Brian McClellan

'Just plain awesome' Brandon Sanderson **Winner of the David Gemmell Morningstar Award** It's a bloody business, overthrowing a king. Now, amid the chaos, a whispered rumour is spreading. A rumour about a broken promise, omens of death and the gods returning to walk the earth. No one really believes these whispers. Perhaps they should. Winner of the David Gemmell Morningstar Award, Promise of Blood is the explosive first novel in the most action-packed and acclaimed new fantasy series in years. 'Gunpowder and magic. An explosive combination' Peter Brett 'Brings a welcome breath of gunpowder-tinged air to epic fantasy' Anthony Ryan 'Tense action, memorable characters, rising stakes . . . Brian McClellan is the real thing' Brent Weeks The Powder Mage trilogy: Promise of Blood The Crimson Campaign The Autumn Republic The Gods of Blood and Powder series: Sins of Empire Wrath of Empire

Book 1 in the Powder Mage trilogy

Promise of Blood

Bits of Taniels journey dragged. Characters were not half as fleshed out as I remember nor were they as interesting. The magic is so much fun and the bits of the plot are so cool. Definitely a sign of potential in McClellan, and I enjoyed this book immensely, but you can tell he can be writing much higher quality works moving forward. All kudos to him!

Omar 

Prashanth Srivatsa

This was a lot of fun. Guns, powder, sorcery and gods! McClellan has announced himself in the field of military fantasy splendidly with this debut - a planned coup d'état and its bloody aftermath in the midst of godly powers playing in the shadows. His system of magic is interesting but fairly rudimentary and comes forth when the need is of style. But we can keep that aside for the characters, fleshed out to be pillars of disobedience, their instincts keeping you on the edge of your seat while you lose track of what time it is. Can't wait for the sequel!

James Eaton

I really liked this book and I will read the rest of the trilogy at some point soon. 

The world is really interesting and the magic system is pretty unique. The mixture of setting, magic, history, and political dealings made for a great read. The pace was a little slow in the beginning, but it really picked up halfway through and the ending had me flipping pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next. 

If you enjoy Brandon Sanderson's writing, you will like these books. If you like the vibe of shows like Turn (which was on AMC several years ago) or some of the latest seasons of Outlander, you will like these books.

Sarah Escorsa

☢ MacHaloistic Buddy Read (MHBR™) with Little One and alicat ♡➹♡ and Loriidae and stuff ☢

Pre-review rating: 2.5 stars.
Post-review rating: 1.8899 stars. Because I'm ruthless like that.

Okay, so this book could have been pretty greatly great. Only that it wasn't. There was potential there. Lots of potentially awesome potential. Only that it went poof after the first few chapters in less time than it takes to say "get off my back and go skewer some puny humans, murderous children mine!" I mean, the premise was indeed pretty cool. Only that the whole French Revolution Off with their Privileged Little Heads Vibes (FROwtPLHV™) kinda sorta had a "been there, done that" feel and stuff. But hey, I've always had a weakness for exquisitely severed heads and therefore decided—very leniently, if I may say so myself—to give the author the benefit of the crap doubt. Yeah, well, that'll teach me to be uncharacteristically compassionate, kind, forgiving, patient and stuff.



You know what this book reminds me of, my Clueless Barnacles? The Thousand Slightly Disappointing Names (TTSDN™): very promising story + intriguing characters + military stuff = slightly mega meh stuff. Wait. Come to think of it, at least TTSDN™ wasn't a total, utter, complete boredom fest. And it featured delicious bastards and exquisite traitors galore. And the characters, if not entirely and most magnificently edible, were moderately interesting and stuff. And didn't feel like yet another Unemotional Flatter than Flat Herd of Ironing Boards (UFtFHoIB™). As might or might not perhaps have possibly been the case in this most fascinating book here. Maybe. Good thing it wasn't. Phew, that was close. Lucky me and stuff. 


 
One more comparison with TTSDN™ (view spoiler)[
  which is sounding better by the minute, by the way. I'm beginning to think I might have read it wrong the first time around. Which very rarely happens. Me reading books wrong, I mean. But, hey accidents happen and stuff
 (hide spoiler)]. Beware, for some fairly restrained screaming might shortly ensue. It might be a good idea to grab a pair of ear plugs and insert them in your puny human earring appendages. Because Make Way for the Feminist Rant and Stuff (MWftFRaS™): 

AT LEAST THERE WERE BOTH MALE 
  AND
 FEMALE POVs IN TTSDN™. AND THE WOMEN IN THE STORY WERE ACTUAL, FULLY-FLESHED OUT HUMAN BEINGS (albeit two X chromosomes-clad ones. What can I say, nobody's perfect and stuff). THEY WERE NOT LIFELESS, LUDICROUSLY ARCHETYPAL, EMOTIONLESS, CARDBOARD-LIKE PAPER DOLL THINGS (LLAECLPDT™) TO BE USED AS PATHETIC PLOT DEVICES, THE WAY THEY WERE IN SOME BOOK I JUST READ BUT SHALL NOT MENTION BECAUSE I'M NOT LIKE THAT.

