The situation at the beginning of the last books is bleak for Alera and its people. In the first book the Marat Nation are goaded by several of the High Lords to launch a surprise attack in the East of the nation, in order to distract and weaken the High Lord. The assault is halted at the walls of the town of Garrison; the border point of Alera and the Marat are persuaded to become allies to the Nation. The cost of the victory is, however the inadvertent re-awakening of the Vord, a foe that caused the Marat nation to leave it’s homelands in the past.
From the situation a young Farmhand called Tavi rises to provenance and is given scholarship at the Academy, the training ground of the elite as the First Lords patron. This is entirely in spite of him being regarded as a freak by many, as he is the only person without Furycraft in the entire nation.
The second book (Academ's Fury) is set two years past the end of the first and (Academ’s Fury) sees the First Lord overstretch himself fighting Storms sent by Canim Ritualcasters from across the ocean. This sees him collapsing in front of Tavi, leaving the furyless young man making decisions that decide the fate of the nation! Tavi, with aid from his friends, manages to cover the lords weakness from the High Lords but barely holds off an assault on the Lord by Taken Canim, infiltrated into the palace by the rogue ritual caster Sarl. This results in the Canim ambassador being put under arrest despite his innocence and also persuades Gaius to promote Tavi to Cursor status.
Meanwhile, the legions of Garrison are called on again to prevent the Vord threat gaining a foothold in the valley. They achieve this, but only at the cost of Tavi’s aunt Isana aligning herself with enemies of the High Lord to secure mercenary help for her brother, Tavi’s uncle and Count of Garrison (his reward for his part in the actions of the first book).
The third book (Cursors Fury) see’s Tavi two years later again, having gained the rank of Cursor, being sent out to join the First Aleran legion, made of contingents of troops from across Alera (Normally, the legions consist of warriors from just one city/region). A la Orient express, put together a lot of people from many areas, you end up with Spy central. Tavi was posted to sort this out for the First Lord. This began to untangle when the Canim invaded the supposedly peaceful are the Legion had been sent to too drill in. It further untangled when the Command of the Legion was wiped out by Canim Ritualists, leaving Tavi in charge.
In the meantime, Tavi’s aunt is in Ceres on the behalf of the anti-slavery movement. Then ,at the same time the Canim strike, the sky turns red and assassins kill off most of the high command in the region . Adding to this, High Lord Kalarus reveals his hand and his legions begin to march towards Ceres, resulting in a desperate holding action before their forces can be relieved.
Meanwhile, further along the same coast, Tavi marshals his forces to hold or destroy the Elinarch bridge, the key tactical point the Canim must assault before they can move into the heartlands of Alera. In the end, Tavi doesn’t just hold the bridge, but manages to repulse the Canim, despite their superiority in numbers and physical strength. However, whilst pushing them back Tavi discovers a female Canim, a previously un-encountered kind in Alera history. This leads to the conclusion that the Canim left their homeland running from something. But what?
The forth books (Captains Fury) follows the pattern of being two years on from its predecessors. War has continued along the west cost of Alera, against Kalarus in the south and the Canim in the North. Tavi’s forces have been fighting a holding/raiding action, as the Canim’s superior numbers prevent an all-out assault. This changes with the arrival of the Senatorial Guard under Senator Arnos and some Marat Auxiliary Cavalry
The Senator wants a quick victory so their forces can run through the Canim and push south, to link up with the forces assailing Kalarus. However, in the best of traditions for political war-leaders in a hurry, his tactics aren’t up to scratch and results in high casualties amongst his green troops, despite the assistance of Tavi’s legions. Disobeying the Senators orders results in Tavi being put under arrest. This, however gives him the opportunity for him to be visited by his “aunt” who reveals his true heritage as the legitimate heir to the throne of Alera!
Whilst Tavi tries to break through on the Canim front, The High Lord moves, along with Tavi’s Uncle and his wife, to remove Kalarus as a threat. This involves a stealth mission through swampy terrain, which they barely survive.
