Just Finished Reading Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher

Cursor's Fury, from 2006, is book number three in Jim Butcher's six-part Codex Alera series.  Once again it's war, war, war...this time against the High Lord of Kalare and the beastie Kalim invaders from overseas as they forge an alliance to overthrow the constantly-threatened supreme ruler Gaius Sextus.  Furies are spirits from the natural elements that most every human on this mythical world has the power to bond with (or "craft") and...according to their giftings...can then use for superhuman powers. The series' main protagonist, Tavi, is now a young man with no such powers and has been forced to rely solely on his courage, intelligence, diligence, nonmagical fighting skills and high moral compass to overcome the deadly foes that never seem to relent in this overwhelmingly violent and gory narrative.  Amara, a woman wind-crafter, is the other chief protagonist and she and Tavi have their own split adventure narratives while trying to save the realm, their loved ones and themselves.  Anything more I dare not share for fear of spoiling the plot, and the series as well...

Now I'm halfway through this series and should have ready access to the final three books, which I intend to plow through.  Not my favorite fantasy series by a longshot, there's no doubt in my mind that Butcher patterned much of his story after George R.R. Martin's constantly warring and backstabbing, dog-eat-dog nobility in his "Game of Thrones" (officially A Song of Ice and Fire) series.  If you're for that kind of stuff, you'll probably like Codex Alera...for me I tend to go more toward magic-based series like Harry Potter and The Magicians or the series of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis about Middle Earth and Narnia, respectively...