Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
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 ?
The concept of this book caught my attention immediately, and the introductory price for this new series helped too. Here was a fantasy story set in a world where gun powder and pistols were just beginning to dominate, and then add that touch of fantasy magic. It seemed like the perfect unique new universe to visit, though I wasn't sure if it would live up to my expectations. By the time I was done this book not only met my expectations, it surpassed them.
The book moves nicely with gritty fast paced action and a good mix of magic and technology; it's a much different feel than your average sword and sorcery fantasy setting. And the world building is as grand as any veteran fantasy/sci-fi author. The politics are there, but I do feel we could have gotten a little more detail in that arena, but maybe the sequels will expand further. The author's dialog is very natural and contributed to making the world and the events feel very real.
My final consensus is that this is a series well worth your effort to begin if you love fantasy and want a slightly different take on the genre. There is also a good number of short fiction pieces available that will add to world building and I strongly recommend reading them as well. I wish more authors would begin doing this type of short fiction to give the audience something while waiting for the next installment. I will be adding the upcoming sequel to my pre-order list.
Fairly decent debut, and one of the more recently popular fantasy releases that I actually enjoyed.
This novel covers four main POVs: Tamas, Field Marshal of the Adran army and Powder Mage, who is unable to stand how the monarchy is destroying the country and decides to lead a coup to save it; Taniel, his son and also a skilled Powder Mage who is friends with a magic 'savage' girl and may or may not have addiction issues with powder; Adamat, an inspector on hard times who's dragged unwittingly into the political drama; and Nila, a laundress on the Royalist's side if only to protect her young charge.
Random thoughts:
When I first started reading I was annoyed that immediately the first two POV characters had names starting with the same initial, but I guess I can let that slide if they're father and son.
Adamat's story arc is weird in that it's sort of a completely different genre - not fantasy so much as the classic mystery, even maybe a bit of the hard-boiled detective. Every time we switched to one of his scenes it was like having to put on another hat, unlike the other three POVs.
I think my favourite sub-story is the romance arc between Olem and Nila, and I'm hoping to see them meet up again in one of the next books.
Pitlaugh's death was cheap, easy feels. Strangely Tamas otherwise doesn't feel like a real person to me somehow. Too much angry robot.
The god angle is interesting. I really like Mihali's character and am interested to learn about the other eight (I think eight more?) gods.
The world-building is uneven - at one point a character checks a clock, but do they have electricity? Magic-run clocks? At one point tennis is mentioned, and I wondered how they have tennis balls here too, and then wondered if I had to go google the history of tennis to see how old the sport was... the take away message being that it completely through me out of the story.
The magic system is unique, though I thought the whole gold weakness for powder mages was a bit silly until I kind of rationalized that werewolves being weak to silver doesn't phase me. I'm curious to see what we learn about Ka-Poel, though the 'savage' thing is grating.
A lot of the characters were guilty of being the most powerful, specialist snowflakes, and a lot of them taking way more damage than they should be able to and still keep fighting: Tamas, Olem, SouSmith among others. SouSmith in particular - who has abdominal surgery and is still acting as bodyguard later that same afternoon? Was silly and unnecessary.
Siemone died from being pushed off a carriage. Really? Could of at least had Charlemund stab him first. As it was, his death was pathetic and kind of eyerolly. Having Charlemund kill Siemone more blatantly would have made the former's death more satisfactory.
Most of the above is just slightly nitpicky things, but overall I enjoyed the book and will be checking out the rest of the series. The prose is nothing special, but from reading the author's blog and Reddit AMA posts it was kind of what I was expecting. Hoping to see more from the author in the future!
This novel covers four main POVs: Tamas, Field Marshal of the Adran army and Powder Mage, who is unable to stand how the monarchy is destroying the country and decides to lead a coup to save it; Taniel, his son and also a skilled Powder Mage who is friends with a magic 'savage' girl and may or may not have addiction issues with powder; Adamat, an inspector on hard times who's dragged unwittingly into the political drama; and Nila, a laundress on the Royalist's side if only to protect her young charge.
Random thoughts:
When I first started reading I was annoyed that immediately the first two POV characters had names starting with the same initial, but I guess I can let that slide if they're father and son.
Adamat's story arc is weird in that it's sort of a completely different genre - not fantasy so much as the classic mystery, even maybe a bit of the hard-boiled detective. Every time we switched to one of his scenes it was like having to put on another hat, unlike the other three POVs.
I think my favourite sub-story is the romance arc between Olem and Nila, and I'm hoping to see them meet up again in one of the next books.
Pitlaugh's death was cheap, easy feels. Strangely Tamas otherwise doesn't feel like a real person to me somehow. Too much angry robot.
The god angle is interesting. I really like Mihali's character and am interested to learn about the other eight (I think eight more?) gods.
The world-building is uneven - at one point a character checks a clock, but do they have electricity? Magic-run clocks? At one point tennis is mentioned, and I wondered how they have tennis balls here too, and then wondered if I had to go google the history of tennis to see how old the sport was... the take away message being that it completely through me out of the story.
The magic system is unique, though I thought the whole gold weakness for powder mages was a bit silly until I kind of rationalized that werewolves being weak to silver doesn't phase me. I'm curious to see what we learn about Ka-Poel, though the 'savage' thing is grating.
A lot of the characters were guilty of being the most powerful, specialist snowflakes, and a lot of them taking way more damage than they should be able to and still keep fighting: Tamas, Olem, SouSmith among others. SouSmith in particular - who has abdominal surgery and is still acting as bodyguard later that same afternoon? Was silly and unnecessary.
