First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher

First Lord Gaius Sixtus is dead, and the Vord are sweeping across the continent of Alera as if nothing can stand in their way. The only hope for Alera is Tavi, better known as Gaius Octavian. But where is he?

Tavi is travelling back to Alera from Canea with the last remaining Canim, whom he rescued before their own lands were overrun by the Vord. Because they didn't nearly have enough ships, he and the Legions constructed vast ships of ice to bring the remaining Canim with them. But that is causing him some problems, because the Canim who aren't soldiers are ruled over by the ritualists, who use blood in their magic.

Some use their own blood- they aren't the problem. Some use the blood of others- and they are very angry and upset that the Canim have allied with the Aleran "Demons". One of them is causing major trouble for Tavi, convincing some of the Cane to try and take Tavi out. But if Tavi kills the Canim Shaman, it will cause him more trouble and undermine the Warrior Leader, Varg.

At the same time, Tavi's relationship with Kitai takes a rough turn. He wants to marry her, but he's having a physical relationship with her, and she discovers that this could cause him problems when he comes to be First Lord, as the council is trying to have him removed from the throne- in favor of the council, of course. And Kitai doesn't want anything to happen to give the council more ammunition. She demands to be romanced like an Aleran gentlewoman, which totally nonplusses Tavi.

Meanwhile, under the tutelage of the Fury known as Alera, Tavi is attempting to master his vast powers of Furycraft, because he is going to need them to defeat the Vord and their queen. However, Alera, composed of the many furies who have made this their land, is slowly dissolving and dying with the destruction of the great mosaic of Alera, and Tavi will be unable to save her, which makes him sad.

The other first lords have withdrawn to the city of Riva, where more and more refugees pour into day after day, stretching the ability of the Earthcrafters to feed them and the other knights and Lords to protect them. The Vord and the Croach which sustains them are spreading over the continent, and Tavi must find a way to cross the continent quickly. But he's hurt the Vord Queen by stealing away the humans kept in her reservation, so she retaliates by stealing the human who means something to him- his mother, Isana.

Meanwhile, the Vord move on Riva, and Aquilis, Tavi's adopted brother and husband to the traitor Invidiana, confronts her in the city of Riva, and is poisoned by a Vord Chitin weapon. He and the other lords, realizing that the situation in Riva is hopeless, retreat to the Calderon Valley, where Bernard has been preparing for the final battle against the Vord. But as Tavi advances across Alera, coming to be the hammer to smash the Vord against the Anvil of Calderon Valley, can anyone manage to survive?

This last book was more than a fitting end to the series, it was amazing. So much happens and so many things change for Alera- change that is sorely needed, from slavery being banned to sharing their continent with the other races and non-humans to the way that citizens and people with strong furycrafting powers will no longer be at the top of the food chain, so to speak.

But some strong threads are dropped as well. Crassus, who has been a friend to Tavi, discovers that Tavi lied to him and that his traitor mother is still alive, albeit as a collared slave, using her watercrafting skills as a healer. When Crassus finds out, he is upset at Tavi and rejects him. And that's where it ends. We don't see if they find a way to make up or not, although it's implied that their friendship simply ends there. It's so abrupt that it feels strange.

But the foes are dealt with in a very satisfying and final fashion, and although we get to see a more vulnerable side to the Vord Queen, it's not enough to make her a sympathetic villain. Yes, she may be something of a slave to her instincts, but by this time she and her children have killed so many people and perpetrated so much evil that it's really too little, too late. But the final battle, and her fate, is very satisfyingly ended, although the end of the book doesn't really end with all plot points resolved.

My biggest problem with the book is that, yes, it's long, but there was so much left unresolved about how Alera was going to recover from what had happened to it, not to mention take on the Vord Queens in the Canim lands, deal with the Croach that now covers much of Alera, feed the people, and so on, that it still felt way too short- like there was a book missing. And yes, this is supposed to be the last book in the series.

This is a great book, but not one you can just pick up if you have never read any others in the series. So much has already gone on, and not much of the book is devoted to a recap of the story so far- except that we do get to see what happened to other characters during some of the events in the last book, Princep's Fury. I do recommend it, but with that Caveat, and that you may not find the ending totally satisfying because it almost feels too short.