Tavi, meanwhile, uses his power of birthright to get himself out of prison and sets out to rescue the Canim ambassador from the Alexa Imperia, where he was placed for his suspected part in the events of book two (Keeping up? This book doesn’t just have the odd Chekov’s gun. It’s more like Chekov’s doomsday weapons!). Bringing the Ambassador back to the Canim front persuades the Canim to hold from attacking the stalled Aleran forces whilst Tavi denounces the ambassador as a traitor to the realm. Whilst doing this speech, and claiming his birthright, the southern sky erupts into flame behind him.
This is the spectacular result of the First Lords mission, the release of one of the Great Furies, a volcano which annihilates Kalare (The regions capital), Kalarus (The Traitor) and many innocent people of the city, causing Tavi’s uncle et al to remove themselves from the High Lords service.
Against a burning sky , Tavi challenges the senator to Juris Macto (Trial by strength) and puts his nascent Furycraft into play against the senators lead assassin/bodyguard. This results in the death of the traitor when he tries to escape after the death of the bodyguard at Tavi’s hand in a spectacular battle across the forts rooftops.
This allows Tavi to grant the Canim the opportunity to return to their homeland to fight the threat they were forced into running from. Along with them goes Tavi, who must leave as he his officially a traitor for releasing the Canim ambassador. He also takes with him the elite troops of the First Aleran and the Free Aleran legion, the latter made from slaves freed from Kalarus by the Canim.
The fifth book (Princeps’ Fury) begins with Tavi leaving Alera alongside the Canim, in order to return them to their homeland. On the mainland however, a major threat emerges as swarms of Vord boil out of the wastelands where Kalare used to be, annihilating the Senatorial Legion as they come on. The High Lords, lead by the First Lord, mount a fighting retreat to Alera Imperia, implementing a “Slash and Burn” policy in their wake.
Tavi’s course meanwhile gets diverted by a vicious storm, and they have to make harbour in a Canim harbour guarded by “their” Canim’s rivals. They discover that the situation in Canea is far worst, and the Hold they just docked in is the last still standing in the face of a Vord swarm thousands of times stronger than that assailing Alera. This forces a further desperate alliance, and when a tunnelling Vord swarm breaks the Canim lines an evacuation is called. How do you move an entire nation in retreat? Let’s just say that Geoffrey Pyke would be proud... (Habakkuk is coming! Cough, sorry, wrong series...)
Unknowing of the situation in Canea, the High Lords gather for a stand at Alera Imperia. Despite their combined might, the City falls, with the First Lord sacrificing himself and the city using the Volcano under the city to destroy the advance wave of the Vord army and give the retreating legions time to escape. Even so they would have been overrun without the arrival of the Northern legions, who, freed from fighting the Icemen by Tavi’s aunt and some inspired politics, arrive in time to cover the retreat. As his last act, the First Lord anoints High Lord Aquitaine as his successor in Tavi’s absence.
So the stage is set for the final book and the final chapter of the Vord War, as well as a nation’s fate. Tavi is approaching from the North West with what remains of the Canim Race whilst the remaining legions and the First Lord retreat North-East, towards Calderon Valley where it all began....
Of course, this is a very shorthand version of events and entirely fails to deal justice to a deep, complex but still easily readable story. Some of the best (or, my favourite) bits include: Poof! Instafort!, Best-Retirement-Ever!, I AM the IRON MAN!, Zombie Crocodiles!, Practical Fashion!, Wolf-Ninja’s!, Raining Takers! , Boom!, It’s only a flesh wound!, The Smell of Wet Human! And a Giant Freakin’ Laser (Just for getting one of them into fantasy means this NEEDS reading!) If you have read the series, feel free to guess which bit’s I’m referring to!
So, having finished (Roughly) describing the world in which the series is set all that remains is to review the final book. However, putting that here would make this a bit of an essay, which is enough to make anyone my age shudder. So, if you’ve enjoyed it so far and look forward to the review of the last book, you’ll have to wait for until tommorow. Sorry!
Kind regards to everyone,
Kerl
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