Furies of Calderon

Started this series of five books on a recommendation from my boss (who reads bucket loads of fantasy). This one is very exciting and does a lot with a cool premise. In this world there is a nation of Alerans who, somewhere around puberty, acquire the ability to command one of the six types of furies (or elementals). The six types are of wood, earth, air, fire, water, and metal. The different types of furies come with varied abilities and weaknesses. Someone commanding an air fury could command a wind strong enough and focused enough to enable them to fly for instance. There are a number of excellent characters both good and bad to follow in the Calderon valley of Alera. There's 15-year-old Tavi, who bristles at the fact that he has yet to command a fury of his own but his cleverness makes up for it. And Amara, an agent of the First Lord, Gaius Sextus. Amara commands a wind fury and gets embroiled in the intrigue surrounding Lord Gaius and a group of mercenaries and another Lord plotting to overthrow his rule. And then there are the savage Marat people: strong, proud, fury-less people who are split into various clans that don't all get along. There's a lot going on in this story and the action scenes are exciting and inventive. I'm looking forward to picking up the second book in the series (but first, I'll be making some detours).