Promise of Blood

The most enjoyable read of this year.

I finished First Law trilogy earlier and while those are also masterpieces they lacked solid plot, instead they had some of the best characters in fantasy. This book (and hopefully whole series) has excellent mix of both, which I prefer.

Set in a world similar to 18th century France it begins with Adran revolution. King and entire aristocracy are put to guillotine, republic is established. But bordering nations don't like it. Especially Kez, empire who rules other neighboring kingdoms and was suppose to rule Adro as well before Marshall Tamas put an end to the deal by decapitating the deviant king. Was it for the good of the nation or personal revenge against Kez?

Tamas's deed upsets the whole continent however that's not all. Old gods start to stir. But are they even real? People whisper of bad omens. Conflict erupts between royalists and new government, civil war is at hand while Kez is marching to the border. And that's only the beginning.

We follow three characters. Private investigator Adamat is hired by Marshall to investigate royal secrets. He has a knack. A magical talent that allows him to recall any memory. Some gifted individuals have a trait that gives them supernatural powers such as they don't need sleep, can tell if someone is lying, enhanced strength or endurance, etc.

Tamas is army veteran, the most renowned soldier alive in Adro. Revolutionary and leader. His son Taniel is somewhat estranged and often conflicted about his relationship with Tamas. Though who could blame him after he receives an order to assassinate his best friend. Both are powder mages, capable of enhancing their reflexes and stamina, able to ignite black powder with a thought and change bullet direction in flight. Anathema to ordinary mages they're hated and hunted in other countries as twisted unnatural freaks. Ironic, as mage servants known as Wardens are true monstrosities.

The novel has excellent pacing with memorable side characters. Some of the banter reminded me of Malazan. There was one scene about smoking between Tamas and his bodyguard Olem that would fit into Tehol and Bugg's parts perfectly. It toned down after that which fit the book better.

I can't believe this was in my TBR for years but because I didn't expect to love it this much I never got to it until now. As much as this was French revolution I'm expecting sequel to be reminiscent of Napoleonic wars. We shall see.

I bumped this to the top of my list based on the premise alone, and hey Brandon Sanderson loves this series so why not? I wasn't in love with it immediately but I have to say that the last third of this book is a whirlwind that excites and delights. For something that seemed to be tailored to my tastes, I wound up liking it less than I'd hoped but it is competing with much heavier hitters and this is a Debut novel. This was a competent story, an excellent opening to a series, and one of the best author debuts I've read, I will definitely be picking up the sequel, [b:The Crimson Campaign 17608111 The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage, #2) Brian McClellan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1659901305l/17608111.SY75.jpg 24566794].Promise of Blood kicks off the Powder Mage series with a bang (get it?). This is a gunpowder fantasy book with a strong emphasis on world-building, its magic system, and the politics of its universe. This is a fairly unique blend of fantasy and the Second Industrial Revolution, and the plot hinges on a populist/military coup in the country of Adro. The story follows the perspective of three characters, Field Marshal Tamas, his son Taniel, and the investigator Adamat in the immediate aftermath of Tamas taking power in Adro. The focus shifts from politics to magic and back as more of the world and its structure are revealed. This is a fast-paced book with tons of twists and turns. The pacing works for me, but in addition to the pace we have to contend with a sizable cast and it can be a little disorienting to keep track of everyone.I found the writing to be clear and concise, I would consider this one of the more accessible mil-fic style books I've ever read. McClellan has a talent for writing dialogue as well as action scenes, and with such an imaginative premise and complicated plot, he really gets to flex those skills. I found the dialogue to be charming, humorous, and alive. A lot of the character development is done in the dialogue and you get a very clear sense of everyone's personalities and quirks. My eyes usually glaze over when it comes to poorly written action, and while not every action scene in this book is gripping or interesting he's done it well where it counts, the last 10% has one of the most engaging action scenes I've read in a long time (the battle at the manor). I think the real draw here is the magic system and the world-building. I've never read anything that had this unique blend of gunpowder and magic, Fantasy typically grounds gunpowder in science/tech so it was really interesting to read about the powder mages. I would also like to shout out the world-building here, the universe is interesting, and the politics are complicated the whole package evokes a “real” feel. The world felt alive and complex, and the further you get in the novel the more mystery gets added into the package. This is a Debut so there are a few issues/quirks that the book has. I think first and foremost the themes we've got kicking around are pretty tired and uninteresting. Questions of loyalty and the burden of authority are nothing new, and whatever exploration of those themes there is in this book is trite and uninspired. This is a fairly big oversight since it robs the story of any additional depth, and it's not like there wasn't room for a little political discourse or the introduction of a powder mage named Joeseph Stallin or Lyon Trutski or something. This is a book set in a facsimile of 1860's Europe and there is no mention/reference to the revolutions of 1848 or the labor movement, it's borderline unforgivable. I can understand if this stuff got cut out in editing since this is a pretty complex story already, but the book is worse off without its inclusion. There is a workers union in this book, the Warriors of Labor, but they do not feature outside of a handful of paragraphs. This is indicative of the second major weakness of this book, and the issue that kept it from earning an otherwise well-deserved 5 stars. There is a serious lack of secondary character development. There are enormously interesting side characters and factions in this book that operate with little to no backstory whatsoever. I would have preferred turning the pace down just a touch so characters like Ka-Poel, Bo, and the Prime Lector could have had more to them in addition to being a bigger influence on the story. This book and series seem tailored to my interests but it might not be for everyone. The book is definitely leaning hard on tropes found in Mil-Fic, the emphasis on action and battle is obvious and there's an imbalance when it comes to action v. exposition. Strong female characters are few and far between, and of the two that feature most prominently one is mute. I guess I'm trying to say that this might be “boy-fic” as opposed to “chick-lit”. TL;DR: This is a strong Debut, a fast-paced action-packed romp with both magic and gunpowder. It's a little weak when it comes to anything not action or magic-related, but it's good enough to get me to read the sequel.

