I never really got into the story like I wanted to. I had a hard time getting a hold of the three main male characters for a while because while listening, their names aren’t THAT similar but I guess it was enough that I had to really think about who was who. It was hard to tell who I was supposed to be rooting for (although with any good book, it’s not always so clear cut between hero and villain, as happened here) but it felt a but abrupt to start things off with so much action and some small info-dumps, a lot involving these characters. It started off a little quickly, alternating between a few character POVs before really establishing the world and starting with an uprising. With a blurb from Brandon Sanderson and an interesting magic system, I thought I’d be all about it but the characters were just missing something that didn’t quite bring the book alive for me. I took my time listening to this book, in part because it was longer than the short YA books I’ve been reading and in part because it just didn’t quite grab me. In a rich, distinctive world that mixes magic with technology, who could stand against mages that control gunpowder and bullets? No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces. It's a bloody business overthrowing a king.įield Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving.

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Powder mage promise of blood