Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher

In his acclaimed Codex Alera novels, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher has created a fascinating world in which the powerful forces of nature take physical form. But even magic cannot sway the corruption that threatens to destroy the realm of Alera once and for all... When the power-hungry High Lord of Kalare launches a merciless rebellion against the First Lord, young Tavi of Calderon joins a newly formed legion under an assumed name. And when the ruthless Kalare allies himself with a savage enemy of the realm, Tavi finds himself leading an inexperienced, poorly equipped legion—the only force standing between Alera and certain doom...

My favorite Codex Alera novel so far. My review can be found at SFF Book Review

Tavi keeps making a name for himself by being stubborn and quick witted. That's a winning combination in my book. I can see the outline of the epic arc he is headed on finally, and I approve. Even the cursor is finally starting to ACT, rather than stand around mindlessly while her allies get chopped and diced. I appreciate the explanation of why Tavi is so different (though I don't know if I believe that expanation.)

Executive Summary: To me this is where the series really starts to shine. Mr. Butcher established the world and the key players in the last 2 books, and now he gets down the business of telling the story.

Audio book: I didn't like Ms. Reading too much at the start. Her male voices bothered me. By this book however, I couldn't imagine anyone else reading this. There is a scene where random legionaries are calling out and Ms. Reading does different voices for all of them.

I think she's also flushed out the voices she uses for all the main and secondary characters to really add that extra something that not all audio books readers seem to manage.

Full Review
I was both a bit eager and nervous for this re-read. This is only of only a handful of books that I've given 5 stars to and on my favorites shelf. My memory of it seems to have held up pretty well however.

This book seems feels far less trope heavy to me as the last two. You still have your chosen one story, but I was just so wrapped up in the awesomeness of it all that I just didn't spend any thinking about it.

The first half of this book is good, but the second half is even better. Unlike the last book where I somewhat dreaded any chapter that took us away from the main story, the secondary stories in this book are much more interesting. Adding a lot of depth to the politics of the world and many of the secondary characters.

For a book that focuses mostly on a newly formed legion, there seems to actually be less time spent on battles, which may be a plus or minus for you depending on how much you enjoy reading them. Personally I think he strikes the balance just right and Tavi really shines in this book as a result.

No one is going to accuse this of being some deep, complex series full of numerous unexpected twists and turns. However while some of it is pretty predictable, I think Mr. Butcher does manage a few surprises amid the more expected plot developments. But honestly, who cares? I was having far too much fun listening this book to spend much of the review getting into that.

Part adventure, part political thriller, part war novel with a decent amount of romance thrown in, there is a likely something for everyone here. I for one had trouble stopping for the day by the end and had to jump right into the next book.