Character: ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆

Plot: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Prose: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

World: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

OVERALL: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

I have been meaning to read this book for years, and have now come away disappointed.

In the depths of a political coup that sees the country of Adro’s monarchy overthrown and its nobility stripped of their positions, wealth, and power, four stories entwine: the first is that of Field Marshall Tamas, war hero, general of Adro’s armies, and mastermind behind the coup with a personal hatred for the monarchy; Tamas’s son, Taniel, who struggles with a cocaine-like addiction to gunpowder and is hunting down the last remaining member of the royal magical cabal; Adamat, a private investigator tasked with uncovering a plot to bring down this new government; and Nila, who is desperately trying to keep the last noble heir to the throne out of the hands of coup sympathisers. All the while, the countries surrounding Adro look to take advantage of the political upheavals, and an ancient, malevolent promise tied up in magic stirs in the shadows.

So this sounded right up my alley. A French Revolution inspired book? Hell yeah! Bring it on, I’ve gotten super into the Revolution over the COVID lockdowns! Well, I wish I’d read this book back in 2016/2017 when I originally bought it. Back then I would have been captivated, what with its magic system, action-heavy plot, and my lack of knowledge about the Revolution 😅 But I’m not the kind of reader this book is aimed at anymore.

Firstly, the characters. Beneath their two or three unique traits, they all felt pretty samey — gruff, masculine, stoic, justified, yet quietly broken by the world (the one female POV, Nila, was barely in the book). Tamas trying to cling onto power should be fascinating to read about, and Taniel’s struggles not just with his addiction and his broken engagement, but with his complex feelings as Tamas’s son and heir, should be riveting; indeed, their relationship was the most compelling in the book. But mostly, I was struck by the feeling that I have read these characters before, many times, and done better.

Tamas has mostly selfish reasons in running this coup, first and foremost for the fact that Adro’s king was trying to broker a peace treaty with the nation responsible for the death of Tamas’s wife. And sure, there were other reasons for the coup, such as national debt and the king being incompetent in a handwaved fashion, but between these reasonings and his actions, the motivation for the coup struck me as … odd, doubly so since there doesn’t seem to be an environment for Enlightened ideals, but that’s a subject for later. In short, I had trouble reconciling what Tamas was saying he wanted and believed on the page, and how he acted.

