Almighty Janitor: Formerly. He was only a rank-and-file soldier during his time in the Legions, despite his crafting skill being evident enough that Gaius pegs him as a former Knight Flora without a second thought (Bernard always thought the Knights were too uppity for his tastes). By the end of the first book, he's now the Count of Calderon and Alera's chief ambassador to the Marat, a station and title far more worthy of his abilities. Okay, so I know that I come across as very snarky and like all of life is pain and suffering, but here is my space for unabashed joy. Bernard is a great character for the reasons I’ve already mentioned. And he is the only guy that really gets a pokemon in this book! He gets a little earth dog pokemon. When you hear pokemon crossed with roman legions, you are expecting pokemon and this is the one we get. Feel No Pain: An aspect of metalcrafting. However, this doesn't mean the injuries being ignored are any less dangerous. If someone ignores the pain of a legitimately crippling injury (or a minor one from a poisoned weapon), it can cost them their life. Bernard is Tavi's uncle and Isana's brother, possessing the power of both earth and woodcrafting. He begins the series as a steadholder (wealthy farmer/town mayor), but ultimately takes on a noble title as Count of Calderon and passes his steadholt to Isana. He is in love with Amara, and the two are married (at first in secret, but later openly).

Furthermore, that thing mentioned above about going into the most suicidal place he could think of? His plan is to piss off the Great Furies Garados and Thana Livia and use them against the Vord Queen. It only really works when she tries to claim the furies and he has the even crazier idea of cutting her connection and letting them go free to wreak random destruction. They are exceptionally pissed about the attempt to control them, and Thana—an enormous, sentient thunderstorm—pretty much literally chews the Vord Queen up and spits her out.

Success!

Healing Hands: Watercrafters can heal using their furies, but all but the most powerful need a tub of water to immerse the patient in. I read the Codex Alera when it first released and this is a reread. I have a vague recollection of what happens throughout the series but the specifics are honestly lost to me outside of one or two main threads. As Count Calderonus, he takes on the colors of a woodsman's green and brown and the emblem of a bear.

Fans of the novel found themselves enjoying the hints of things that will come, and the novel moves at a nice pace. The final third of things has quite a nice twist that it was easy for some to forgive certain things that this novel does not do right. Some found things in this to be even better this time around, and you get to see an interesting character, Tavi, grow more in this one as he takes on more responsibility. Some like Tavi as he does not have any furies, which makes him work much harder than anyone else in the series; some feel that too many people rely only on the furies and they do not think of how to get out of something without them. The villains, some say, are not obvious at all, because you can see and kind of agree with what they have to say about certain things. Some of these villains are actually sort of gray characters, not full on bad guys, an interesting touch, no doubt. For fans of great writing in fantasy (of the swords and horse variety), this is a great read. Non-Standard Character Design: When furies are physically manifested, they most often take the form of some type of plant or animal (i.e., Count Gram's fire fury Phyllis taking the form of a hummingbird, and a feral fire fury in First Lord's Fury being described as taking the form of a swaying willow tree). Isana's water fury Rill instead never directly manifests as anything other than a faint reflection of a younger Isana (specifically, around the time she first came into Rill's power) in the water she is currently controlling. Why exactly Rill looks so different from any other fury is intentionally left as a Riddle for the Ages. She is this to the Icemen when they sense she is truly honest about wanting peace, that peace might finally be achieved between their peoples.Watercrafters allow for near-instantaneous long-way communication through connected bodies of water (though according to Max, skilled-enough crafters can alter the conveyed messages) along with providing extensive healing opportunities and helping advance the medical sciences. Sufficiently skilled watercrafters are also tasked with serving as Living Lie Detectors and "witchmen" (a special role found among Aleran sailors tasked with keeping leviathans from noticing said ships when they intrude upon their territories and smashing them into kindling, greatly aiding in the Alerans' nautical trade networks). Single-Target Sexuality: Though he starts off with a childish crush on a steadholt girl (Beritte), he falls hard for Kitai not long afterwards and stays that way for the rest of the series (much to Max's frustration while trying to get him to loosen up). Master of One Magic: As a single-element Crafter, Isana wouldn't normally be considered very impressive as Alerans rank their powers – but as mentioned above, she can do a lot with what she's got. Does Not Know His Own Strength: Isana is an incredibly powerful watercrafter – one of the strongest in all of Alera. She never really grasped how powerful she was, assuming that her great strength came from familiarity with the Calderon Valley's furies. It isn't until later on that she begins to understand her true strength, and suspects that Septimus passed on many of his furies to her when he died.