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Far from city politics in the Calderon Valley, the boy Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. At fifteen, he has no wind fury to help him fly, no fire fury to light his lamps. Yet as the Alerans' most savage enemy - the Marat - return to the Valley, he will discover that his destiny is much greater than he could ever imagine. Caught in a storm of deadly wind furies, Tavi saves the life of a runaway slave named Amara. But she is actually a spy for Gaius Sextus, sent to the Valley to gather intelligence on traitors to the Crown, who may be in league with the barbaric Marat horde. And when the Valley erupts in chaos—when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies—Amara will find Tavi's courage and resourcefulness to be a power greater than any fury—one that could turn the tides of war.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
November 26, 2008 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781101929698
- File size: 575150 KB
- Duration: 19:58:13
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Bestselling fantasy writer Jim Butcher offers this sci-fi tale, the first in his Codex Alera series, which relates the struggles of the Alera community, who find themselves up in arms when their leader, Gaius Sextus, arranges to take an heir. From both an epic and a personal perspective, the novel introduces listeners to a boy named Tavi, who will discover his own destiny in the midst of the chaos. Delivered by Kate Reading, this otherworldly story becomes an introspective look at the power of destruction through the eyes of a child. Reading's ability to provide original characters with their own personalities and voices is apparent from the start, and her ability to relate those characters, no matter how futuristic and unfamiliar they may seem, is truly a marvel. L.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine -
September 27, 2004
At the start of Butcher's absorbing fantasy, the first in a new series, the barbarians are at the gates of the land of Alera, which has a distinct flavor of the Roman Empire (its ruler is named Quintus Sextus and its soldiers are organized in legions). Fortunately, Alera has magical defenses, involving the furies or elementals of water, earth, air, fire and metal, that protect against foes both internal and external. Amara, a young female spy, and her companion, Odiana, go into some of the land's remoter territories to discover if military commander Atticus Quentin is a traitor—another classic trope from ancient Rome. She encounters a troubled young man, Tavi, who has hitherto been concerned mostly with the vividly depicted predatory "herdbanes" that threaten his sheep as well as with his adolescent sexual urges (handled tastefully). Thinking that Amara is an escaping slave, Tavi decides to help her and is immediately sucked in over his head into a morass of intrigues, military, magical and otherwise. Butcher (Storm Front
, etc.) does a thorough job of world building, to say nothing of developing his action scenes with an abundance of convincing detail. This page-turner bodes well for future volumes. Agent, Jennifer Jackson at Donald Maass Literary Agency.
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