Taniel is, as mentioned, Tamas’s son. Like his father, Taniel is a Powder Mage and a war hero, but he’s recently discovered his fiancée having an affair and has turned to a “powder trance” to help cope with the betrayal, which has become a full-blown addiction. He is accompanied by another, mute young woman (girl?) called Ka-poel who he met whilst fighting in her country; he calls her a savage. His plot is in hunting down an unusually powerful Privileged (a type of magician) which then spirals into a siege to stop first a rival country’s army, and then a god, from destroying Adro. It also turns out that Ka-poel is an insanely powerful magic user so that’s cool I guess.

Adamat, the private investigator, was uncompelling after his contract was changed from “discover what the king’s dying words meant” to “find out who’s trying to assassinate Tamas on behalf of the Kez”. His scenes become reduced to questioning the other people who helped Tamas stage the coup and drawing conclusions based off them. I was disappointed that the traitor after Tamas turned out to be the head of the church, because who else would it be?

Nila has next to no page time and a plot that’s seemingly there to set up for the next book.

The overall plot I thought was predictable. I don’t mind being able to see where a story is going, as I care more about the solutions to questions posed, yet I often found the answers in Promise of Blood to be the first solution you think of, such as the before mentioned “it was the head of the church all along!” plot about who the traitor to Adro is, which just made the story an exercise in getting to the next section. Furthermore, I found the micro-politics bland and the macro wanting further love, and the magic system, whilst interesting with its splits between lower Knacked, higher Privileged, and new-player Powder Mages, taking over too much of the conversation when I wanted to know about other stuff. After all, this is fake-Revolutionary France! There’s so much to explore here! Yet the political and social climate felt far away and not on the forefront of McClellan’s mind. Hence, the imagery of the Revolution, but not the ideas and driving forces of it.

I’m also over hard, RPG inspired magic systems at this point, which leads me onto my final reason I think the book didn’t gel with me …

It felt like a Sanderson book. He has a pull-quote on the cover for a reason I guess lmao

As I was reading, I was trying to put my finger on why exactly I wasn’t gelling with the story beyond the characters and it not covering the subject matter I was hoping it to (after all, I enjoy the action-heavy revolution plot of Red Rising), and then it hit me — it felt like a Sanderson book. The emphasis on the hard magic system, the action set pieces, and the characters having a few exaggerated traits instead of feeling like more nuanced and complex personalities (Mihali and Wit being written in the same comic relief style was what led me to the Sanderson epiphany). Obviously, it has worked fabulously for Brian; he has completed two very successful trilogies and is in the middle of publishing his third. Go get your money, this industry is hard to make a living in!

I’ve danced around the French Revolution-inspired stuff for the length of this review, and the short of it is: I wanted to explore that inspiration more. I realised fairly quickly that I had to let my wants go if I wanted to enjoy the book, and subsequently tried hard not to compare the two, but my mind kept drifting back to a what could have been. As mentioned previously, Promise of Blood borrows liberally from the imagery of the Revolution but doesn’t do much in the way of revolutionary ideas beyond some handwaving towards vague Enlightenment happenings over there. Which I found really sad. The French Revolution is so interesting (and I say this as someone who didn’t care for modern history at all until recently), but this book is more like French Coup inspired, no matter how many guillotines and double-breasted coats you see.

Now, to sniff my own farts for a second. One thing which I thought was such a detriment to its French Revolution-inspired setting is the decision to introduce God Himself into the mix, defending the Adro royal family from those who would overthrow it. One of the advantages absolute monarchs like Louis XIV-XVI had to keep their hold on power was a concept called Divine Right, which is “the monarch is the monarch because God decreed it so”. I can see the leap of logic one could make when writing a story like this as “what if Divine Right had tangible consequences should it be challenged?”, and it could be a fascinating story had Tamas and his conspirators chosen to do the coup anyway knowing the consequences … but they didn’t know the consequences. God existing as a thing that can actually kill them is the answer to the central mystery of the book, and it left me feeling annoyed more than anything. “The monarchy has been overthrown and the nobility stripped and killed! But what’s this? It’s Kresimir with the steel chair!” Yes, I’m biased in that I don’t like God of any kind, be it in this book, Final Fantasy, etc., revealing themselves to be the final boss, but with the context surrounding this case, it stung more than normal lol.

