handles the Icemen, though, another example that quite clearly fits this trope: In Captain's Fury, he breaks half a dozen laws, and in ways that clearly could not be covered up or ignored. How does he handle it? He suggests to the First Lord a general amnesty for Alerans who cooperated with the Canim in conquered territory, but phrased in such a way that covers Tavi himself as well. 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.

A-Cup Angst: Earlier in the series before she gains more confidence in herself, she was always a little peeved that thanks to both her watercrafting and her natural appearance, her body made her look more like a young woman barely on this side of adulthood rather than someone who has silver in her hair by the time of the second book. This, in fact, made her think that she'd never attract another man after Septimus. The world itself. As I read the Codex when I was younger, it has, in some ways, informed my knowledge of fantasy as a genre. I like that it has noble cities and dark wilds, and open magic, and different races, and scary monsters. Combat Pragmatist: Well, when everybody can rip you to shreds with their bare hands, playing fair doesn't seem very important. He says once that he never wants to be in a "fair" fight ever again. Even after his crafting powers awaken, he's still a pragmatist in battle. Status: Deceased, killed by Princeps Gaius Octavian of Alera with the assistance of the Narashan Hunters Sha, Nef, Koh, and Warmaster Varg. Crazy Enough to Work: The majority of Tavi's plans are this. So much so that Kitai can correctly surmise where Tavi chose to have the Final Battle by thinking of the one place only a lunatic would go willingly. It's pretty much his motto. One of his plans literally gives an ally (Fidelias/Marcus) heart palpitations, and that's not an unfair response considering how Tavi's the man who made ships out of icebergs and attached runners to sailing ships to make them work over ice.Older Than They Look: Sufficiently skilled watercrafters seem to age at a slightly slower rate than other humans, to the point where Gaius Sextus (who is in his mid-to-late eighties by the time of Princeps' Fury) is described as looking like someone in their late forties or fifties aside from his snowy white hair. Xanatos Gambit: While he is young and not always good at these, he was taught the art of them in his Cursor training. His old master often told him that, "Every problem was an opportunity, from a certain point of view." Take the Idiot Ball example: he was able to move things about to avoid summary execution, be in a spot to escape from jail, go on a mission to gain a key ally, and defeat Arnos summarily. None of which would have happened if Arnos hadn't arrested him.

Making a Splash: Quite possibly the most powerful watercrafter in all of Alera, High Lords included. Max is briefly stunned when Tavi offhandedly later notes to him that his "aunt" flooded an entire river during the first book, and Isana only continues to evolve and develop her skill as the books continue. 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.

Notes: This Queen is the only known Vord to refer to "the Purpose," which is the nebulous and unknown goal of all Vord. Worthy Opponent: The Canim word "gadara" (meaning a respected and trusted enemy) is used a lot around him. To be specific, he's referred to as such by both Nasaug and Varg. Woodcrafters can use their powers to accelerate plant growth to bring in higher yields of crops for harvest along with being near-perfect hunters. Heroic Bastard: Tavi always assumed he was just the the son of a commoner and some legionnaire having a fling. This isn't correct. His father left Isana with legal proof of their courtship and wedding to prove Tavi wasn't born a bastard.