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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
“I’ve never resorted to assassination before. Not in twenty-five years of command.”
“I can remember a few times you should have,” Sabon said.
What in the pit?!!
I can’t believe this is over! I know there’s two more books (thank Adom for completed series) but I didn’t want it to end!
(also, meet my new favourite expletive: pit, no more ‘hell’ or ‘fuck’ or ‘heck’ etc)
STRENGTHS:
1. Characterisation (stellar work)
2. Magic system (powder mages, Privilegeds, predii – love the concepts)
3. World-building (I only know two gods so far and not much about other lands except Kez but it was enough whet my appetite)
4. Plotting
5. Writing
6. Themes (won’t say much for now because I feel like I need a wider scope)
7. That cover
WEAKNESSES:
1. That one character who died - you'll know which one - shouldn't have died (won't name them because of spoilers)
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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.
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.
4.5 stars, the second half of this book really gripped me. What more could you want?
Guns, swords, fight scenes galore ✔
Political coups ✔
Gods involved in human affairs ✔
Romance (kinda) ✔
Revenge ✔
Investigations and traitors ✔
Assassination attempts ✔
Original magic system(s) ✔
Super powerful sorceresses ✔
And even delicious food
Guns, swords, fight scenes galore ✔
Political coups ✔
Gods involved in human affairs ✔
Romance (kinda) ✔
Revenge ✔
Investigations and traitors ✔
Assassination attempts ✔
Original magic system(s) ✔
Super powerful sorceresses ✔
And even delicious food
This was really great! Another interesting magic system and some great characters. I almost gave it an extra star just for Ka-Poel - I absolutely loved her. I'll be adding the next one in this series to my to-read list. Because, you know, it's not long enough yet ;)
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a case where I picked up the book because the mechanics of the setting sounded interesting: a more or less traditional medieval fantasy world where sorcery is super-rare and super-powerful, but there are also "powder mages" who can tap into and control the energy of gunpowder. I was sucked in almost immediately because it opens immediately after a coup that overthrows a corrupt king and his noble allies.
It's chaos as the Field Marshal behind the coup struggles to consolidate the peace, while royalists rally, the neighboring enemy masses at the border, a traitor from within threatens to undo all, and a powerful sorcerer seeks to summon one of the ancient gods back to cleanse the earth... One strand follows the Field Marshall, another follows his powder mage son who's at the border on the front lines, and the third storyline follows an investigator hired to root out the traitor.
On the whole, it's an engaging, if somewhat workmanlike story. It moves along nicely, and the tension ratchets slowly up, but the characters aren't rich enough to really drag one deep into the story. Each has a dash of personality and quirk or two so you can keep track of who is who, but I never quite got invested in any of them. It doesn't help that there's a supporting character who is pretty obviously very important, but is kept loitering in the background for the vast majority of the book until they finally get a chance to "surprise" everyone with how powerful they are.
I did like elements of the setting, such as the role of the church, and the ambitions of a workers union, which felt a little more thought out than in most fantasy books. But then there are other potentially interesting threads (such as one character's apparent addiction to gunpowder) that never end up going anywhere (at least in this first book). On the whole, it's a perfectly fine bit of entertainment, and I'll probably catch up with the others in the series, but it's not special.
It's chaos as the Field Marshal behind the coup struggles to consolidate the peace, while royalists rally, the neighboring enemy masses at the border, a traitor from within threatens to undo all, and a powerful sorcerer seeks to summon one of the ancient gods back to cleanse the earth... One strand follows the Field Marshall, another follows his powder mage son who's at the border on the front lines, and the third storyline follows an investigator hired to root out the traitor.
On the whole, it's an engaging, if somewhat workmanlike story. It moves along nicely, and the tension ratchets slowly up, but the characters aren't rich enough to really drag one deep into the story. Each has a dash of personality and quirk or two so you can keep track of who is who, but I never quite got invested in any of them. It doesn't help that there's a supporting character who is pretty obviously very important, but is kept loitering in the background for the vast majority of the book until they finally get a chance to "surprise" everyone with how powerful they are.
I did like elements of the setting, such as the role of the church, and the ambitions of a workers union, which felt a little more thought out than in most fantasy books. But then there are other potentially interesting threads (such as one character's apparent addiction to gunpowder) that never end up going anywhere (at least in this first book). On the whole, it's a perfectly fine bit of entertainment, and I'll probably catch up with the others in the series, but it's not special.