Imagine its the 18th Century, you’re somewhere in Europe, magic is real and gods exist.

Welcome to Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage series, the promise of blood is real and you’re going to have a great time. That pretty much sums up the review so you can stop reading now and go and get yourself a copy of the book if you haven’t already. Go on now… wait… you’re still here? Okay, let’s take a look at what I thought.

World Building

I think what drew me to this book originally was someone said the term “flintlock fantasy” and that just got me going.

I love this era of history, I love the way the world was changing, how the literal size of it was rapidly expanding as European powers began moving out into the unexplored corners of the globe. I love the power struggles between the people and the aristocracy, how governments crumbled and revolutions of every kind swept across countries. The changing views on religion and the rise of technology, the way war became industrial, yet things weren’t so far advanced as to destroy the old social expectations or dogmas.

Promise of Blood delivers everything I love of that era but presents in a fantasy. There are several countries with backgrounds and relationships with one another that are quite complex that form a quasi-Europe and then there are far-off lands that are our quasi-colonies. That might send some eyes rolling, but it really isn’t cliche, not in my opinion, because McClellan seems to base most of the setting within a place called Adro that seems to be inspired more by Hungary than England. So even though we get the cool European influence, its a side of Europe that is often overlooked.

The novel itself is almost entirely set in the city of Adro itself, which gives us a good look at the specific culture of that place. We get to see several aspects of the city from the top governmental level to the soldiers with their boots on the ground, and the seedy underworld through the eyes of an investigator. I personally thought McClellan did a great job of using his various POV characters to give us these different settings while chasing the same overarching plot.

However, with that said, I can’t help but feel that when reading, everyone except the immediate characters are a bit lifeless. You don’t get the same imagery of everyday life that you do in say Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind. Even when there are big fights or battles, I find the writing struggles to put across a sense of overwhelming sensory action in the way other writers do. Not that this is a deal breaker, it’s just something I noticed.

Story Telling

McClellan’s storytelling is rock solid. The book has a great premise and is delivered in an even greater plot. It’s not full of mind-blowing twists or countless characters and factions but has enough of all these elements to keep it tasty.

Magic

There are three distinct styles of magic and two others that are a bit mystical. I’m going to give a brief synopsis of each starting from weakest to strongest, but before I do, I should explain that they are all (seemingly) based on the same magical law that seems universal in the universe. The way standard magic works is through manipulation of the elements that are found in the world. If my memory serves me, these were your standard earth, fire, water, air, ether (don’t quote this…).

Knacked – Normal people with 1 or 2 very specific skills… or knacks. For example the ability to not need sleep.
Powder Mages – A new type of mage that has an affinity for black powder. The substance can be consumed for great perception and manipulated to devastating effect.
Privileged – These are your bread-and-butter fantasy magicians. They play and manipulate with the elements around them to do the things you expect mages to do… fireballs.
Predeii – Super old privileged that are basically ‘super-wizards’.
Gods – Super old predai that are basically ‘super-super-god-wizards’.

McClellan uses the old as a foundation for things I haven’t seen before. For example, I thought having knacked was really really cool, both as a story element and just as a world-building thing that adds fluff to his universe. I also really liked the savage magic of Ka-Poel which was a pumped-up voodoo.

What is great about Promise of Blood is that it uses these magic systems in different ways to really add a depth to the reading experience. Privileged magic is quite ‘showy’ and is used to add FX to the book, while the powder magic is used to solve problems, and Ka-Poel’s voodoo adds an element of sinister wonder.

All-in-all, the magic is fun and satisfying.

Highlights

There is this street gang in Adro called The Black Street Barbers which are as vicious as they sound.

In essence, their psychopathic thugs who accept jobs to assassinate people and usually go about their business with straight-edged razors. They were such a cool element of McClellan’s world and he uses them to great effect. To me, it really added an essence of Gangs of New York which was so fitting for both the story and the world building.

I also loved the fat chef, Mihali, and how McClellan flips the ‘god-trope’ around. Instead of an all powerful deity that is hellbent on destroying things, we have a loveable man who just wants to feed his people. Genius.

Flintlock fantasy. The entire idea of it was genius. I’m too lazy to see if McClellan invented it but it was my first introduction and by George, I want to write my own. The smell of black powder, the rattle of wagon wheels, the shadowy alleys of big cities. I love it.

Conclusions

If you haven’t read the Powder Mage series then I implore that you do. The rest of the series is high on my TBR list and I know he has more books and short stories in the same world which I am itching to get at.

This was a great book, not the greatest, but it was an easy to read, fun yarn, and at the end of the day, reading shouldn’t be a chore! A solid 4.5 stars from me for the package as a whole. Thanks for the experience Mr Brian McClellan.

The post Promise of Blood Review appeared first on Robert D. Jones.