Captain's Fury
Jun. 3rd, 2009 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowCaptain's Fury is the fourth book in Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. I reviewed its predecessor, Cursor's Fury, earlier; here, I'm just going to offer a few disjointed comments on this book and the series as a whole.
The ending of Cursor's Fury troubled me slightly in two respects: the emergence of Tavi's furycraft, and the revelation of his parentage. One of the attractions of the series to that point had been his efforts to succeed without the use of furies, and the prospect of losing that bothered me. As for his parentage, the "Lost Heir" motif is, by now, pretty threadbare, and it seemed like a failure of imagination on Butcher's part to resort to it. (Of course, he'd been planning it from the beginning, but it didn't feel like it up to that point.)
I'm happy to say that Captain's Fury relieves me somewhat of those concerns. Despite his best efforts, Tavi's furycraft is at best rudimentary, and he still has to prevail more on wits than on power. (His use of such power as he has is clever, which is a bonus.) Butcher's handling of the parentage issue - and especially the strain which has emerged between Tavi and his now-revealed grandfather - is also pretty good, turning in a more Machiavellian direction than standard High Fantasy.
Tavi and Sextus have radically different leadership styles; Sextus is capable of extreme brutality in achieving his aims, as the fate of Kalare shows, while Tavi will take great risks to avoid unnecessary killing. Sextus' methods have kept him on top of the cauldron of Aleran politics for most of a long life; Tavi's have brought about quasi-alliance with the Marat and even with a faction among the Canim. I find that I have to root for Tavi (and I'm sure that's Butcher's intention); on the other hand - to take one example - given the time bomb that Kalarus had set up, what methods besides those of Sextus could have succeeded? (Amara is revolted by them, to the point of resigning her commission as Cursor, but she suggests no alternative either.)
The problem of legitimacy is a central one in this series. In a society where authority rests so heavily on personal power - specifically, on furycraft - leadership is a fragile thing. Sextus holds power because he's the biggest badass in the country; Lord and Lady Aquitaine, and their minion Fidelias, are maneuvering to seize power, at least in part, because they don't believe he is still strong enough to hold Alera together in the face of its enemies, internal and external. Desire for power is certainly part of their motive, especially on Lady Aquitaine's part, but patriotism, of a sort, is also there. Tavi may present a kind of solution to the problem, since his leadership style - not being power-based - is one that wins loyalty, not just submission. Of course, he has to survive long enough to build an adequate base of support....
The side plot involving slavery and the abolitionist movement also intrigues me. In our world, slavery eventually retreated in the face of a cheaper alternative, in mechanical power. In the ancient Roman world, there really wasn't much alternative, but in Alera, with the availability of furycraft, abolition is a real possibility. This, too, inclines me to some sympathy with Aquitaine's faction.
Overall, what I most like about the series is - on the one hand - the clear presentation of moral issues and - on the other - the shades of gray in the various actors. Kalarus and the Vord are truly monstrous. The Aquitaines have some nasty aspects, but Butcher gives us reason to understand if not approve their actions. Likewise, the Canim are decidedly unsympathetic, but Tavi's efforts to understand them bring them into better focus - and the brief discussion of Aleran slavery between Tavi and the Canim leader does not put Alera in a good light! We've been led to sympathize with Sextus in the earlier books, but when the full extent of his power and ruthlessness is revealed above Kalare, we share Amara's revulsion. It's not a situation where "a pox on all their houses" is an appropriate response; many of the different sides have something to be said for them, and the reader has to sit back and think carefully in judging them. It's a good, meaty series - in some respects, I think, better than the Dresden Files - and I look forward to the next volume.
The ending of Cursor's Fury troubled me slightly in two respects: the emergence of Tavi's furycraft, and the revelation of his parentage. One of the attractions of the series to that point had been his efforts to succeed without the use of furies, and the prospect of losing that bothered me. As for his parentage, the "Lost Heir" motif is, by now, pretty threadbare, and it seemed like a failure of imagination on Butcher's part to resort to it. (Of course, he'd been planning it from the beginning, but it didn't feel like it up to that point.)
I'm happy to say that Captain's Fury relieves me somewhat of those concerns. Despite his best efforts, Tavi's furycraft is at best rudimentary, and he still has to prevail more on wits than on power. (His use of such power as he has is clever, which is a bonus.) Butcher's handling of the parentage issue - and especially the strain which has emerged between Tavi and his now-revealed grandfather - is also pretty good, turning in a more Machiavellian direction than standard High Fantasy.
Tavi and Sextus have radically different leadership styles; Sextus is capable of extreme brutality in achieving his aims, as the fate of Kalare shows, while Tavi will take great risks to avoid unnecessary killing. Sextus' methods have kept him on top of the cauldron of Aleran politics for most of a long life; Tavi's have brought about quasi-alliance with the Marat and even with a faction among the Canim. I find that I have to root for Tavi (and I'm sure that's Butcher's intention); on the other hand - to take one example - given the time bomb that Kalarus had set up, what methods besides those of Sextus could have succeeded? (Amara is revolted by them, to the point of resigning her commission as Cursor, but she suggests no alternative either.)
The problem of legitimacy is a central one in this series. In a society where authority rests so heavily on personal power - specifically, on furycraft - leadership is a fragile thing. Sextus holds power because he's the biggest badass in the country; Lord and Lady Aquitaine, and their minion Fidelias, are maneuvering to seize power, at least in part, because they don't believe he is still strong enough to hold Alera together in the face of its enemies, internal and external. Desire for power is certainly part of their motive, especially on Lady Aquitaine's part, but patriotism, of a sort, is also there. Tavi may present a kind of solution to the problem, since his leadership style - not being power-based - is one that wins loyalty, not just submission. Of course, he has to survive long enough to build an adequate base of support....
The side plot involving slavery and the abolitionist movement also intrigues me. In our world, slavery eventually retreated in the face of a cheaper alternative, in mechanical power. In the ancient Roman world, there really wasn't much alternative, but in Alera, with the availability of furycraft, abolition is a real possibility. This, too, inclines me to some sympathy with Aquitaine's faction.
Overall, what I most like about the series is - on the one hand - the clear presentation of moral issues and - on the other - the shades of gray in the various actors. Kalarus and the Vord are truly monstrous. The Aquitaines have some nasty aspects, but Butcher gives us reason to understand if not approve their actions. Likewise, the Canim are decidedly unsympathetic, but Tavi's efforts to understand them bring them into better focus - and the brief discussion of Aleran slavery between Tavi and the Canim leader does not put Alera in a good light! We've been led to sympathize with Sextus in the earlier books, but when the full extent of his power and ruthlessness is revealed above Kalare, we share Amara's revulsion. It's not a situation where "a pox on all their houses" is an appropriate response; many of the different sides have something to be said for them, and the reader has to sit back and think carefully in judging them. It's a good, meaty series - in some respects, I think, better than the Dresden Files - and I look forward to the next volume.
