Review:Princeps' Fury by Jim Butcher

Having now been recognized as the Princep of Alera Tavi leads an expedition  to return the invading Canim forces to their homeland. However shortly after he leaves Alera the Vord launch a campaign in force against the Alerans. Gaius, the aging first lord of Alera, is finally able to unite his people against the Vord threat, even his staunchest rival Lord Aquitaine comes on board. The threat  however is now greater than he is willing to tell the general populace; the Vord are now able to control Furies of their own. Gaius dispatches agents on two missions, first Amara and Bernard are sent behind enemy lines to find the source of the Vord's access to Furies and Isana is despatched to secure the legions defending the border against the icemen. Tavi meanwhile has problems of his own....

Like the previous novels in the series the narrative is divided into parts, four in this case. Again the Amara/Bernard one felt like the weakest to me as Amara has regressed as a character since the first novel, though her storyline was better paced this time around. Otherwise character growth is reasonably strong especially for Tavi and Gauis and surprisingly Lord Aquitaine who becomes a much more rounded charater.

There were a few issues early on with the narrative which I found distracting. The worst of these was the use of etc, which doesn't fit with the world Butcher has created and should have been weeded out in editing.

A strong point in the novel is the sheer amount of action that happens and it definitely feels like we heading towards a conclusion in the series.  

Overall despite my continued problems with Amara's character and a few minor issues Butcher delivers a solid read.  8/10.