Siemone died from being pushed off a carriage. Really? Could of at least had Charlemund stab him first. As it was, his death was pathetic and kind of eyerolly. Having Charlemund kill Siemone more blatantly would have made the former's death more satisfactory.
Most of the above is just slightly nitpicky things, but overall I enjoyed the book and will be checking out the rest of the series. The prose is nothing special, but from reading the author's blog and Reddit AMA posts it was kind of what I was expecting. Hoping to see more from the author in the future!
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not a huge lover of fantasy (especially epic), but I've been trying to get more into the genre, see what I hate and what I love.
This is it. Promise of Blood had humorous dialogue, great fight scenes, Gods and a coup. I was there for all of that, but stayed for the characters - the stoic, the brave, the weird and the funny.
But it doesn't get the full 4 stars (or 5) because it suffers from, "the good guys are invincible and even though it looks like they might be in danger, they will never actually loose a fight and the stakes aren't actually that high" trope.
I will be continuing with the rest of the series.
This is it. Promise of Blood had humorous dialogue, great fight scenes, Gods and a coup. I was there for all of that, but stayed for the characters - the stoic, the brave, the weird and the funny.
But it doesn't get the full 4 stars (or 5) because it suffers from, "the good guys are invincible and even though it looks like they might be in danger, they will never actually loose a fight and the stakes aren't actually that high" trope.
I will be continuing with the rest of the series.
DNF at Pg 177. The setting was interesting, but it was hard to attach to any of the characters. Several story lines were happening at once, yet I didn't really feel invested in any of them.
1/10
Updating my rating after Oliver pointed out to me that I had it at 3 stars. Correcting my past self's mistake.
Updating my rating after Oliver pointed out to me that I had it at 3 stars. Correcting my past self's mistake.
This is a strong debut, though in my opinion marred by inconsistent pacing and characterization and occasional infelicities of language. Like: Guillotin was a specific dude in history, so using his namesake device by name in a secondary world fantasy is a bit of a moss-troll problem. On the other hand, that world is very well realized: how many fantasy novels, even flintlock-, have trade unionism as a plot driver? Even when it would make sense? Not many go that far, or explore the consequences of industrialization and social change that go along with all of those fancy guns. And the whole magic/addiction tangle of one of the main characters is interesting and well done.
So much fantasy spurns gunpowder for some reason, preferring that "clean" Middle Ages aesthetic.
This book does not do that. It does the opposite of that. It snorts enough gunpowder to blow up Parliament, both figuratively and literally.
Promise of Blood kicks off with a coup that would make the French Revolution green with envy and red with jealousy. And it only gets wilder from there.
The setting, unsurprisingly, roughly corresponds to that early modern period as well. There's a mixture of muskets and rifles (but no Minie balls, which would make muskets obsolete), and some mention of steam. Trade and labor unions are a recent trend.
The magic system isn't too hard to follow, but it's not a "hard" system by any means. There's three tiers of magic users, with the Marked (the titular Powder Mages) getting much of the attention (two out of the three main POVs are Powder Mages). The Knacked are sort of like low-level superheroes, with simple but limited unique talents, while the Privileged are more in line with high fantasy wizards that can do almost anything. The mid-tier Marked is where the magic is most innovative (and where the gunpowder snorting comes in), with users mainly manipulating gunpowder to do things ordinary people can't do, though it's made very clear that they have limitations and weak spots.
There's three plot threads, lightly intertwined early on but quickly clashing together toward the end (which is why I read through the last third or so in one sitting). Adamat's plot is mainly a detective/police investigation narrative (and easily the slowest of the three). Tamas follows the tumultuous politics that inevitably follow revolution, while Taniel runs with the mystical side of things. Both are fast paced and action packed, and it's interesting to see where father and estranged son share common traits. Something for everyone, more or less.
I am looking forward to the next book, because the ending makes it clear that things are just getting started.
This book does not do that. It does the opposite of that. It snorts enough gunpowder to blow up Parliament, both figuratively and literally.
Promise of Blood kicks off with a coup that would make the French Revolution green with envy and red with jealousy. And it only gets wilder from there.
The setting, unsurprisingly, roughly corresponds to that early modern period as well. There's a mixture of muskets and rifles (but no Minie balls, which would make muskets obsolete), and some mention of steam. Trade and labor unions are a recent trend.
The magic system isn't too hard to follow, but it's not a "hard" system by any means. There's three tiers of magic users, with the Marked (the titular Powder Mages) getting much of the attention (two out of the three main POVs are Powder Mages). The Knacked are sort of like low-level superheroes, with simple but limited unique talents, while the Privileged are more in line with high fantasy wizards that can do almost anything. The mid-tier Marked is where the magic is most innovative (and where the gunpowder snorting comes in), with users mainly manipulating gunpowder to do things ordinary people can't do, though it's made very clear that they have limitations and weak spots.
There's three plot threads, lightly intertwined early on but quickly clashing together toward the end (which is why I read through the last third or so in one sitting). Adamat's plot is mainly a detective/police investigation narrative (and easily the slowest of the three). Tamas follows the tumultuous politics that inevitably follow revolution, while Taniel runs with the mystical side of things. Both are fast paced and action packed, and it's interesting to see where father and estranged son share common traits. Something for everyone, more or less.
I am looking forward to the next book, because the ending makes it clear that things are just getting started.
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.
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.