Promise of Blood (The Powder Mage Trilogy, 1)

I was introduced to this debut book from Brian McClellan first from his excellent but not too obvious promotions on the r/Fantasy sub-reddit, including an excellent AMA. One of my favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson, also recommended this book as Brian was a 4 time student of his writing classes at BYU. Since the book description really appealed to me, the author seemed like a great guy, and all of the early reviews for it were positive, I made sure to pre-order it and I'm very happy that I did. Right from the beginning, this book just grabbed me, and I had to force myself to stop reading a few chapters in so could go on with my day and the book wouldn't be finished immediately.The premise of the world is very interesting, where the time period resembles that of the industrial age, with prominently featured flintlock firearms. The impetus of this book's conflict is strongly influenced by the French Revolution, where the Army General and the common man rise up to overthrow and behead the king, queen, along with most of the nobility. The only problem is that in a world with real magic and gods, what happens when the god endorsed royalty is overthrown? There are many different forms of magic, but there are really only 4 forms shown in this book. The first and probably most powerful is that of the Privileged, where the practitioner wears rune covered gloves and can manipulate the elements to devastating effects. The second is that of the Gunpowder Mages, who can ingest gunpowder to enter a trance where their reactions/strength/speed is vastly increased, and they can burn nearby powder to mentally guide a bullet to hit a target over a mile a way (some can even shoot a bullet around corners or fire and guide multiple bullets at once) or they can mentally light the powder and direct the explosion. The third form is a Knack that people can have, this Knacks can vastly vary from not needing sleep, to having perfect memory, to being able to know when people tell lies (the way to know whether people are truly Knacked or are just talented at something, they have a third eye that can be opened, and they can see auras). The fourth is a slight mystery, and it's a magic employed by "savages" and seems to closely resemble Voodoo (Real Voodoo Dolls among other magics). In this world, immensely powerful gods walked the earth, but most of them left around 1400 years ago. After the gods left, there was a period of time where everything went down the drain, but afterwards the world experienced a boom of technological advancement, mostly notably gunpowder weapons and the beginning of assembly lines, unions, and steam powered engines. I loved how the technology & magic both melded and hammered against each other, creating an immensely original world.The writing here is expertly done, especially for a debut author. While reading it, I almost felt like Brian McClellan was an amalgamation of George R.R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, and Joe Abercrombie. He has the incredibly well done multiple limited third person viewpoints, the realistic fantasy world mostly inhabited by humans (No Tolkienesque races), the character deaths (to a lesser amount) of Martin and Abercrombie combined with the incredibly original and in-depth magic systems of Brandon Sanderson. The action found in this book was very entertaining and visual, the closest thing that I would compare it to would probably be Sanderson's Mistborn series, although they don't quite reach the mastery featured in those books. I enjoyed all of the characters in Promise of Blood, from big to small they were all very in-depth and enjoyable. There are many viewpoint characters, but really only three main ones, and I loved how each viewpoint was almost a different genre of story telling. The story of Field Marshal Tamas, the leader of the revolution/coup, is really a Fantasy Political Thriller with many twists and turns. The story of Taniel Two-Shot, Tamas' son with a penchant for constantly snorting gunpowder who has just come home from a brutal war on the front-lines, is a brutal war story with a bit of coming-of-age thrown in, and he fights to hold back the invading army and stop the summoning of a god that could lead to the destruction of his country. The final sub-story is that of Adamat, a retired investor with a Knack of a perfect memory, and is a thriller/mystery where he is investigating the final words spoken from the dead throats of all of the Privileged Sorcerers that were killed in their sleep during the coup, and later the traitor in the small council that tried to assassinate Tamas. It's really tough to pick a favorite character and sub-story in this book as I absolutely loved them all, but if I had to pick I might go with Taniel, as I really enjoyed the action and his interactions with Pole, his savage Voodoo witch mute sidekick, along with finding his character more likeable and relatable than the other two (though I still loved the other characters).So overall I must say that I absolutely loved this book, and I anxiously await the sequel. I'd highly recommend this book, especially if you're a fan of any of the authors I mentioned earlier in my review. I can't wait to see where Brian takes this story in the following books, as a lot is up in the air in the end. That's actually really my only problem with the book, this is definitely the first book of a trilogy/series, and while the main conflicts are resolved by the end, it's really meant to set up the beginning of the next book. Still, this is my favorite book I've read in awhile, and I hope that this book becomes a best seller.

