This is the basic premise for the book, everything from here on is character drama and wrapping up of these plots, so consider this my spoiler warning. Let’s hope I had the motivation and dedication in editing to add some sport of graphic on screen and alarm sound or something. Right, let’s take a look at the individual characters. Non-Standard Character Design: When furies are physically manifested, they most often take the form of some type of plant or animal (i.e., Count Gram's fire fury Phyllis taking the form of a hummingbird, and a feral fire fury in First Lord's Fury being described as taking the form of a swaying willow tree). Isana's water fury Rill instead never directly manifests as anything other than a faint reflection of a younger Isana (specifically, around the time she first came into Rill's power) in the water she is currently controlling. Why exactly Rill looks so different from any other fury is intentionally left as a Riddle for the Ages.

Living Lie Detector: invoked An incredibly skilled one thanks to her powerful watercrafting. At one point, she sees through Gaius Sextus. To put it into perspective, High Lady Placidus Aria missed the same opening in Gaius' façade. It's been shown that the only people who could likely lie to Isana's face and she wouldn't be aware of it are Tavi (who learned from experience) and sufficiently skilled Consummate Liars like Fidelias. Single-Target Sexuality: Though he starts off with a childish crush on a steadholt girl (Beritte), he falls hard for Kitai not long afterwards and stays that way for the rest of the series (much to Max's frustration while trying to get him to loosen up). Fantastic Caste System: The social classes of Alera roughly go: Slaves, Freemen, Citizens, and Lords/Ladies, with several different ranks of nobility somewhere at the level of Citizens and higher. There is a strong but not perfect correlation between strength in furycrafting and social rank, and strength in furycrafting is at least partially heritable (until Tavi is implied to alter it at the end so it can be earned based on merit and effort), so while many characters have moved their way up in rank over their lives, the caste one is born into is still very determinative.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). 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. Humanity Is Insane: Almost every nonhuman species is convinced that Alerans are completely, irrationally mad. Invisibility: Both wind and woodcrafters can accomplish this, though through different means. Windcrafters have a more "traditional" form of invisibility, where they craft the air around a target so it reflects light away. Meanwhile, when enough plant matter is present, woodcrafters can accelerate and adjust plant growth around them so that they are hidden in the resulting shadows and leaves, making them effectively invisible. 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.

For those that haven’t read this book, the first half of this review is light spoilers because honestly there is a twist in the second chapter so I can’t not mention it. I spoil up to chapter 4, basically. The second half will be all in, spoilers everywhere. Just for this book, not the entire series. I will make it obvious when spoilers begin (it's once I start discussing the characters individually). Also, I listened to the audiobook of this for my reread, so it's safe to assume I'm spelling a lot of character names wrong! Refuge in Audacity: Virtually every plan Tavi comes up with is hilariously audacious and crazy, overlapping nicely with his love for Crazy Enough to Work plans. Amusingly, by the later novels, his skill in this area has gotten to the point where most responses to his plans being discussed can be summed up as "By the Great Furies, he's doing something completely insane and over the top... But eh, it's Tavi, so we'll just go with it anyway." In August 2016, an unabridged audiobook was published by Hachette Audio UK, which was narrated by Kate Reading. [11] Ebook [ edit ] Shrouded in Myth: The ancient Romans who would become the ancestors of the modern Alerans first arrived in Carna two millennia ago. Eventually, after millennia of strife and war (both against their inhuman neighbors and then against themselves when they "ran out of foes" to practice their skills on), the original Gaius Primus conquered and united the disparate groups of Alerans all under his banner and founded the modern Realm of Alera. This time period is very poorly understood by the modern Alerans, to the point that despite numerous Roman ruins scattered across the land many Aleran scholars have shown incredibly biased and provably false attitudes towards the Romans, such as claiming that they had access to furycrafting since most Alerans think furycrafting is a vital component needed for any "civilized" species to found a long-lasting civilization with. In fact, this period of constant conflict was so long ago that many of the foes the ancient Alerans fought during that time (i.e., the Children of the Sun) have been reduced to half-remembered anecdotes in history class for most modern Alerans. 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.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. First Lord of Alera, and the strongest Fury crafter. Butcher revealed that the character had been influenced by "a slew of reasonably good Roman Emperors and Erwin Rommel". [2]