In his Codex Alera novels, author Jim Butcher has created a world in which the powerful forces of nature take physical form. For millennia, the people of Alera have used their unique bond with these elementals for protection. Now, as enemies become allies and friends become foes, a danger beyond reckoning looms...After two years of bitter conflict with the hordes of invading Canim warriors, Tavi of Calderon, now captain of the First Aleran Legion, realizes that a peril far greater than the Canim exists - the terrifying Vord, who drove the savage Canim from their homeland. In a desperate attempt to marshal their forces against their mutual enemy, he proposes attempting an alliance with the Canim.But his warnings go unheeded. The Senate's newly appointed military commander, Senator Amos, has long desired to wipe out the Canim "scourge," as well as the Aleran slaves who have chosen to throw their lot in with the wild warriors who freed them rather than return to bondage.Now, Tavi must find a way to overcome the centuries-old animosities between Aleran and Cane, slavemaster and slave, Citizen and Proletarian, if an alliance is to be forged. And he must lead his Legion in defiance of the law, against friend and foe - before the hammer stroke of the Vord descends on them all. Read Less