Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher
Just a word for those relatively new to this LJ: I am fairly incapable of saying critical or unkind things about Jim Butcher. Everyone has authors like that, mine are Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, E.E, Knight and Elizabeth Peters. Granted, I freely admit that, as compared to his more recent books, the early Dresden Files books don't hold up*somewhere along the way, they went from "Good reads" to "Utterly and amazingly awesome"...I think around the time of the Thomas reveal), and I occassionally have reservations, but that's about it. I am, therefore, extremely biased when reading his books.
So, here are my reservations: One of the big draws to Codex Alera is that our hero, Tavi, is just about the only person in his world who does not have a fury(and elemental manifestation) at his command. Unlike most Coming of Age fantasy heroes who learn there is Something Special about them, Tavi was a scrawny, ordinary kid in a world where everyone was extaordinary. His difference didn't make him special, it made him abnormal. To compensate for it, he was raised to make up for his shortcomings, to do what he could with what he had-his brains-to keep up. He may not be able to shake the earth, create flames, bend metal or anything else, but he had a keen eye for detail and was a brilliant-if sometimes(often) reckless with his own life-strategist. At the end of Cursor's Fury, however, Tavi showed his first signs of furycrafting. Now, granted, at some point(as
fire_snakehas pointed out) it seems it did have to happen for Tavi to survive. Your ability to outthink your opponents only gets you so far when your entire world-including travel and combat-revolves around furycrafting, and yet, I miss the draw. Sure, he doesn't have a lot in the way of furycrafting yet, but his father was a brilliant leader and his grandfather is pretty much the most powerful man alive. We know where this is going. Sure, Butcher knows his stuff and knows it's the duty of the Coming of Age Hero to be the best, but how much more awesome would it be if the boy shaping up to be the Greatest Leader Ever, the son and grandson of powerful men(not to mention an incredibly powerful mother) was a man who got by with less than everyone else, and kept up with powerful people by the power of his brain?
But whatever. Butcher is handling it well, so I will not dwell.
Moving on to Tavi...I love Tavi, I'm pretty unconditional about that. The thing about Tavi is that he's not perfect, he's just...adjusted. He was raised by an awesome aunt and uncle(siblings, not married, just for anyone reading this who doesn't know the books) who taught him responsibility and resourcefulness. He's spent his entire life essentially handicapped, and has learned how to compensate for that, coming out of it a brilliant strategist and a leader who leads just as much by commitment to his men and goals as he does by charisma and authority. But he's also, frankly, a bit of a brat. Like most teenagers, Tavi is prone to whining and bemoaning his fate and things he thinks he's been wronged about. Unlike most authors of such characters, however, Butcher is well aware that that isn't exactly attractive. The second Tavi starts that up, he's told to shut up and get over himself. In fact, his best friend, Max, spent chunks of Academ's Fury and Cursor's Fury doing just that. Tavi isn't remotely coddled or pandered to, either in body or in ego. The second he's coddled or someone is seen to be helping him stand on his own feet, he's a goner, and everyone knows that.
He also knows when to and when not to set things aside. When he learns that his Aunt Isana isn't his aunt, but his mother, and that his father wasn't a random soldier but Septimus, son of the First Lord, making Tavi next in the line of succession(of course, it IS Coming of Age Fantasy, after all) and ALSO that she stunted his growth and kept furies from him as an infant to hide him from his enemies...well, of COURSE his natural instinct is to whine about his fate and betrayal. But that's not something he has time for, as Araris points out the second he starts it up(not to mention the whole bit about her being virtually alone in the world and having to protect him from a host of his father's enemies who would use or kill him...that's important stuff too) and he sets his emo aside. Does it still hurt? Yeah. Is he still bitter? Yup. Are there more important things to consider? Oh yeah. Does he still love Isana and and least understand that she did the best she could? Yes. He may be young, but he understands priorities.
Also, despite being a genius strategist, when it comes to common sense real life, Tavi is...well, he does mean well. Fortunately, there's Kitai, Tavi's...well, I don't know what to call her, really. Lover? Other half? Borderline symbiote? Common sense? Owner? Pragmatic, clever, blunt, mischevious, loyal and perfectly capable of taking care of both herself and her man, Kitai is essentially Tavi's perfect complement in every way, and more than capable of keeping his head on straight when he needs help with that, which he does regularly(Whine about barely being able to use any furycrafting after two years? HAH! Her Aleran should just be greatful that he can do any of it now and quit whining.)
But seriously, the whole cast is awesome. There's also Araris, a man who branded himself a slave and pretended to be dumb and skill-less for over fifteen years despite being the most renown swordsman of his time, just to watch over his dead leader's wife and son(yes, of course he was in love with her all that time and of course they are awesome) and Isana, one of the strongest, bravest, and most powerful women of her time. Then there her brother, Bernard, a simple man ably rising to the occassion when greatness is called for, and his (secret) wife Amara, spy of the First Lord(yes, of course their love is Officially Forbidden.) Plus Marcus Fidelias, an enemy spy reforming (somewhat) under the power of Tavi's Nice Guy-ness, and First Lord Gaius himself, who is walking proof that the "harmless and weak" old guys are the ones you have to watch out for. And lest I forget, Tavi's best friends, Max and Ehren, who...ok, they're the big lovable guy and the little clever guy, but they're great, so who cares?
In case you can't tell, yes, Butcher seems to be well aware that he's walking a well trod path. He just takes the best parts of the path, addresses the weaknesses of the genre path(requisite whininess of hero and overreliance on said hero) and fixes them, then brilliantly applies them to a fantasy world based on ancient Rome.
I did warn you I'm biased...