Field Marshal Tamas, commander of the Adran Army, has just committed a brutal coup against Adro's monarchy.

Tamas must still deal with assaults by royalist fanatics, power struggles among his supposed allies (the church, workers unions and mercenary forces), and his own disaffected son Taniel, a powder mage and master marksman. It’s interesting but a lot less detailed than the rest of the plot; unfortunately it’s also the only female perspective, which is a pity since Vlora, who is one of Tamas’ gunpowder mage cabal at this point, was the stand-out PoV in Sins of Empire. Here, evil takes the shape of fire-breathing dragons—beasts that feed off chaos and imbalance—set on destroying humankind. There is quite a bit of discussion regarding the difficulties of feeding and equipping an army on the move, especially in a world like this that is still at a colonial technology level. The use of gunpowder, the abilities the Powder Mage’s have, and the way that they conflict with other magic users, makes this story even more captivating.It'll be a stand-alone series that takes place in the Powder Mage Universe about ten years after Autumn Republic. To close this off, the reason behind me reading this first trilogy of Brian’s is to celebrate the release of Wrath of Empire, Sins of Empire’s follow-up and the second book of his sequel trilogy in the Powder Mage world. The story’s layers are evident from the opening page; McClellan builds out a vision of his world step by step, first slowly admittedly but soon picking up pace, and draws you into the lives of Tamas, Taniel and the Nine Nations. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals.

Tamas, the military leader of the coup, has just killed all bar one – his son Taniel’s best friend Bo – of the royal cabal and had a group of his powder mages killed by a fleeing Privileged of incredible power.Like the plot, there’s still plenty to explore in the next books, so there isn’t much for me to expand on here. Shannon’s depth of imagination and worldbuilding are impressive, as this 800-pager is filled not only with legend, but also with satisfying twists that turn legend on its head.

The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. For example, When Taniel stuffs the barrel of his pistol in Fesnik’s mouth, cracking his teeth, and then immediately afterward, once Taniel announces his name, everyone acts as though it didn’t happen. Simply because Bo told them all to let Taniel through and Taniel offers to pay for drinks… It goes from violence—nearly a shootout—immediately to friendly conversation. It’s pretty rare that I get the first 50 pages into a book and decide on the spot to go purchase the rest of a series, but there are times when you just know that you’re going to love an author’s work. 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.

It’s an amazing work, and has the series well-situated for an outstanding finale in The Autumn Republic due out next year. 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. An additional plotline follows Nila, the laundress of a noble family, trying to save a young boy from his parents’ fate.

He then tops both of those acts later when he shoots Kresimir in the face as he is literally descending from the heavens. 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) . The overall plot is fantastic, weaving together several characters’ viewpoints, skills, and faults, to create an utterly compelling and fascinating tapestry. They’re meeting in an unsecured building, with a spy who they don’t trust (they are not in the room at the time though), and yet they speak freely of something that should be kept secret.

The technology level of the Nine Kingdoms is roughly on par with that of Europe during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods; flintlock firearms are the prevalent weaponry. The problem is, she's stronger than any sorcerer Taniel has ever seen, and the mercenaries sent to help him track her are of dubious reliability. When Adamat is summoned to the palace in the middle of the night, the last thing the veteran investigator expects is to arrive during a regime change. Taniel’s companion is Ka-poel, a young, mute barbarian female whose powerful magics are unlike those of other mages. There’s a rich and inventive magic system that pitches a more traditional fantasy magic system against the powdermages, whose expertise is in manipulating gunpowder.