I don't know him Brian McClellan personally but I am definitely going to be watching his career and reading what he puts out.The setting of Promise of Blood is a secondary world, so not set on Earth, but there are strong echoes of Revolutionary France in here. My synopsis of the book would be: "Napoleon deposes Louis XVi and takes over the government. Also there's magic." A little tongue in cheek but it feels accurate. This reads like a traditional fantasy novel but the technology level is roughly 18th century levels. There are flintlocks (the author doesn't go into the vast and complicated variations of gunpowder weapons of the 18th century) but there are also mages. There are two groups of mages, which is one of the big conflicts of the novel: traditional magicians who use magic gloves to 'touch' magic and destroy things on a vast scale and gunpowder mages.Gunpowder mages are the challenge to the old order of magic users. McClellan clearly comes from the Brandon Sanderson school of magical system creation. Which is fine and fairly cool. I enjoyed seeing people consuming or snorting gunpowder to get a buzz and to empower themselves. It reminded me a lot of the alloymancy from Sanderson's Mistborn, though the mechanics are different. Gunpowder mages can shoot vast distances, bend bullets, empower bullets for extra damage and consume powder to bonuses to strength, stamina and perception. Everything is powered by powder and since gunpowder is the dominant weapon of choice, it makes them very powerful when confronting armies.The story is fast-moving, easy to read and does a good job hooking the reader. We have three main protagonists: Tamas, the military genius and powder mage who deposes the corrupt king, his son and notable marksman, Taniel (also a powder mage and addicted to snorting gunpowder), and Adamat, a former policeman and investigator for hire. There are other secondary and side characters and McClellan does a good job creating interesting, multi-dimensional characters. Tamas is probably the least-developed, oddly because he is the prime mover in this book.The plot begins with the coup already accomplished. Adamat is summoned to the palace where he finds the coup completed. He is hired by Tamas, as he sits bloody on the throne (wonderful image and the cover art for this is great as well), to investigate what was the meaning of the last words of the king's magical cabal. This sets in motion a decent mystery that ties gods, a magical geas and post-revolutionary politics together.Ah, the politics. I like that sort of thing, the moving and shaking, the negotiations and the maneuvering of nations and powerful men (and one woman). I don't think it bogs the story down any and it gives good motivation for alliances, betrayals and all that stuff good drama is made of. Tamas did not take the throne alone, he had allies and backers and all of them need to be kept happy and all want a piece of the pie now that Tamas has seized it. Of course, one of them is a traitor, which drives the last third of the book.Lots of good action, fairly well described. Lots of magic and power but also investigation and deductive reasoning. The plot with the gods really threw me for a loop, as it did the characters in the book. Everyone here comes off as grounded Enlightenment characters, the real existence of gods was a fascinating plot twist. People care about things, each other, families and friends. The characters feel real as a result and are easy to sympathize with, even if closet royalists today may cringe from the bloody deposition of a king and his nobles.I recommend the book. (nitpicks follow)That doesn't mean it doesn't have flaws, though.The author seems to have done his research very shallowly. He doesn't seem to know what order you load a musket in (powder, patch, then ball) and he seems to be under the impression that labor unions equal industrialization. Rather than labor unions arising after the factory system had created the industrialized worker.His female characters are sparse on the ground, with the exception of the intriguing red haired Amerind stand-in Ka-poel and Nila, a house servant who has some plot-relevant scenes trying to save/avenge/protect one of the last noble children. He has some scatterings of female soldiers as a sop to contemporary political correctness but none really stand out or get much space the story. A book with mostly male protagonists doesn't bug me but readers who see every book through a lens of gender studies handouts might be bothered.The dangers of powder addiction, which Taniel clearly has, are hinted at but we never see anyone suffering from it. I hope/expect we'll be seeing that in the second book but it seems like a missed opportunity.The ending is rushed and the final gunshot that 'kills' a god is confusing and vague. I have a feeling the author got near the finish line and just sprinted past it rather than crafting a truly satisfying ending to this book (which is first in a trilogy).But I think the good far outweighs the bad here. If you like Brandon Sanderson or Brent Weeks, you will like this book.

Spännande

Avis Lecture 🧐 📖 "Promise of Blood" 🩸 Brian McClellan, T1 "The PowderMage Trilogy"🧨"The age of kings is dead... and I have killed it"Lorsqu'un coup d'état mené par le Maréchal Tamas met fin à la monarchie ; les royalistes et la Royal Cabal, cet ordre de puissants Mages les "Privileged", souhaitent venger leur roi.Heureusement que Tamas peut se reposer sur son unité de PowderMage, capables de manipuler la poudre, la faire exploser à distance et influer sur la trajectoire d'une balle.Car Tamas a fort à faire s'il veut relever le pays. De l'intérieur ou l'extérieur, la menace est partout ! 😱J'ai adoré ce roman de Gunpowder/Flintlock Fantasy, son ambiance est top, son intrigue totalement cohérente et détaillée nous montre un pays en ruine où tout est à reconstruire. La présence d'une légère enquête policière amène un peu plus de tension à un récit qui n'en manque pas 😂Le système de magie est sans conteste, pour moi, digne de Sanderson... J'ai... Surkiffé... Cette magie ! 😍❤️ Et encore je ne vous parle pas de toutes les magies présente dans ce tome ! 🤩Mais sinon pour moi le point fort ce sont les perso qui sont criants de réalismes, humains, fatigués, plein d'espoir ou totalement désespérés 😫La relation père fils de Tamas et Taniel est complexe, pleine d'amour et de non dit, de silences et de respect. C'est une relation affreuse et magnifique à la fois qui a tout de suite sû m'emporter.😍Ensuite on a affaire à des perso secondaires comme Olem (dont le duo avec Tamas passe du drôle à l'affectif en un rien de temps) et... Ka-Poel cette sauvage aux cheveux de feu, qui m'a fait pensé à Auri de Rothfuss en moins lunaire et plus batailleuse... Mais quel perso de MALAAAADE ❤️ mon gros coup de cœur de ce roman. Un perso qui a une voix à part, tellement drôle, des fois malgré elle, protectrice et engagée.Si vous ne l'avez pas lu, je vous conseille vraiment cette série ❤️

Me gusta que los libros de esta Editorial traigan entrevistas al final.Muero de ganas por leerlo ya.

It is one of the best fantasy book i have read. Rather I would say its the best fantasy book I have read, and I have read many. Not a single word was forced in the narrative, it was fast paced, amazing built ups, well rounded characters with grey shades to them. And I love the fantasies which are not over the top with their magic or powers, here magic/powers seemed more believable more rooted.Already ordered the next part.Thanks Brian McClellan for such a gem.

Livro incrível, ação o tempo todo, muita magia (muito diferente a da polvora), reviravoltas uma atrás da outra, mitologia interessante, e sangue bastante sangue.