So, Promise of Blood isn’t for 2023-me, and that’s fine. It’s not like there’s a lack of French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars material out there, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of non-fiction books on the actual topic/s. Would I possibly like it more should I revisit it one day? Sure. But I have so many other books to read that any revisiting is a while away.

5 full and well deserved stars!

From the first chapter this book was captivating and dynamic.

The characters and the plot were perfection! But more than anything, I loved the world the Brian McLelan has created!

If I had to compare the book to other works, i'd call it a combination 0f Mistborn, The First Law and the The Black Company.

I am rushing to buy the rest of the series and whatever else the author has written so far!

I wish the POV characters were a little more varied.

I originally gave this 3 stars a couple years ago and thought it was mediocre.... What an idiotic review and I can't believe nobody roasted me in the comments.

This book has everything just about. There is a mystery, character development is great, and the plot is great!
You have powder mages than can control the path of a bullet with mile long accuracy. They can also snort powder and get superhuman strength.

Tamas and his son Taniel are one of these and they have staged a coup, slaughtering every person in the nobility except for one child.

Nila is a washerwoman who saves said child and then wants to kill Tamas before he can finish the boy off.

Adamat has a “third eye” where he can see things others can't and has an unshakable memory. His talents led him to a successful P.I. career which Tamas is utilizing. He wants to know why every nobility says a mysterious phrase before being killed.

There are multiple side characters that are a lot of fun as well!

This was a fun, exciting read in a unique setting for a fantasy series.

6/10

A readable fantasy novel. A rare treat in my book. It's not exceptional, gets lost along the way sometimes, the ending was very unsatisfactory. I liked the book's pacing, exposition, narrative, plot and characters.

SUMMARY

Field Marshall Tamas's nation Adro has been financially ruined by the king. The neighboring nation of Kez steps in to help out, but in return they would turn them into their vassal. And that did not sit well with the ruling powers of Adro.

The king sees no other way out then to accept the deal, but Tamas thinks otherwise. Motivated by the concern for the well being of the people, as well as for personal reasons, he stages a coup and dethrones the king. He brings down the whole nobility as well, using his soldiers to round up all the members of their families and take them to prison. The following day, they are all beheaded, children included. Except for one child who got away.

The hardest part of the coup was going to be dealing with the Royal Cabal, powerful sorcerers who act as the king's personal guard. But Tamas is a Powder Mage, and his kind is specially capable of countering the sorcerer's powers. So a group of Powder Mages plus the element of surprise was enough to eliminate all of them, except for one that got away.

Before dying one member of the Royal Cabal uttered a sentence that got Tamas intrigued. He hires a private investigator, Adamat, to find out what that means. He calls upon his son, a soldier under his command and the nations best shot, Taniel, to hunt down the remaining Royal Cabal member. She has killed 6 Powder Mages while escaping, a never before heard feat.

There is intrigue, betrayal, misdirection, shadowy figures, investigation, mage fights, a god reincarnated, miracle food, the men of the wall...

ANALYSIS

As far as plot goes, deposing the nobility in order to get their money is fine. He says he did it because they were complicit with the king's actions, but that could just be his rationalization in order to justify such a cruel act. Killing the children is necessary in order to prevent them from getting revenge or revindicating their family possessions when they grow up.

The world is not very unusual, Powder Mages being mostly the only unusual thing. They have some enhanced abilities when snorting gunpowder, mostly granting some magic like powers when using firearms. They also get some increased reflexes, faster healing, and greater endurance.

Tamas is a powerful character, a man of great will and strength, whose actions sometimes put him on the wrong side of the morals and honor he should uphold. His son Taniel si a little more idealistic, but he basically follows his father's command. Both are bound by honor and their loyalty to Adros.

They each have their own story going on, and the book's perspective shift from one to the other, plus Adamat, the investigator. These three characters telling their side moves along the narrative. Tamas is more brutal and tactic, Taniel more adventure and battling, Adamat is about intrigue and mystery.

