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A review by davissandefur
Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
5.0
I was introduced to this book from a variety of sources, ranging from Reddit to blogs I follow. Almost all the reviews were positive, so I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did.
The book starts you right in the middle of the action. There is no build-up to any big event to start the book. You're thrown right in, and I enjoyed it. The reader was left to fend for themselves as they followed the three story-lines, and the history of the world, as well as what happened was revealed to them, in a similar way to how the peasants in the story found out what was going on. It made for a nice change, and showed that there would be some greater, overarching plot besides the coup.
The story proceeds to follow three main characters: Tamas, the instigator of the coup who wants to give the country to the people and despises how the last king ran things, Taniel, Tamas' son, a man conflicted personally and professionally, and Adamat, a retired detective who must continue to take jobs to pay back a loan on a printing press that exploded, leaving him penniless except for his house.
Of all the characters, Taniel was my favorite, his story line was the most interesting to me and his relationships as well, specifically with his "savage" companion, Ka-poel. Tamas' story was intriguing, dealing a lot with the fallout of the coup, as well as the advances of a rival nation and various factions who want to dispose of him and take over the country, making it a colony of their own. Adamat is a man conflicted between doing his job, thus saving his honor and integrity, and protecting his family, and his own inner conflict made his story riveting, and him a likable character.
The conflict between the different types of magic is also interesting. You have the Privileged, who, if they could be classified as anything, are your typical fantasy magic-users. Then, opposite them, you have the Marked, also known as the "powder mages." As the name suggests, they control gunpowder for their magic, something not typically seen in fantasy novels. Outside of the main country, the Marked are frowned upon, being viewed as a perversion to magic, and this leads to lots of trouble for Tamas and Taniel, both of whom are Marked. It is quite interesting to see how the prejudices between these two groups push forward the action in some cases.
On the whole, this book is great, especially for an author's debut. I would recommend it to any fantasy readers, though non-regular readers of the genre might have a bit of difficulty getting into it.
The book starts you right in the middle of the action. There is no build-up to any big event to start the book. You're thrown right in, and I enjoyed it. The reader was left to fend for themselves as they followed the three story-lines, and the history of the world, as well as what happened was revealed to them, in a similar way to how the peasants in the story found out what was going on. It made for a nice change, and showed that there would be some greater, overarching plot besides the coup.
The story proceeds to follow three main characters: Tamas, the instigator of the coup who wants to give the country to the people and despises how the last king ran things, Taniel, Tamas' son, a man conflicted personally and professionally, and Adamat, a retired detective who must continue to take jobs to pay back a loan on a printing press that exploded, leaving him penniless except for his house.
Of all the characters, Taniel was my favorite, his story line was the most interesting to me and his relationships as well, specifically with his "savage" companion, Ka-poel. Tamas' story was intriguing, dealing a lot with the fallout of the coup, as well as the advances of a rival nation and various factions who want to dispose of him and take over the country, making it a colony of their own. Adamat is a man conflicted between doing his job, thus saving his honor and integrity, and protecting his family, and his own inner conflict made his story riveting, and him a likable character.
The conflict between the different types of magic is also interesting. You have the Privileged, who, if they could be classified as anything, are your typical fantasy magic-users. Then, opposite them, you have the Marked, also known as the "powder mages." As the name suggests, they control gunpowder for their magic, something not typically seen in fantasy novels. Outside of the main country, the Marked are frowned upon, being viewed as a perversion to magic, and this leads to lots of trouble for Tamas and Taniel, both of whom are Marked. It is quite interesting to see how the prejudices between these two groups push forward the action in some cases.
On the whole, this book is great, especially for an author's debut. I would recommend it to any fantasy readers, though non-regular readers of the genre might have a bit of difficulty getting into it.