Scott's Take: In The Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan

In The Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan is the latest series and features a new world. His previous series include the two separate Powder Mage trilogies. This new series is very good, but has many strong similarities to the Powder Mage series. Instead of gun powder being the basis of the magic system of the world, in this case, the source is glass. As in his other books, there are multiple characters and perspectives at work here in the first book of The Glass Immortals.

The main character is Demir who is a troubled genius with PTSD that is forced to return home after his mother is murdered. She was beaten to death in the streets by a group of masked individuals. He returns home to uncover her murderers, protect what is left of his family and the people she protected, and try to prevent the other families from taking advantage of his loss. 

The main characters are similar in tropes to the various leads of the Powder Mage series, but the ending here is far different and this sets this series apart from the others. As in his other series, here there is action, humor, mystery, and plenty of strategizing.

If you liked the Powder Mage series, then you should like this one too. The twist ending will either intrigue you or make you quit the series depending on how you feel about the new elements being introduced.

 

My reading copy came from the Polk-Wisdom Branch of the Dallas Public Library System. 

Scott A. Tipple ©2022

Scott's Take: Blood of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Series by Brian McClellan

Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan is the final book in the Gods of Blood and Powder series. If you have read the previous books in the series, you already know what to expect as the conclusion is just as great as the rest of the series. If this truly is the end of this particular universe and series, it is one that is fitting and does not leave the reader with a sour note. All three of the main leads, Viola, Michel, and Ben, must face the decisions they have made as the war finally comes to the heart of the Dynize Empire. The war is a major part of the read, but one cannot really go into further detail on that or other plot aspects if the read without ruining the tale. All three characters continue in their ongoing and very different storylines and remain very individualistic and easy to keep separate as they are all fully formed complicated beings. They always feel very different from each other which I appreciate.

This epic fantasy flintlock and magic series has plenty of action, politics, character development, and world building to make a great book. As always has occurred in this series, things are far different from the start of the read by the end of the book. Again here, the book radically changes about halfway through and becomes a whole another story.

There is sensitive content in the book that may offended or disturb some readers that one can’t go into without spoilers and ruining one of the main plot points that is not stated in the book blurb. If you like the rest of the series, you will like this one. If you have not read the rest of the series, you will be completely confused. You need to read Sins of Empire followed by Wrath of Empire and ending with Blood of Empire that ends the trilogy with a bang and on a good note.

My reading copy came from the Central/Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

Blood of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Series

Brian McClellan

http://www.brianmcclellan.com

Orbit (Hachette Book Group)

http://www.orbitbooks.net

Deccember 2019

ISBN# 978-0-316-40731-1

Hardback

672 Pages

Scott Tipple ©2020

Scott's Take: Wrath of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Book Two by Brian McClellan

Wrath of Empire by Brian McClellan is the second book in The Gods of Blood and Powder series. It continues the story began in Sins of Empire with the trio of General Flint, Mad Ben Styke, and Michael Bravis as they attempt to keep the godstones out of the hands of anyone seeking them. The godstones have the power to turn any mortal into a god. Those stones falling into the wrong hands would mean horrible things for the world. The trio in their separate and interwoven storylines face off against various enemies attempting to gather the stones for their own use.

General Flint leads her army alongside refuges of the fallen city on a march to safety while being hunted by enemy forces. Meanwhile elsewhere, Michael Bravis attempts to undermine the enemy forces in a city being occupied by the hostiles while trying to smuggle the civilians left in that city to safety. Elsewhere, Mad Ben Styke leads his Lancers on a desperate search for a powerful relic that could help turn the tide of the war. As always in this series, the brief plot lines listed on the synopsis become dramatically different after the first two hundred pages.

This epic fantasy is just as good as the first one and set up an exciting end to trilogy. Wrath of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Book Two by Brian McClellan provides a lot of answers and world building for the series flushing out various characters. This book provides plenty of action, violence, intrigue, and mystery. If you are a fan of this series, you will enjoy the second book. I highly recommend Wrath of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Book Two by Brian McClellan.

My reading copy came from my home branch of Lochwood Library. I managed to get my hands on this weeks ago before they had to close. I am on the holds list for book three of the series, Blood of Empire, but have no idea when I will actually be able to get it.

Scott A. Tipple ©2020

Scott's Take: Sins of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Book One by Brian McClellan

Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan is the first book of the Gods of Blood and Powder Series. This is a sequel series to the Powder Mage Series with several characters returning from the original series. There are also quite few surprises in the book that takes place several years after the previous series and is set in a different land, Fatrasta. As before, there are three main characters with converging storylines that become tied together in another epic war story. As it was in the previous series, it is a time of magic where the musket ball is the most common form of violence.

General Flint and Olem have retired from the army. Bored and looking for something to do because they are weird like that and can’t just put up their feet at the house, they get the bright idea to create a mercenary army. They soon have a paying client in the form of the Dictator of Fatrasta to help crush a rebellion in her country. However, they soon learn this job will not be as simple as they were led to believe.

The second main character is Ben Styke. Known as “Mad Ben Styke” he was a Colonel in a calvary company known as the “Mad Lancers.” These days he is imprisoned in a labor camp for annoying the wrong people in charge. A lawyer, Tampo, comes to him and explains he can get out if he agrees to former cavalry officer who is imprisoned in a labor camp is offered a simple job of getting close to General Flint, joining her mercenary army, and keeping her safe.

