What is this book about?
For a thousand years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive and threatening races that inhabit the world, using their unique bonds with the furies - elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal. But in the remote 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 the lamps. Yet as the Alerans' most savage enemy - the Marat horde - returns to the Valley, Tavi's courage and resourcefulness will be a power greater than any fury, one that could turn the tides of war ...
What I especially liked:
I really liked that this book is written from different points of view, as I think this gives different insights into the story and it workes very well for the flow.
The characters are also very diverse and likable and especially Tavi had me laughing a lot.
What I didn’t particularly like:
That being said, I find the worldbuilding is lacking in detail and the story’s setting would have been a lot more exciting if the following had been explained better:
• What exactly are the furies and how do they “come” to people?
• Why do some people have more than one fury?
• How do furylamps and other fury powered technology work?
• Who are the Marat and how are they different from humans?
• How do their clans work exactly?
Conclusion:
While I did like the characters of this book, the world in which this story is set underwhelmed me and quite honestly killed my enthusiasm for the rest of the series. And because of that lack in worldbuilding detail, I will likely not continue reading The Codex Alera series anytime soon.
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