Codex Alera

Codex Alera, of all the book series out there, is one of my top five favorites. It is a very basic romance novel at the outset. For those unversed in literature, no, a romance novel is not about love stories necessarily. There is the genre fiction called Romance based on stories of love and lust and there is the literary fiction Romance which is a long prose narrative with a certain story structure and language. A classic example is The Lord of the Rings. Nowadays, it is easier to just say novel, less confusion for the layman.

As such, Codex Alera is a story about an unlikely and reluctant hero, his journey to accept who he is, his rise to power and the stories related to the realization of his destiny. Most such novels can be so resumed, even Tolkien s novels. There are many complexities within and how the author handles and delivers to us the main protagonist's story is important. But structurally they are undeniably very much the same.

The funny thing I learned along the years is that such a good series was born from a bet! In an interview, author Jim Butcher admitted that he was challenged by another person to try if he could and dared make a good story out of two bad ideas : The Ninth Roman Legion also known as the Lost Legion and......... Pokémon!!! (Suvudu, 2012).

I’m keeping this as spoiler-free as I can. The Pokémon idea is generally there, there isn’t really much “catching” actually. The way the world functions is closer to what was introduced in the Final Fantasy series, each person can basically “summon” one or more spirits to aid them in their tasks. For many it’s much more a cooperation, since there isn’t really a summoning, some spirits are just there with them all the time. This system is based on elements, lightning, earth, air, fire and so on, it determines a person’s proficiencies, powers and place in society. For example, anyone with affinity for metal will most probably be a soldier, affinity to earth may be a builder or farmer.

Needless to say, it is a society having evolved around the power conferred by the communion with these elemental beings. High officials have high power, and quite surely, in the beginning of the Legion’s journey in this new world it was encouraged that strong people mated to increase a family or faction’s political and military power.

The story mainly follows the character Tavi, a completely powerless youngster in world where everyone actually else has one. It gives this main character a particular perspective on life. Having had to always rely on his wits and simple humanity, we find him very adept at getting out of certain situations in ways very logical to us but seeming so amazing to his peers. The fact is that the world we live in has become a myth to the people of Alera. The great knowledge of engineering that the Roman had acquired at the time of the disappearance of the Legion is lost, believed useless for those that have been found and everyone relies on the spirits even for something as simple (relatively) as building a fence!

The series contains six books, following Tavi and the others important characters in chronological order. Some of these characters are pivotal to the story, yet they are introduced late in the chronology, or sometimes they are barely mentioned in one early book, to be fully fleshed out and truly part of the narrative many books later.

Book series covers

This is as far as I’ll go to avoid spoiling the story for those who may be interested in reading the books. I strongly encourage any fantasy aficionado to have a look. I’ve personally read them quite a few times and it never got stale. I do recommend at least two readings, there are some plot points and some early character references that only make sense once you’ve been through the entire journey in Alera….and beyond!

Cheers!