Then there is Michael Bravis who is working for the secret police tasked with enforcing the rule of the dictator of Fatrasta. His assigned mission is to keep an eye on General Flint as well as determine who is responsible for the publication of the anti-government propaganda advocating the overthrow of the dictatorship.

The explanation above is a massive simplification of the start of this very complicated novel. Readers familiar with this author will understand that things often start out one-way plot wise and then go off into a totally different plot outline by the ends of the book. One of the things the author likes to do is to take the character and then fundamentally change the character to such a point that by the end of book the character is in a radically different place emotionally by the end of the book.

Sins of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Book One by Brian McClellan is just as deep as the original series. The same epic style action, world building, incredibly complicated characters and relationships, as well as the flashes of humor are present in this book. The fantasy novel has lots of interesting social issues that apply to our world now. This book has some great plot twists and does a good job of creating something new with connections to the previous series.

The book has strong ties to the original series, so it is very helpful if one has read the original series of novels. That series in order are, Promise of Blood, The Crimson Campaign, and The Autumn Republic. I highly recommended Sins of Empire: Gods of Blood and Powder Book One by Brian McClellan for fans of the original series. 

My review came in hardback from my Dad’s childhood library stomping grounds of the Audelia Road Branch of the Dallas Public Library system.

Scott A. Tipple ©2020

Scott's Take: The Autumn Republic: Powder Mage Trilogy Book Three by Brian McClellan

The Autumn Republic is the third and final book in the Powder Mage Trilogy by Brian McClellan. The book continues the multiple perspectives of the first two books in the series with the main characters being Inspector Admat, Field Marshal Tamas, and Taniel. Field Marshal Tamas finds the capital Adro has been conquered by a foreign army, his son is missing, and he has no idea who he can trust. Inspector Admat finds himself drawn into another investigation to figure out who the traitors are in Adran Army in exchange for finding his kidnapped son taken by the Kez. Taniel finds himself behind enemy lines while being hunted by the Adran Army who has declared him a traitor while only he and his girlfriend know the identity of the real traitor.

If you liked the first two books you will enjoy this final book in the series. The third book ends the series with plenty of action, humor, magic, and mystery. My only complaint is the book reads to me as if it was really supposed to be a book three and a book four and the two books were forced together into one read. But, that is a minor complaint since the book was so good. This book ends the series while also setting up The Gods of Blood and Powder Series with book one being titled Sins of Empire. 

Scott A. Tipple ©2020

Scott's Take: The Crimson Campaign: Powder Mage Trilogy Book Two by Brian McClellan

The Crimson Campaign: Powder Mage Trilogy Book Two by Brian McClellan continues the epic series. As noted in the jacket copy of the book, it was presumed that the Mad God Kresimir was dead because he was shot through the eye with a musket ball. However, he is not dead. He seeks revenge on the person who shot him. That was Taniel who, as a result of their brutal battle, has been living in a drug induced haze due to his injuries and mental health issues. Kresimir does not know who did it, but he wants that person dead as well as to seek vengeance on everyone in Adro for trying to kill him. 

Taniel, who believes Kresimir is dead, is forced to return back to the front lines with his companion Ka-Pole (his quasi-girlfriend who is a witch from another country) after Tamas’ (Taniel’s Father) invasion of Kez fails leaving Adro vulnerable to a counter attack by the Kez Army. Tamas and his men are cut off behind enemy lines with dwindling supplies and enemy forces closing in on them. They must evade capture and work their way back to the front line and their own people.  Meanwhile, Taniel must not only work against the Kez, but deal with the problem of the surviving Generals of the Adro Army who seem determined to lose the war for whatever reason.

The third main story line is the continued investigations by Inspector Admant. His children and wife remain in the clutches of the Evil Lord Vetas. They were taken as part of an elaborate blackmail scheme and Admant is still trying to find them and rescue them as well as identify all involved.

There are a lot of aspects I like about this series. One prominent aspect I like is how both the good guys and the bad guys have well thought out reasons for doing what they are doing. Both sides have believable characters who engage in intelligent plans and make reasonable decisions. These characters are complex and utterly believable.

I like a plot point that might annoy some readers which I would describe as “the fog of war.” Several characters do not know things because of the war going on and the limited technology of the time means they only have access to out of date information. Tamas assumes his son for all intents and purposes is dead since, as far as Tamas knows, his son is still in a coma after his fight with Kresimir. At the same time, Taniel assumes Tamas is dead after his army is presumed killed after being cut off during the failed invasion.

Both father and son have to work through their estranged relationship while dealing with the grief of their assumed loss. I could see how some readers would be annoyed by this plot point since neither is actually dead.  I also liked one minor subplot of Tamas is still hurting after breaking his leg last book. Most of the time in fantasy series and even more so in television or movies, the injury a character sustains has zero impact on them long term. In this case, the leg injury he suffered is still very realistically causing issues.

This sequel to Promise of Blood is just as good as the first book. The Crimson Campaign continues the mix of action, drama, mystery and magic that was done so well in the first book. I very much enjoyed the sequel. There is a lot of character development, death, and interesting developments as this book builds people and events to the final book in the series,  The Autumn Republic. 

Because the library did carry a print copy, I used Libby through the Dallas Public Library System to borrow the eBook edition.

Scott A. Tipple ©2020