Princep's Fury by Jim Butcher

The continent of Alera has seen many battles in its history, but now it is facing the hardest one of its existence. The alien creatures known as the Vord have come to wage war on everything that is not Vord, and the only thing that stands in the way of the Vord are the Aleran's Legions, and their Furies. But it has been so many years since the last real war for the Legions that most of them are green troops. So will they really be enough?

Gaius Octavian, also known as Tavi, has been confirmed as the heir to the First Lordship of Alera. Sadly, he cannot help in this battle against the Vord, because he and the Canim captured two years ago when they tried to invade the Aleran's shores, are travelling back to the land of the Canim, he having concluded a peace treaty with them. But information obtained from the Canim ships as they sail reveals that the Canim far outnumber the Alerans in both land size, number of cities and number of people. When a storm sends the ships off course to a possibly hostile Canim port, can Tavi treat with the Canim and help them in their own fight with the Vord, or will they kill him and the other Alerans, who they view as a threat, for letting the Vord escape to the Canim lands in the first place?

Meanwhile, the First Lord of Alera, Gaius Sextus, has become aware of a new Vord invasion of Alera, and sends Bernard and Amara the Count and Countess Calderonus, to the land to see if they can find out how the Vord have acquired the powers of Furycrafting. Meanwhile, Gaius Sextus sends Legion troops to the city of Ceres, there to make a stand against the Vord. Even as his Legions fight the Vord and their Furycrafters, Bernard and Amara stand apart to watch how the Vord use Furycrafting. And the answer is... they don't. Instead, captured Alerans are doing the Furycrafting, but there is something strange about them, as if something is missing inside them. Even after the city falls and the defenders retreat back towards the Capital city, Bernard and Amara infiltrate the city, which is starting to be covered with Croach, that hard, waxy substance that somehow both feeds and protects the Vord.

What they find there sickens them beyond words: Lady Aquitaine, one of the traitors to the throne of Alera, has sided with the Vord. For power, for vengeance... who knows? Kalaris Brencis Minoris, son of the slaver, has also joined the Vord, and he is using the collars that are normally used to control slaves to make Furycrafters work for the Vord. But when the Vord Queen captures Amara and orders her to be collared as well, can Amara fight the compulsion to submit and bring down the captured Furycrafters and free those who have yet to be imprisoned? Or will she, too, become just one more cog in the Vord's machine of destruction?

Isara, Tavi's mother and the former wife of Gaius Septimus, has been sent by the First Lord on a mission of her own: conclude a peace treaty with the Icemen of the Far North, thus freeing up the very experienced troops that are holed up around the Shield Wall and use them to fight the Vord. But can even a strong Furycrafter of Water like Isana overcome many centuries of resentment and warfare with a people who so little resemble the people of Alera? Or will High Lord Antillus Raucus, who wouldn't so much as spit on the First Lord of Alera if he was burning to death, fight to keep fighting the Icemen, leaving the Realm to die under the Croach of the Vord simply because he will not support a man he feels killed his best friend, no matter what the situation in the rest of Alera? Unless Isana can find a way to reach this man and make him see a better way, Alera is doomed by the forces of the Vord.

With each set of protagonists fighting in very different areas, we get to see many faces of the Vord threat, from those fighting the Canim to the fliers targetting Alera. Although it might seem, at the beginning of the book, that the Alerans might be able to retreat to Canim lands if Alera falls, no matter the cost to Alera itself, that is quickly choked off when it is discovered that the Canim lands have also fallen under the sway of the Vord in only two short years. If there is any kind of solution to the problem of the Vord, it is going to have to come from the Alerans.

In a way, it makes sense fictionwise: The Alerans must discover the solution to their own problems because otherwise it makes themselves look weak, and how fun is it to have someone else sweep in and solve all your own problems for you. It also makes sense if Tavi is the one to puzzle out a solution because it is already known that he has a mind that sees solutions where others do not, and knows how to think out of the box. If he solves the problem of the Vord, not only does he save his own world, but he can use that solution to make peace with the Canim and the Icemen and whoever else might be troubled or threatened by the Vord. It was rather annoying that the Canim were overcome by the Vord so easily, though. Given how impressive they were physically, it just rankled a bit. At least Jim Butcher gave a plausible reason for why it happened.

This book seemed like the penultimate volume, as if the story and struggle were finally coming to a head at the end of the book. With nowhere to go but up, if this book is Princep's Fury, the next one will logically be "First Lord's Fury" and be the end of the series. I've been wrong before, but that is the feeling I'm getting.

Nonetheless, this book is a mix of furious action (no pun intended), intrigue and stealth with wonderful characters, both villainous and heroic. You'll want to read this series for the action and the characters both, along with a world-destroying evil that will leave chills down your spine. Just when you thought the situation can't get any worse, it hits rock-bottom and the drilling starts. And if you enjoyed Butcher's Harry Dresden series, you'll want to pick this one up, just start with the first one, "The Furies of Calderon". It's a delightful mix that will keep you hungering for more.