Sorry, what? Did venting in a most subdued way make me feel better, you ask? Yeah, maybe. A teensy little bit.



Then again, maybe not.

So. The female characters in this book are a most delightful bunch. And it doesn't matter that there are very very very very few of them while there are way too bloody shrimping many countless superbly manly males in the story. I mean, it's quality that matters, not quantity, right? Right. Anyway, the women in this splendid narrative are most beautifully complex and lively and stuff. And such wonderful role models for little girls everywhere, too! The kickass gentler sex is soooooo accurately (and most magnificently) represented here. Check out the remarkable array of superstar heroines we have here:

💀 A murderous, vengeful, batshit crazy, erratic woman bitch.
💀 A cheating woman bitch. 
💀 A purely decorative woman bitch.
💀 A boring woman bitch.
💀 A ridiculously ambitious, selfish woman bitch.
💀 A stupid woman bitch.

Yay and stuff. But you know what one of the truly amazing things about this book is? Not a single one of them Wondrous Estrogen-Filled Characters (WEFC™) have an actual voice until all of a sudden, out of nowhere, towards the end of the book and stuff, we finally get a female POV! I kid you not. The slight problem is, the woman in question is the above mentioned ⤴ stupid woman bitch, who turns out to be an even bigger nitwit than I originally assumed, and whose actions make about zero minus ten sense. Oh, goody.



Bloody stinking fish, how I love this book! And wait, it gets better! Because there is actually one female character in the book that I actually liked. No kidding and stuff. She is one of those disgustingly young things I usually abhor a little bit, too. So the fact that she is my favorite female character in this book should tell you something. Yes, it should. But anyway. That girl has viciously awesome potential indeed. She could have been phenomenally sensational and stuff. So you'd think that, very logically, the author would have given her a strong, powerful voice and imposing presence, right? Of course he did. You know how? By making her a bloody fishing mute with less personality than an apathetic barnacle. I mean, why bother to give your most interesting female character a smart, assertive voice when you can turn her into a silent, ghost-like individual only to be seen through the eyes of a bunch a macho types who keep referring to her as a bloody shrimping “savage”?! 



Yeah, pretty much.

But hey, let’s be honest for half a quarter of a second here: this really isn’t the author’s fault. I mean, I’m pretty sure creating a cleverly developped, intriguing, complex, mute female character is impossibly impossible. It’s not like Glen Cook managed to do it in The Marvellicious Black Company of Glorious Marvelliciousness (TMBCoGM™) or anything. Of course not. Don’t be silly now, my Tiny Decapods. So if Glen Cook Is A God (GCiaG™) couldn’t do it, I really don’t see how anyone else could. QED and stuff. 

➽ And the moral of this I Thought Feminism Only Committed Suicide in Refreshingly Progressive PNR Books Silly Little Me Goes to Show One Can Be Both Devilishly Nefarious and Pathetically Naïve Sometimes Crappy Non Review (ITFOCSiRPPNRBSLMGtSOCBBDNaPNSCNR™) is: this book should have been called Promise of Male Chauvinism, not Promise of Blood. Ha.

💌 A very private message to all you estrogen-intolerant male authors out there: May I suggest you call the 1-800-Women-Are-Human-Beings-Too emergency hotline, then either press 1 for Glen Cook, 2 for Craig Schaefer or 3 for Richard Kadrey? You might learn a thing or two about Most Wondrous Female Characterization (MWFC™) and stuff. You are quite welcome.





[Pre-review nonsense]

Actual rating: 2.5 stars. Because I’m in a most lenient mood today.

Oh, noes! I just read yet another a book with a stellar average rating utterly wrong! Shock! Dismay! Befuddlement! Horror!



➽ Full The Way Women Are Not/Badly/Poorly/Insert Negative Adverb Here Represented in This Most Delightful Masterpiece is Quite Wondrously Fascinating and Stuff Crappy Non Review (TWWANBPINAHRiTMDMiQSaSCNR™) to come.

dead line

Very good.

Not much to say. I liked it.

One slight thing. McClellan tries to set up a romance between Ka-poel and Taniel. But I don't think it fully works, because we don't get to see how Ka-poel views Taniel. All we have is Taniel's interpretation of what she wants to say (because Ka-poel doesn't speak).

3.5/5

Nickie Mohler

I loved this! The magic system is unique, the characters are likeable (even if you like to hate them). This is just an action packed book right from the start.

Andrew Sztehlo

Light, easy reading. Nothing life changing, but the mystery was intriguing, the action thrilling, and the magic mesmerising. Lots of fun. The book got better as it went on, and the last 50 pages have made me order the rest of the trilogy to find out what happens next.

""PROMISE OF BLOOD puts the epic back in fantasy! A novel that opens in the aftermath of a bloody coup, it's a thrilling look at politics, kingdoms, and the retribution that falls swiftly on broken promises." --Provided by the publisher"--

Ilia Markov

Interesting setting (the world resembles the French Revolution), but not much beyond that. Not excited for the second book.

Promise of Blood Book 1 in the Powder Mage trilogy

Reviews