Brian McClellan's debut novel, Promise of Blood, was published by Orbit Books in April 2013.
Information about Brian McClellan:
Brian McClellan is an avid reader of fantasy and a graduate of Orson Scott Card's Literary Bookcamp. When he is not writing, he loves baking, making jam from fruit grown in northeast Ohio and playing video games. He currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife.
Click here to visit Brian McClellan's official website.
Information about Promise of Blood:
THE AGE OF KINGS IS DEAD...
...AND I HAVE KILLED IT.
It's a bloody business, overthrowing a king...
Field Marshal Tamas's coup against the king has sent corrupt artistocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But he knows that the battle is just beginning. Because it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics and a greedy scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, worker's unions and mercenary forces.
It's up to a few...
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 when gods are involved...
As attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should...
Promise of Blood is a spectacular fantasy debut set in a world where gods walk the earth and guns and magic create the perfect combination.
A REVIEW OF BRIAN MCCLELLAN'S PROMISE OF BLOOD
Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood is a delightfully dark, realistic and complex epic fantasy novel for adults. It's the first book of The Powder Mage Trilogy, and it's the author's debut novel.
There are probably several readers who are wondering if Promise of Blood is just another realistic and brutal fantasy novel for adults in the vein of well known and popular fantasy novels that have been published during the last decade. I can tell these wonderers that they have nothing to worry about, because Promise of Blood is a good and original fantasy novel.
This is a bit off-topic, but I think that it's good to write a couple of sentences about this subject: I understand why certain readers may be worried about the quality of new realistic fantasy novels and the quality of this novel, because several realistic fantasy novels are being published each year and readers may think that the same thing is going to happen to them that happened to traditional fantasy novels a few years ago. Fortunately the quality of realistic fantasy noves has remained high and they don't normally repeat the storylines of previously published novels. In my opinion most of the realistic fantasy novels that have been published during the last decade are quality novels and they deserve to be praised for their originality and brutal beauty.
Promise of Blood is an amazingly good and well constructed debut fantasy novel, because the story is addictive and the author combines several elements from magic and politics to intrigue and battles. It was fun to read about magic, guns, powder, gods, powder mages, sorcerers, intrigue, executions etc. This novel is so good and addictive that when you begin to read it you can't stop reading it until you've reached the last page (the story pulls you in and won't let go).
This novel begins in an interesting way. Here's a bit of information about the happenings:
At the beginning of the novel Tamas has murdered all the Priviledged and arranged a coup, because Manhouch would've soon made things much worse. He means to execute the king for his crimes and save the country from being enslaved by the Kez. He asks for Adamat's help to investigate why the dead mages uttered "You can't break Kresimir's Promise" with their final breath. Tamas asks Taniel to hunt down a powerful Priveledged sorcerer who managed to escape. Nila, a laundress of the Duke Eldaminse, escapes with a duke's young son, Jakob, because all the nobles are being hunted down, destroyed and executed... (That's all I'll write about the plot, but I'll mention that I liked the ending.)
The cast of characters is interesting and each of the characters adds depth to the storyline. The author has created characters who are different from each other and concentrates on writing about their lives and problems. Tamas, Taniel and Adamat are almost perfect main characters. And to keep things interesting, the author swiches the viewpoint from one character to another at regular intervals.
Tamas is a powerful powder mage who has arranged a coop and taken power to himself and his trusted allies. He knows that he has a lot to do to keep everything in balance, because ruling and keeping things in order isn't easy - it requires quite a lot of skill to be able to manage everything.
Taniel is a complex character, because his relationship with his father isn't very good. He has to deal with personal problems (e.g. drug addiction and problems with his fiancée) and threats to his father's rule. It was interesting to read how Taniel was tied to his father by work and at the same time had personal problems with him.
Adamat is a retired police officer who begins to investigate things for Adamat. He fears for the safety of this family, because there will be riots. His investigations are interesting and bring plenty of depth and freshness to the story.
I also enjoyed reading about Taniel's companion, the mute girl called Ka-poel. She's a wonderfully mysterious person.
