Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
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
I should have known I was going to be in trouble when I finished listening to the first hour and decided I needed to go back and start over because I couldn't remember any of it. I can not for the life of me remember about ninety percent of what happened in this book. I will agree that there is quite a twist in there somewhere. We start off with a coup by the military of a nation and end with ancient gods returning to the world. So yeah, the plot took an unexpected turn somewhere, but I have no clue where or how. And for all the oohing and aahing over "gunpowder magic" being this new thing, it's basically a variation on the use up a substance to get an effect system we got from Sanderson's [b:Mistborn|68428|Mistborn The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403188206s/68428.jpg|66322]. And all it seems to do is allow flintlock style guns to function as well as their modern equivalents, and occasionally for characters to get their action hero mode on so they can still function after sustaining serious injuries.
It sets up a really bad cliffhanger on the idea of various deity backed nations heading towards a war. Which sounds like it could be good. Except this first novel has expended all the good will I had to invest in the series as a whole.
It sets up a really bad cliffhanger on the idea of various deity backed nations heading towards a war. Which sounds like it could be good. Except this first novel has expended all the good will I had to invest in the series as a whole.
This was pretty good. Rushed ending, kind of anti-climactic confrontation with a god, but pretty good!
Great book! Started off a bit slow for me but once it picked up I was hooked!
2.5 / 5 stars
I had to sit with this book for a couple of hours before writing a review.
This is not normally a book I would gravitate to. I read it as part of a fantasy/sci-fi bookclub I am a part of.
Sadly, this book is not for me but let's start off with some positives shall we.
[PROS]
Promise of Blood has a lot of potential and once you plow through the first ten chapters it picks up pace. I was super excited for the multiple POV format (as that is an element I love in fantasy). We follow 3 main perspectives: Tamas, Taniel and Adamat.
POV: I found Adamat's storyline to be the most intriguing for me. Although info-dumpy at times it provided insight into the world building and magic system. Sadly I did not emjoy Tamas' or Taniel's POV whatsoever.
Magic System: The magic system was creative and it is based on heightened abilities after snorting (yes snorting) gunpowder.
[CONS]
This books is a sausage-fest. We have manly males doing manly things snorting gunpowder. The female representation in this book is not only lacking in complex nuanced female characters but alas the one interesting, female character is MUTE and is called a SAVAGE repeatedly. Thanks McClellan.
Apart from these glaring problems. I did not find myself invested in the story, or the characters at all.
Is this what Flintlock fantasy is like ?
I had to sit with this book for a couple of hours before writing a review.
This is not normally a book I would gravitate to. I read it as part of a fantasy/sci-fi bookclub I am a part of.
Sadly, this book is not for me but let's start off with some positives shall we.
[PROS]
Promise of Blood has a lot of potential and once you plow through the first ten chapters it picks up pace. I was super excited for the multiple POV format (as that is an element I love in fantasy). We follow 3 main perspectives: Tamas, Taniel and Adamat.
POV: I found Adamat's storyline to be the most intriguing for me. Although info-dumpy at times it provided insight into the world building and magic system. Sadly I did not emjoy Tamas' or Taniel's POV whatsoever.
Magic System: The magic system was creative and it is based on heightened abilities after snorting (yes snorting) gunpowder.
[CONS]
This books is a sausage-fest. We have manly males doing manly things snorting gunpowder. The female representation in this book is not only lacking in complex nuanced female characters but alas the one interesting, female character is MUTE and is called a SAVAGE repeatedly. Thanks McClellan.
Apart from these glaring problems. I did not find myself invested in the story, or the characters at all.
Is this what Flintlock fantasy is like ?