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A review by udykumra
Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
4.0
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.