One of the best things about this novel is that the dialoque between the characters is enjoyable. The author clearly has a gift for writing interesting and sharp dialogue.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Brian McClellan isn't easy on his characters. He makes them do what they must do, which is great, because there are several authors who simply don't have the guts to make their characters do difficult decisions and things, because they're afraid that readers will be shocked and alienated if anything happens to the characters or they do difficult decisions.
The worldbuilding works well, because the world and its cultures are revealed to the reader through the happenings and dialogues, but not all at once. I think that Brian McClellan has kept certain things a bit vague and mysterious on purpose, because he may intend to deepen the world in the sequels.
Promise of Blood isn't as brutal, remorseless and gritty as several other fantasy novels out there on the market, but the author demonstrates that he's capable of writing about brutality when necessary. For example, the execution scenes are well written scenes and won't leave anybody cold.
In my opinion Promise of Blood is a well constructed and fascinating novel, because Brian McClellan has created fascinating characters and an entertaining story that moves forward at a brisk pace. He writes well about the characters and reveals interesting things about the world. He manages to keep up the reader's interest in the story by slowly hinting at the Kresimir's Broken Promise and other things. He also handles political elements amazingly well, because Tamas has to deal with everything from the church to the worker's unions and the imbalance caused by them.
Readers who are familiar with history may notice that the author may have gained quite a lot of influences from the French Revolution, because the king and the rest of the aristocracy have used money for their own purposes and there are several people who are tired of the situation, because they want to change things and stop the king from spending all the money. (There were so many things which reminded me of the French Revolution that this novel could easily have been subtitled "The French Revolution in a speculative fiction format." ;-))
The magic system is interesting and delightfully creative when to compared to other magic systems. Brian McClellan's magic system reminds me a bit of the magic systems created by Brandon Sanderson. This is a good thing, because it shows that the author has the ability to create original magic systems.
The persons in this novel have different sorcerous abilities. The Marked are powder mages and the Priviledged are sorcerer-like persons. Persons who have a Knack can do only one things with their talent: smell a liar, eat lots of food or none at all for weeks, go without sleep for a long time etc. (their abilities are mostly talents and not sorcerous abilities). It's interesting that the savages also have magical powers. The powder mages are interesting mages, because they can control bullets and ingest powder to make themselves stronger and faster than other men.
It was very interesting to read about Taniel's addiction to the powder, because he uses it almost like a drug (the powder makes its users feel vibrant and animated, and sharpens senses and mind). This was interesting, because it added an extra element of depth to the storyline.
Brian McClellan writes accessible and easy-to-read prose, so several readers will be able to enjoy the story and action scenes. The only flaw that I found was that the writing style could have used a bit of embellishing and polishing, but it seemed to improve towards the end. I usually want to read only the best kind of prose, so the quality of the prose was a bit of a disappointment to me. Becauase Promise of Blood is the author's debut novel, I'm sure that the prose will be better in the sequels. Fortunately the quality of the prose didn't bother me much, because I enjoyed the story.
If I should compare Promise of Blood to other novels, I'd say that it's pretty close to Brent Weeks' novels, but it's different from them. It also reminds me a bit of Joe Abercrombie and Mark Lawrence, but it isn't as gritty and merciless as their novels.
I think I'll have to mention that I liked the cover art of this novel very much. I also liked the maps, because they were well made.
Promise of Blood is an entertaining and exciting debut novel, which offers good entertainment for adult readers. If you've read Mark Lawrence, Joe Abercrombie and Brent Weeks, and like their novels, you should put Promise of Blood to your reading list, because it's full of similar kind of fantasy entertainment and escapism. It's possible that readers of Brandon Sanderson may also find this novel intriguing. If you're looking for a fast-paced, interesting and well constructed fantasy novel, Promise is Blood is just what you have been looking for. It offers plenty of excitement and entertainment for fantasy readers.
I give this book strong 4.5 stars (on the scale from 1 to 5) for being an intriguing and ambitious debut novel. It has a few weaknesses, but on the whole it's an excellent novel. I enjoyed this novel so much that I definitely want to read the second part (The Crimson Campaign) when it comes out next year. I think the second part be worth the wait, because Brian McClellan has only scratched the surface and there are plenty of things left to reveal to readers.
Good and interesting fantasy!