Waffles Reviews Books; The Powder Mage Trilogy by Brian McClellan

[Waffles731]

The Powder Mage Trilogy by Brian McClellan is a Fantasy book series set in a world bears many similarities to earth in the late 1700s and early 1800s only with Magic.

Now what makes this book series different than most is there are three types of magic users

1. At the top you have your Privileged. These are your common fantasy magic users only they have to use special gloves to access their powers.

2. At the middle you have your Powder Mages. These are what gives the series its name. A Powder mage is a person who has some magical connection and control over gunpowder. There are several protagonists in the book series as it shifts viewpoints throughout each book. There are 5 protagonists in each really. Now three of them are powder mages. One of them Taniel Two Shot (a fantasy version of the Marquis de LaFayette) gets his name because in war he is known for loading two bullets in his rifle and killing two of the enemy with every shot. A Powder Mage can also snort or ingest Black Powder orally to enter a powder trance. This gives them enhanced reflexes and senses.

3. At the bottom there are the knacked, each knacked has a single magical ability that varies from knacked to knacked. One main character never sleeps, another has a photographic memory, the most valuable are the people who can heal wounds as even privileged have an extrodinarily hard time with that and a knacked healer will end up rich easily.

The book series is essentially a fantasy version of the french revolution, except instead of the revolutionaries being just as bad. The revolutionaries are pretty unambiguously the good guys.

The book opens after one of the protagonists Field Marshal Tamas has killed the entire royal cabal of privileged of his country (Adro) and then taken the royal family and King Manhouch as his prisoners. He has everyone in the royal family over 18 executed via guillotine, along with the king, and a good chunk of the nobility and aristocracy.

Now where it gets complicated is that it turns out that there really is some divine right of kings in place and the god Kresimir that gave it is coming back for retribution. It also turns out that the patron god of Adro, Adom the god of chefs and food has never left and is the only one of the gods that are good. Adom turns out to be a good guy and a near pacifist but he helps the protagonists as they fight kresimir and the enemy nation of Kez who summon him.

The protagonists are

1. Field Marshal Tamas, the field marshal who staged the coup and for the right reasons

2. Captain Taniel Two-Shot a fantasy version of the Marquis de LaFayette who returned to Adro after fighting in the fantasy American Revolution and son of Field Marshal Tamas.

3. Vlora the adopted daughter of Field Marshal Tamas.

4. Inspector Adamat, the knacked who cannot forget.

5. Nila a laundress who finds out she is the most powerful privileged.

The book series is well written, the action is awesome, the characters are well rounded, and it was just a delight to read. The first one is called, Promise of Blood and I suggest you check it out.

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[Whatthefluff]

Thank you! I will find a copy as soon as I can.