Promise of Blood: Book 1 in the Powder Mage trilogy

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I like badass characters. Tamas and Taniel definitely fit the description as well as Ka-Poel later on. But it felt like the characters were just badass for the sake of badassery. There weren’t many consequences to their actions or it seemed like everyone just forgets their actions—specifically Taniel’s and even Tamas’ at times. Privileged are powerful sorcerers; being exceedingly rare, they are almost exclusively gathered into "Royal Cabals" in direct service to the Nine Kingdoms' various monarchs; at the outset of Promise of Blood, Tamas has assassinated almost the entirety of Adro's Royal Cabal.

Mallozzi’s resume leans heavily toward science fiction; he executive produced and wrote for Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate Universe, created and wrote for the underrated Dark Matter, and is the showrunner for Utopia Falls. But Powder Mage takes him in a new direction—the series, which starts with McClellan’s debut novel, Promise of Blood, is set in a fantastical world where powder mages get their abilities from gunpowder. Reviewing the first book, Tor.com’s Stefan Raets said it “seems to be aimed straight at the same readers who enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s novels.” I’ve been excited about the idea of challenge coins for the Powder Mage Universe for years, and I’m excited to be making this happen. vinsentient on It’s No Fun To Be Alone: Communicating With Cryptids in The Shape of Water 3 hours agoThere wasn’t much that gave me pause around the plot. It’s straightforward and doesn’t require much questioning. And most of all, I liked it. Most of my questions were answered and I didn’t feel like anything was missing once I finished the book. I haven’t read many books with miliary coups being the central plot point, so it was a nice change of pace for me. There’s still plenty to explore in the next books, so there isn’t much for me to expand on here. Brian McClellan’s magic system also gave a very distinct feel to the world. The Powder Mages feel modern and industrial whereas the Privileged are the typical fantasy sorcerers we’re all used to, which played into the conflict that arose from their differences—as can be seen in the differences between Adro and Kez. Adro being a more industrialized nation than Kez, who shun Powder Mages.

Then there are the female characters. All too often, female characters are relegated to sex objects, in description and in plot. While I don’t find egregious examples of this in Promise of Blood, it still feels like women are singled-out with their descriptions. And of course, there are the Harems of the Privileged. Both male and female privileged have them but it’s only mentioned there are male harems, never shown. Really, it just felt like they were there for the fantasy of them even though it is mentioned that the harems may exist as a sort of breeding program. Brian's novels include the Powder Mage Trilogy (Promise of Blood, The Crimson Campaign, and The Autumn Republic), Gods of Blood and Powder (Sins of Empire, Wrath of Empire, and Blood of Empire), and Valkyrie Collections (Uncanny Collateral) Brian McClellan is an American epic fantasy author from Cleveland, Ohio. He is known for his acclaimed Powder Mage Universe and essays on the life and business of being a writer. Love, betrayal, swords, magic, muskets and Kresimir returned, there is trouble on the horizon for Tamas in book two. I will say this now, Tamas will die; he is going to sacrifice himself to the Kresimir to save the world or his son or both. I just can’t see another out outcome for him. Thankfully we are a while away from that, maybe I should say hopefully…The real issue I have with the female characters was that they were just bland. Rozalia Julene, and Ka-Poel are these really powerful women but they were just boring to me. It felt like they were only there to move the plot along and weren’t developed themselves or didn’t lead to significant development of other characters. Written by Brian McClellan, Promise of Blood introduces guns into my fantasy. To be fair, it’s a lot of musket and one-shot pistols, canon balls, and whatever else can be fired using copious amounts of gunpowder, but it’s still a technology I’m not normally fond of in my fantasy. Field Marshal Tamas, commander of the Adran Army, has just committed a brutal coup against Adro's monarchy. When he kills every single member of the Royal Cabal, they all utter the same mysterious phrase: "You can't break Kresimir's Promise". Field Marshal Tamas has staged a coup against the king of Adro. His powder mages have slaughtered the king's Privileged cabal of sorcerers and the nobility has been rounded up to face the guillotine with their king. Tamas has brought revolution to his country in one bloody night to save his people and right the wrongs caused by the old regime. Yet his actions have far-reaching consequences of which no reasonable man could have conceived, and the king will prove the easiest obstacle to overcome in his quest to free Adro.

Olem grimaced. “Officially, sir, I was pushing him out of the way of a runaway carriage. Saved his life. Half my company saw it.” Inspector Adamat’s search for answers — when the Privileged were dying, each and every one of them cried a certain phrase in death, ‘You can’t break Kresimir’s Promise.’ Adamat has his hands full in what turns out to be a more dangerous investigation than he imagined.As the city reacts to the coup – the royal family and supporting lords and their families put to the guillotine, the Royalist military’s last stand, the new council in charge – Tamas sends Adamant on a mission to find out what Kresimir’s Promise is, apart from the final words on a dying Privileged’s lips. Adamant gets knee-deep in Adro’s underworld to find out what danger comes the realm’s way. Taniel chases the mystery Privileged through the city, before being retasked with taking out the last Royal Cabal member, his best friend Bo. All the while, Tamas tries to keep his new city and council in one piece, and the mighty Kez nation have smelled blood in the water and are on the way with their immense army. Field Marshal Tamas, powder mage and favored soldier of the Iron King Manhouch, stages a coup to kill Manhouch, slaughter the nobles, and free the country of Adro from their oppression. Despite centuries of corruption, Tamas still has an uphill climb ahead of him, between royalist holdouts, priests who believe in the Divine Right of Kings, and ordinary people who are caught up in the violence of the times. And then someone tries to summon Kresimir, the most powerful god in the world, to destroy Adro for killing their king. Brian McClellan is an American epic fantasy author from Cleveland, Ohio. He is known for his acclaimed Powder Mage Universe and essays on the life and business of being a writer. This is an excellent novel, which begins with a promise of blood and delivers through and through. Whether you’re following Tamas’ decisive dealings against internal and external threats alike, Taniel’s chasing around of dangerous targets or Adamat’s investigations, there’s plenty to be loved about this first part of the Powder Mage trilogy.

A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.Nila finds herself confronted with soldiers killing her noble employers one night. But she can't let the same happen to their little boy, so she smuggles him out in the hope find a safe place for him and to start a new life of her own.