Sins of Empire by Brian McClellanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
"Gods aren't born; they're made."
I had absolutely loved the Powder Mage Trilogy (Promise of Blood, The Crimson Campaign, and The Autumn Republic) featuring Field Marshal Tamas, who was my twin sister's and my literary crush back in 2016!
I remember summarizing it to our book club as the French Revolution but with a bit of magic thrown in.
Magical powder mages and gods that walk the earth, to be precise. And powerful wizards, too!
And so I was so eager to dive into this new trilogy set in the old Powder Mage universe, expecting the magic from the first trilogy.
Sadly, this first book in the new trilogy proved disappointing. The first 60% of the novel was spent on developing a few new characters and reminding us of the old ones (like Vlora Flint, Tamas' foster daughter) but quite frankly, their back stories were nowhere near as compelling as the ones in the old trilogy. And also, there was almost zero romance in this book. Which is SO FRUSTRATING for me as a reader, because I find that I become more involved when I know my heart's about to be broken (and hopefully, mended).
The stakes seemed too low, up until the final battle sequence where BLAM! KABOOM! Brian McClellan shows us bits of the old magic with well-written action scenes! And suddenly the stakes became ever so much higher!!! And I'll freely admit I was whizzing through the pages at breakneck speed at that point.
But too little, too late, at least for this reader. It seemed like excellently made fan fiction, to be honest, in some parts.
Here's hoping Books 2 and 3 will raise the general average of the new trilogy, but I might just borrow these books from fellow McClellan fans instead of purchasing them.
I can't rave about the first trilogy enough, however! Do look for them :)
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