While Taniel is running one dangerous errand after another, Tamas is dealing with the remaining royalist's forces and coordinating the defenses against the Kez. Meanwhile Adamat is doing detective's work while trying to survive the snake's nest that is putting his nose into powerful people's business.

There is two female side characters of note, Ka-Poel and Julene. Ka-Poel is a mute savage young girl with strange powers. Taniel saved her life, and now she follows him wherever he goes. Julene is a rebel sorcerer, a powerful mercenary who hunts her own kind. They play important roles later on. There is some side plot with Taniel's former fiance Vlora, which never gets anywhere.

The characters change of role along the way was refreshing. Adamat begins investigating X, and when he is done with that, he begins to investigate Y. The same pattern happens with Taniel and Tamas.

The book started out strong. Got a little dull in some parts along the way, and built up too many expectations for the ending to make it plausible. Taniel is a strong Powder Mage, but going after dozens of the most powerful sorcerers almost by himself? One in particular alone might be a god of some kind, and has previously defeated him without breaking a sweat. And she decides to let him live to see her grand plan come to fruition, and of course, that ends up being a bad idea as he single handily prevents the world destruction by shooting up a god in the heart.

I loved this! The magic system is unique, the characters are likeable (even if you like to hate them). This is just an action packed book right from the start.

The age of kings is dead... and I have killed it.

If that doesn't hook you onto this book I don't know what will.

Set in a revolutionary type world, similar to the Tv programme Sharpe, I knew I would love this. And I wasn't wrong!
At first, I began listening to this on Audible, and I struggled with the two similar names, Tamas and Taniel. I set it to the side and picked up the hard copy months later, and I can't believe I didn't read this sooner!
Civil war on the brink, old legends coming alive and a magic system centred around guns; what more do you want? I loved the step away from Medieval Fantasy into new ears of technology.
The Fight Scenes were a bit bland, but his characters had depth, and I fell in love with Olam. As a side character and protector of Tamas, he really leapt off the page. Tamas and Taniel's relationship is interesting, and I can't wait to see where this is going to go. Tamas's determination to survive and his ruthlessness but also kindness is something I didn't expect.
The ending didn't have me on the edge of my seat, but it wasn't so over the top or under-done that I felt unsatisfied. Ca-Poal's part in this story, as a character who can't speak, shows so much expression I wish more authors would go this route and have disabled characters.
McClellan's writing style is simple and draws me into the story. I can't wait to see where this series leads!

Meh. Way too many things happen for no reason. The powers of the powder mages aren't very interesting. They're like low-tech steampunk soldiers mostly and any enemy who knows their weakness (which is also the fuel for their power... it's in the title of the series) could (and at one point does) pretty much disable them. To say nothing of the nonsensical use and non-use of people-melting powers of the Privileged. They're said to have godlike powers that can move the land and sea, yet end up in sword fights, get killed by normal bullets, forget to put their power-gloves on sometimes, etc. It's all pretty silly and won't satisfy readers who enjoy richly-constructed worlds and peoples and magic systems that make sense and care about a map of the world. This one also suffused with earth-talk and earth technologies, which took me out of feeling like I was immersed in a fantastic world. It mostly feels like 1500s France, complete with an extremely catholic-sounding religious order, but not France, and with some magic-ish people thrown in.

P.S. the reviewers who point out the misogyny and pathetic female characters here are spot-on. If that stuff bothers you (and it's so ham-fisted here that I can't see how it wouldn't), steer clear.

The concept and setting of Brian McClellan's Powder Mage series makes for an intriguing take on modern fantasy. Most fantasy authors tend to go for the classic ‘sword and sorcery' style setting - preferring to use medieval archetypes and general feel. The setting here in a quasi-Napoleonic era of gunpowder and rifles is quite a change! This was actually my second dip into this world, as I had read the short story ‘The Siege of Tilpur' previously (looks at the early career of the main protagonist from ‘Promise of Blood' so was actually quite a good starting point) and the taste i got very much encouraged me to dive into the main series.

