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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My review for this book is long overdue.
I really enjoyed reading this book, for a multitude of reasons, but I MUST start with the characters.
The characters in this book are probably going to go down as some of the best fantasy characters ever. Most of the time when I read an epic fantasy with a large cast like this, I have trouble remembering character names and personalities. But it's been nearly two weeks since I finished this book and I still remember nearly everyone (except, obviously, all of the one-off characters, though I still remember some of these too). Every character is memorable after just one reading, even though I sorta stopped reading for a few days about 2/3 of the way through (more on this later). In my mind, I have Tamas, Taniel, Adamat, Ka-Poel, Olem, Nila, Bo, Vlora, Charlemund—LITERALLY EVERYONE—pinned down as well as I have Bridge Four from Stormlight Archive pinned down after THREE 1,000+ page books (not that this is a mark against Stormlight Archive—no book can nail everything, and Stormlight Archive nails nearly everything really well, even side characters; Promise of Blood was just exceptional in this regard). A lot of these characters were also established in my mind after just 1-3 encounters, which was extra impressive. Overall, character work in this book—flawless. I could not find a single character that was unmemorable, or who I couldn't connect with in some way by the end of the book.
Let's talk about the plot. You can tell while reading this that Brian McClellan used the points-along-the-map method of outlining. The book reads as if there's a bunch of cool things happening and a lot of stuff discovery written in between from cool thing to cool thing. Now most of this discovery writing in between is quite good—I really enjoyed almost every chapter of this book. There's just a 50-100 page portion about 2/3 of the way through the book while Taniel's really just digging in on this mountain that I found somewhat dull and hard to get through. I actually put the book down for a bit. BUT I wish I had gotten through it sooner, because I really liked the ending. It was not a giant explosion like Brandon Sanderson books, but it wasn't quiet either. It was just right for the book.
The beginning was also really solid. I gotta say, those first chapters grabbed me by the throat and dragged me through a large chunk of the story before we got to the part where I put it down for a bit. I'd highly recommend not taking the fact that I found a bit of it dull as reason not to read the book—I think the sequels are going to be amazing, honestly, and that part was only enough to bring the book down by one star. Most of the book was, as Brandon Sanderson himself said, "just plain awesome", and I cannot wait to read more.
The worldbuilding. There was quite a bit of worldbuilding, and I liked the way that Adamat's investigations were used as a device to explore different parts of the worldbuilding by investigating different members of Tamas's council. And I gotta say, while on surface level, a lot of the worldbuilding looks pretty standard, the deeper you dig, the more interesting you get. We've all seen gods threatening men, but I don't think we've seen it this way. We've all seen corrupt, debaucherous religious institutions, but I don't think we've seen it this way. We've all seen skeevy criminal organizations, powerful mercenary forces, and even unions, but I don't think we've seen them this way. And of course, I don't think most of us have seen a magic cook—sorry, chef.
The magic system—quite possibly my favorite part. There's actually three magic systems in this book—the old magery, an elemental/spirit-y magic reminiscent of Avatar that old wizard like folks known as the Privileged use in an attempt to hold onto their power as the elite advisors of the monarchy; the Knack, which is a very specific very strong power that random people get like perfect memory or no need for sleep, which adds a fun oddball into the mix; and the Mark, given to the Powder Mages, for whom the series is name. These guys consume gunpowder and become stronger and sharper, but also are able to blow up gunpowder from a distance. It's a really cool magic system that I grew to love, and I especially enjoyed the tension between the powder mages, with their new form of magic, and the Privileged, with their old elite form of magic, and how they clashed throughout the book. A really interesting and unique conflict, in my opinion.
Overall, this book was really fucking solid and I'm super pumped for book 2: The Crimson Campaign.
I really enjoyed reading this book, for a multitude of reasons, but I MUST start with the characters.
The characters in this book are probably going to go down as some of the best fantasy characters ever. Most of the time when I read an epic fantasy with a large cast like this, I have trouble remembering character names and personalities. But it's been nearly two weeks since I finished this book and I still remember nearly everyone (except, obviously, all of the one-off characters, though I still remember some of these too). Every character is memorable after just one reading, even though I sorta stopped reading for a few days about 2/3 of the way through (more on this later). In my mind, I have Tamas, Taniel, Adamat, Ka-Poel, Olem, Nila, Bo, Vlora, Charlemund—LITERALLY EVERYONE—pinned down as well as I have Bridge Four from Stormlight Archive pinned down after THREE 1,000+ page books (not that this is a mark against Stormlight Archive—no book can nail everything, and Stormlight Archive nails nearly everything really well, even side characters; Promise of Blood was just exceptional in this regard). A lot of these characters were also established in my mind after just 1-3 encounters, which was extra impressive. Overall, character work in this book—flawless. I could not find a single character that was unmemorable, or who I couldn't connect with in some way by the end of the book.
Let's talk about the plot. You can tell while reading this that Brian McClellan used the points-along-the-map method of outlining. The book reads as if there's a bunch of cool things happening and a lot of stuff discovery written in between from cool thing to cool thing. Now most of this discovery writing in between is quite good—I really enjoyed almost every chapter of this book. There's just a 50-100 page portion about 2/3 of the way through the book while Taniel's really just digging in on this mountain that I found somewhat dull and hard to get through. I actually put the book down for a bit. BUT I wish I had gotten through it sooner, because I really liked the ending. It was not a giant explosion like Brandon Sanderson books, but it wasn't quiet either. It was just right for the book.
