The trilogy primarily takes place in the fictional kingdom of Adro, one of the Nine Kingdoms founded by Kresimir, a semi-mythical figure now worshiped as a deity. At the beginning of Promise of Blood, Field Marshal Tamas has just committed a coup d'etat against Adro's corrupt and ineffective monarchy. The novel then focuses on the efforts of three men and one woman – Tamas, his son Taniel, a soldier, and former police inspector Adamat, as well as the skullery maid Nyla – in the aftermath of the coup, dealing with conspiracies by royalist supporters, war with Adro's neighbors, and an emerging scheme to "summon" Kresimir.

How about the score? It’s a five out of five on Goodreads and it bags the ‘Most Promising to Deliver Loadsa Blood’ trophy! I like my fantasy medieval. I always have, and I suspect I always will. It’s a hard habit to break, to be honest, and I much prefer my characters swinging swords, drawing bows, and charging an enemy line atop a horse. Put a car or a machine gun in your story, and you’re one step towards driving me away. The Privileged are this setting’s elemental sorcerers, men and women capable of touching the Else with their hands, each finger connecting to one of the four elements and the thumb for the aether (which, I’m told, some of the Ancient Greeks were crazy about!).Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Adom basically just wants to cook food, but he is still a god. He defeats soldiers sent to kill him with contemptuous ease. The Wings of Adom are certainly on my (very long) list of side characters/entities I want to explore more in the short fiction. …more Hey Marc! Thanks a ton! Taniel 'Two-Shot', the Field Marshal’s son, nurses his broken heart by going after his dad’s enemies along with a savage red-headed girl whose magic is entirely different and way scarier than anything else you’ll see in the trilogy. Taniel and Ka-Poel’s shenanigans set up some of the most entertaining fights in the novel. Taniel, the Field Marshal's son and a talented powder mage, who is able to consume gunpowder to give himself supernatural powers, is given the task to hunt down an uncommonly powerful member of the Royal Cabal who managed to escape during the coup. Soon it becomes clear that overthrowing the monarchy was just the beginning. This is an excellent novel, which begins with a promise of blood and delivers through and through. Whether you’re following Tamas’ decisive dealings against internal and external threats alike, Taniel’s chasing around of dangerous targets or Adamat’s investigations, there’s plenty to be loved about this first part of the Powder Mage trilogy.

Ultimately some tried and trusted fantasy concepts make there way into the story; near immortal sorcerers who called down the original Gods. Adamat, a former police inspector who is now a private investigator, is asked by Tamas to help solve the mystery. Meanwhile, Tamas is busy with purging the country's nobility and struggling to maintain peace during the inevitable civil war. It's a bloody business, overthrowing a king. Now, amid the chaos, a whispered rumour is spreading. A rumour about a broken promise, omens of death and the gods returning to walk the earth. Hi there! SFFBC is a welcoming place for readers to share their love of speculative fiction through Regardless, I loved these characters during their trials and tribulations. Tamas now shares in Dalinar Kholin’s title of “most likely older general to inspire me into fictional military service”. But Tamas is far from perfect — his past grievances with the Kez force his hand at a critical time.And then someone tries to summon Kresimir, the most powerful god in the world, to destroy Adro for killing their king.

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. Adamant gets knee-deep in Adro’s underworld to find out what danger comes the realm’s way. Taniel chases the mystery Privileged through the city, before being retasked with taking out the last Royal Cabal member, his best friend Bo. All the while, Tamas tries to keep his new city and council in one piece, and the mighty Kez nation have smelled blood in the water and are on the way with their immense army.In January 2021, Joseph Mallozzi announced that he would be writing and producing a television series based on the books with No Equal Entertainment and Frantic Films. [4] Plot and setting [ edit ] A celebration of fantasy that melds modern ideology with classic tropes. More of these dragons, please. I like badass characters. Tamas and Taniel definitely fit the description as well as Ka-Poel later on. But it felt like the characters were just badass for the sake of badassery. There weren’t many consequences to their actions or it seemed like everyone just forgets their actions—specifically Taniel’s and even Tamas’ at times. Vanessa Armstrong Horror Film It Follows to Get a Sequel, Reasonably Titled They Follow 5 hours ago While sensibly contained to one book, the story does allow for that anticipatory desire to keep reading, following the story into further and more interesting locations. The world surrounding our characters, and the history and mythology preceding them, all combine to create a whole that is utterly compelling.

The real issue I have with the female characters was that they were just bland. Rozalia Julene, and Ka-Poel are these really powerful women but they were just boring to me. It felt like they were only there to move the plot along and weren’t developed themselves or didn’t lead to significant development of other characters. vinsentient on It’s No Fun To Be Alone: Communicating With Cryptids in The Shape of Water 3 hours ago

Which is not to say Promise of Blood is by any stretch anything less than an excellent first act to what has proven to be an exciting trilogy, filled with some of what I love most about fantasy. What makes it so? Field Marshal Tamas’ attempt to build a working government with his co-conspirators while securing peace with the Kez. Privileged are powerful sorcerers; being exceedingly rare, they are almost exclusively gathered into "Royal Cabals" in direct service to the Nine Kingdoms' various monarchs; at the outset of Promise of Blood, Tamas has assassinated almost the entirety of Adro's Royal Cabal.