The magic system and world that Brian McClellan has built works supremely well. The different types/levels of magic users, the caste system and the way they each have strengths and weaknesses integrate in a very pleasing way. The use of gunpowder as a component of the magic system is especially clever. The characters are largely sympathetic and easy to engage with and the story rocks along at a nice pace - it drew me in very well as a reader. As with a surprisingly large amount of good fantasy, the best moments here are really in the intrigue and politics rather than the fighting action. This is done in an organic and believable way, you can recognise the motives for most of the actors. If I am going to have one criticism it may be in the somewhat one dimensional portrayal of the noble class, but in someways I see that is due to the main protagonists being very against that class, so it supports the telling in many ways.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable book in an interesting period setting for a fantasy novel. I am intrigued to see how the story develops and already have the next book in the series on the way!

This one starts with a bang (after the first chapter I thought, wow, after Wexler, another 5 stars flintlock fantasy!), and then it fizzles out till it gets outright boring. The story just didn't keep me engaged.
Furthermore, there's only one real character, Tamas / Adamat / Taniel - they are supposed to be different persons, but are the exact same personality.
The rest, even worse: except perhaps Mihali, they are just names, and I couldn't care less about anybody except Tamas.
Gave up after 300 pages.

This was really good. I'm sorry it took so long for me to read it. I can't wait to continue with the rest of the books.

Wow. This book blew my mind. I'm so enamoured by everything that McClellan has created in this world. The magic system is just so unique! This is my first forte in to a Flintlock Fantasy novel, and it did not let down at all.
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The characters were enthralling, whether it was because of their admirable qualities, or because they were heavily flawed. Their feelings were just relatable. Maybe not in the world context, but in how they reacted to each other. I don't want to forget the little sprinkles of comic relief here and there that I always enjoy in a good story.
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The ending was so greatly done too. It really has me so excited to read the next one. Which I am in May, wooo! For any hardcore fantasy lover, or someone new to the genre, you need to pick this one up!

Interesting!!! An original concept, never have I imagined using gunpowder as the source of magic, normally during this period, gunpowders are used scientifically, in Mr. McClellan's Universe/world, gunpowder for powder mages is the source of magic and used scientifically too......

A continuous moving storyline, no boring parts, where they describe this and that, reminds me a bit of Mr. Raymond E Feist, wherein action from the start until the end of the trilogy!!!!

Further discussion might spoil the story for people who would like to read it for themselves!!! Oh by the way, did I mention gods??????!!!

2 out of 5 stars – See full review and others here.

Tamas is a powder mage, a rare being who gains supernatural powers by consuming and manipulating gunpowder. After overthrowing the king, Tamas must unite with his estranged son, Taniel (also a powder mage), and Adamat, an embattled investigator, to quell the chaos and impending war that his uprising has created.

This one had been on my radar for awhile and it never quite piqued my interest enough for me to pick it up. I'm glad I gave it a shot, but on the whole, I was disappointed.

The three primary characters (all male) are mostly uninteresting and undifferentiated. The secondary characters are a real strength with oddball characters Ka-Poel, the mute, and Mihali, the chef with a god-complex, turning up to contribute to the story in unexpected ways. The tertiary characters were abundant, thin, and hard to care about-especially when a few of them turned out to major players in end-game story and I was left wishing I knew them better.

McClellan moves his narrative forward fluidly with no time wasted on flashbacks or long interludes. Everything exists to serve the final confrontations and provide set-ups for future novels. Unfortunately, it didn't feel like the story built in any significant way and I ultimately wanted deeper engagement in the novel than I was able to find.

Just read the first three books in the series. They're a solid 4/5, all around.

One thing the books desperately need more of is humor. The lack of it really struck me... makes the characters less relatable than they ought to be.

Fresh thinking in the fantasy genre is such a tough thing to achieve. So Promise of Blood tick that box and goes on to do so much more. The magic system is innovative and while not very well defined Brian uses Gods to make up for any explanations of its Machinations. The characters are well crafted though and multiple POV's executed superbly without messing up the story in any way. In fact I would go out on a limb and say its one of the best examples of multiple POV executions. All in all a highly recommended read. Onwards to book 2!

Promise of Blood is a fantasy story about a French-Revolution-esque uprising in a world where powder mages use gunpowder to fuel their abilities. The revolt is led by Tamas, a soldier who is willing to do whatever he feels is best for the people of Adro. He employs Adamat, a detective, to find out secrets from the previous regime, and to discover who may be trying to bring down his new republic from the inside. He is also willing to exploit the powder mage talents of his son Taniel to keep both him and his new government safe.

When I was starting the book it seemed that we were jumping perspectives quite quickly, and I was worried that that it might fall into the trap of too many people with too little personality like a certain other book I'd just read may have done. Happily, while the character introductions are a bit overwhelming up front, the remainder of the story is told from the perspectives of the five or six main characters you meet in the beginning. Which was nice because it gave time to understand their quirks and personality traits, while still having enough points of view to explore the world and see how all the various plot points needed to come together.

I enjoyed many of the themes explored in this book - especially toying with the idea that leadership is a divine right. It takes a lot of religious and political tenets that have been displaced throughout history and makes them central plot points in the story. Historical fantasy seems to be increasing in popularity of late, and I have to say the idea of introducing magic and gods into settings like the French Revolution is actually rather enjoyable, and somewhat thought provoking reading.

I do have to say that, while I did enjoy this book, I don't think I was quite as impressed with the writing as I wanted to be. It was good, but it wasn't brilliant. The problem, I think, is that I've read other stories that have attempted similar things, but done them better. The idea for the magic system is cool, but it feels a little unfinished. Like maybe all the rules weren't quite in place when he wrote it. Of course, it could be that we just haven't been given all the information yet, but still some things (like the special abilities of the individual powder mages) felt a bit inconsistent. The fight for political power was similarly interesting, but not quite as subtle or complex as I've seen in other books. (I mean, if I want a good revolution story I'll just re-read Les Miserables. Now that is some fantastic writing right there.) Similarly, while I like a lot of the characters (especially Taniel and Ka-poel), I don't really love them in a way that I've loved characters in other fantasy series. Overall McClellan has produced a good story with interesting concepts, but I don't think this book will go down as being one of my all time favorites.

Promise of Blood is only the first book of the Powder Mage Trilogy, and the ending definitely acts more like a set-up for the start of book 2 than as a conclusion for book 1. I think there was enough of interest in this story that I'm willing to spend the time to read the second book and see where things go. The first story leaves a lot of questions about the world and the state of our characters unanswered, so I don't really feel as though I've gotten a satisfying conclusion, and I'm invested enough with these characters to care about finding out what happens to them. So I expect I will read the other books in the trilogy at some point, though I don't feel the need to rush out and power through them right away. Definitely on my long-term list of to-read books though.

In the end I would say that I give this book a “maybe” recommendation. If you love fantasy then I think this story deals with some common tropes in an interesting way, and it is probably worth the read just to keep up with the modern authors and stories in the genre. Otherwise... I might say that you can give this book a pass. I think there are better fantasy series out there at the moment, with more compelling characters, more complex worlds, and more sophisticated writing. This book was good, and worth the read if you decide to pick it up, but I also think you can skip it without missing out on too much.

That moment when you type out a review and then the browser crashes. Nevermind.

I can't decide if I enjoyed this book or not: it's something I picked up because it's the Sword and Laser read for this month, and the Kindle sample chapter didn't suck. I'm not particularly interested in having guns in fantasy, and I'm not interested in steampunk worlds, but that's not the fault of the book. The fact that I kept reading says it didn't completely suck, but at the same time none of the characters, the politics, or the more interesting layers of mages and ‘gods' are enough to make me want to go on to the next in the series, despite ending on a cliffhanger (although at some point I will ask Wikipedia what happened to Ka-Poel).

As previously noted, the naming stuff really bugged me. Although taking ‘real' names and giving them a slight twist is a deliberate action on the part of McClellan, next time maybe choose a less universally recognised name than Karolus Magnus. I did have fun, however, imagining Ricard to be a shorter, fatter, equally bald version of Jean-Luc Picard.

The addict storyline also bugged me, for reasons I can't put my finger on. It makes complete sense in the world: of course the powder and the accompanying trance would become a habit and then a necessity, and I think it's important to explore that facet of the mechanics of gunpowder mages. But it still bugged me.