The beginning was also really solid. I gotta say, those first chapters grabbed me by the throat and dragged me through a large chunk of the story before we got to the part where I put it down for a bit. I'd highly recommend not taking the fact that I found a bit of it dull as reason not to read the book—I think the sequels are going to be amazing, honestly, and that part was only enough to bring the book down by one star. Most of the book was, as Brandon Sanderson himself said, "just plain awesome", and I cannot wait to read more.
The worldbuilding. There was quite a bit of worldbuilding, and I liked the way that Adamat's investigations were used as a device to explore different parts of the worldbuilding by investigating different members of Tamas's council. And I gotta say, while on surface level, a lot of the worldbuilding looks pretty standard, the deeper you dig, the more interesting you get. We've all seen gods threatening men, but I don't think we've seen it this way. We've all seen corrupt, debaucherous religious institutions, but I don't think we've seen it this way. We've all seen skeevy criminal organizations, powerful mercenary forces, and even unions, but I don't think we've seen them this way. And of course, I don't think most of us have seen a magic cook—sorry, chef.
The magic system—quite possibly my favorite part. There's actually three magic systems in this book—the old magery, an elemental/spirit-y magic reminiscent of Avatar that old wizard like folks known as the Privileged use in an attempt to hold onto their power as the elite advisors of the monarchy; the Knack, which is a very specific very strong power that random people get like perfect memory or no need for sleep, which adds a fun oddball into the mix; and the Mark, given to the Powder Mages, for whom the series is name. These guys consume gunpowder and become stronger and sharper, but also are able to blow up gunpowder from a distance. It's a really cool magic system that I grew to love, and I especially enjoyed the tension between the powder mages, with their new form of magic, and the Privileged, with their old elite form of magic, and how they clashed throughout the book. A really interesting and unique conflict, in my opinion.
Overall, this book was really fucking solid and I'm super pumped for book 2: The Crimson Campaign.
More like a 2.5. Interesting but something about the characters didn't click for me.
A little darker than I like, but not depressingly anti-heroic. I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes.
This is very solidly a 3.5 for me but I’m rounding up because the author liked one of my pictures on Instagram and I’m feeling generous.
I’m seriously in two minds with this one. On the one hand: the plot was intriguing, the magic awesome, and the fight scenes (exhausting and as often as they were) were wonderful. Olem and Petrick sold Tamas as my favorite character and honestly, I loved the politics in this book too. I don’t say that very often, either.
On the other hand: the female characters had something to be desired in this—the one “good” one was mute and called a savage the whole time. The others were bad or shoved to the background. Like. The ex-fiancé who was supposed to be a badass has like maybe two paragraphs of screen time the whole 500 paged book. It was irritating, to say the least. Even the female character that we got to read from was annoying and severely lacking in page time.
My other main complaint is that the pacing of this was all over the place. It was a bit slow in the beginning, and then for the first 300 pages, every time things started to get interesting, we would slam on the brakes and drag for fifty or so pages and then pow, shit happened only to come to a screeching halt all over again. The last two hundred pages, however, finally got going and I blew through them and ultimately, redeemed the whole book to the point where I’m willing to read the second one now (but only if the female characters get a lot better treatment going forward). (AKA, if my favorite one dies by the time the second book opens, it’s an immediate DNF).
All in all, this has it’s brilliant moments and had its utter shit ones, but I enjoyed it for the most part.
I’m seriously in two minds with this one. On the one hand: the plot was intriguing, the magic awesome, and the fight scenes (exhausting and as often as they were) were wonderful. Olem and Petrick sold Tamas as my favorite character and honestly, I loved the politics in this book too. I don’t say that very often, either.
On the other hand: the female characters had something to be desired in this—the one “good” one was mute and called a savage the whole time. The others were bad or shoved to the background. Like. The ex-fiancé who was supposed to be a badass has like maybe two paragraphs of screen time the whole 500 paged book. It was irritating, to say the least. Even the female character that we got to read from was annoying and severely lacking in page time.
My other main complaint is that the pacing of this was all over the place. It was a bit slow in the beginning, and then for the first 300 pages, every time things started to get interesting, we would slam on the brakes and drag for fifty or so pages and then pow, shit happened only to come to a screeching halt all over again. The last two hundred pages, however, finally got going and I blew through them and ultimately, redeemed the whole book to the point where I’m willing to read the second one now (but only if the female characters get a lot better treatment going forward). (AKA, if my favorite one dies by the time the second book opens, it’s an immediate DNF).
All in all, this has it’s brilliant moments and had its utter shit ones, but I enjoyed it for the most part.
Early industrial age epic fantasy. Yes, it works, it works exceedingly well.
This book was the start of a very promising new series! Very interesting magic system and setting with a combo of magic and gunpowder. There was tons of action throughout the entire book. The only drawbacks for me was that I felt the plot was very straight-forward, and while incredibly fun and interesting, it lacked some of the surprise twist and turns I really love. Also, one of the viewpoints I felt was a bit irrelevant to the overall story. In the end, this book was fantastic, with memorable characters and I will definitely be returning to the sequel very soon!
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes