In this third installment in the Codex Alera series, Tavi is sent to work undercover in a legion with his friend Max. The legion ends up in a massive scale battle against the largest Canim incursion in many years. Amara and Bernard travel to Ceres to meet up with Isana, who is there for a free-the-slaves conference, when Kalarus decides to launch a huge attack against the realm. Amara and Bernard get sent off with very weak allies to rescue captives…so basically another installment of drama, intrigue, and ACTION. Although in this book we finally do learn a few tidbits about Isana’s past and who Tavi really is. I have theories. I’m not sure they were right. So much is still unclear! Can’t wait to read the next three and find out.

This book was super interesting because Tavi and Amara both remind me a little bit of Rand in the Wheel of Time series. Sometimes the legality isn’t as important as doing what’s right. When Tavi is just wrecked by the dead, it reminds me of when Rand counts the names of every women that fell because of him. I mean it was almost way too much of an obsession for him, but it gave you the glimpse into his heart. Tavi has this massive heart too. What’s also interesting is the sermon at church yesterday was all about legality vs. morality. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it right. This relates to the current events children separated from families issue, this relates to certain decisions to kill or not that both Tavi and Amara face in this book, and it just relates to life. Just because something is legally allowed doesn’t make it morally right. Or, as my mother-in-law says, “just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” Although she’s usually referring to their massive dogs sticking their head on the table, but still.