Overall, I would actually give this book three stars, but I stick closely to the Goodreads ratings and for me, this one was ok, but I wouldn't say I liked it. Hence two.

ETA: I have to mention I really did like that the impressions of the powder mages and Adamat about third parties were different, rooted in their backgrounds and social positions, and that different characteristics about each of the third-party people were noted by Adamat when he met them for the first time, as opposed to Tamas who has obviously known them for decades at this point in time.

Saving my full review for the episode at the end of June! But clearly, I enjoyed it.

I both went into this and out of this feeling pretty blah. I picked it up because it is the S&L book of the month, but I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise. Sometimes, that works out well (Ancillary Justice), but this time the reasons I thought I wouldn't enjoy it all turned out to be pretty valid.

Promise of Blood suffers from First of Trilogy syndrome. It has a ton of stuff going on and it wraps very little up. It's told from four perspectives, one of which is completely superfluous to the story of this novel. I imagine Nila and Jakob will be important in later books, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they serve absolutely no purpose in this book besides allowing the author to talk about “auburn curls.” Auburn curls are always unruly. Always.

The story has a lot of merits. I enjoyed the parts with Mihali and Tamas and would have loved a lot more information on the religions (again, this seems to be in the MORE TO COME category). Tamas himself is interesting though Taniel less so. Ka-poel seems like a giant plot device, and I hope her brand of sorcery is explained more later. The concept of powder magery is pretty neat, but not really my thing. I think I would have been more into it if it were explained as a more “man-made” sorcery rather than just “some people are born like that.”

There's a lot of war, a lot of blood, and a lot of guns, pretty much as advertised. Nothing wrong with that, but there wasn't enough else to really hold my interest. While there's nothing wrong with writing a first book as a lead in, barely any of the plots in this story got proper resolution. That doesn't make me want to read this next book so much as it annoys me for spending so much time on this one with no pay out. Probably not a series I will be continuing, but if you're into the war and guns fantasy, it might be more your thing.

Executive Summary: An enjoyable novel from a first-time author that has me looking forward to his next book. If I were to summarize it in one sentence I might say “The French Revolution with magic”.

Full Review
With many first novels, it is often apparent the writer is new. This one is no different. There are some confusing parts that could stand to be rewritten, and some minor plot lines that seem to be unimportant or go nowhere.

I'm pretty forgiving of such things if the story and characters are interesting/different enough however, and this fits the bill. It's possible Mr. McClellan is trying to leave the reader a bit confused at this point, since this is the start of a trilogy. It will be really hard to say until the story is finished.

I really enjoyed the characters, especially most of his females ones. My only gripe is that none of them are POV characters, save the least interesting one. Hopefully that will change in the next book. Ka-poel is probably my favorite, and I'm looking forward to understanding more about her as the series goes on.

Mr. McClellan has developed several magic systems whose details aren't really clear at this point in the series, from the Privileged who appear to be more traditional Mages to the bizarre and interesting Powder Mages that the series is named for.

The gunpowder snorting soldiers can do really amazing things with guns and gunpowder in a very unique magic system that stands in contrast to the more traditional Privileged.

This book was a little slow to grab me. It might be because Mr. McClellan has set up numerous subplots that seem to go off in several directions that may turn some people off as slow or confusing.

Personally I enjoyed them all, even if the pacing maybe suffers a bit as a result. We've got the grizzled and hardened commander Tamas, who leads a coup and execution of the nobility including the King making for politics and intrigue. Spies and Assassins.

Then there is his son Taniel, who appears to have a Gunpowder problem that makes me think of Coke-head. He's in pursuit of a powerful Privileged who killed many of his father's Powder Mages that leads to him being on the front lines of an invasion and the threat of ancient powers.

Finally there is the investigator Adamat who starts by investigating a cryptic prophecy uttered by every Privileged in the King's cabal as they lay dying.

Many of these story lines are left lingering as the book stops more than it ends. I'm left with more questions that have me eager for the next book, but some may find the ending unsatisfactory.

Overall an enjoyable read. 3.5 Stars rounded up since it's his first novel.