A Flintlock Fantasy Book Review
And an Unexpected Gift
I've wanted to read this book ever since I first heard about it. However, I refused to pay ten dollars or more for an ebook in the fiction category. Fortunately for me, I got it for only $1.49 plus the $1.50 credit I had earned for choosing slow shipping on some other orders. Seeing that the price of the book had dropped to $2.99 for a short time--a day, a week, I don't know how long--I snapped it up immediately. Which reminds me: My flintlock fantasy novels and my western novels are available for only $0.99 for a limited time -- see the left side of this page and click on one of the books.
Let me be clear about one thing: I really enjoyed reading Promise of Blood. While the book fell short of my expectations in some respects--which I will discuss--I did enjoy the book and my complaints should be taken in that context.
In a nutshell, the story concerns the aftermath of a coup by a field marshal which topples the king. The marshal is a powder mage. These mages use gunpowder to enhance their natural abilities, and they have the ability to detect, detonate, and direct the blast of gunpowder. They can also direct, or redirect musket balls in flight.There are other magics involved that are crucial to the story and to the conflict between the powder mages and the old order. The main story involves Tamas, the field marshal who led the coup, and his efforts to stamp out the old order and to find the traitors still in positions of power before a neighboring nation with conquest on its mind invades and destroys everything. There's also the story of Adamat, a retired detective, employed by Tamas to learn the meaning of the cryptic message uttered by the dying sorcerers of the old order. The book doesn't wrap up everything at the end, and the apparent resolutions may only be preludes to greater complications.
The story moves along at a nice pace. In my opinion it never drags or becomes bogged down in trivial detail or description. At least one reviewer has complained that the story depends too much on telling rather than showing as the author often tells the reader what the characters are thinking as opposed to letting the reader infer the character's thoughts by what they say and do. While the author does tell me what some of the main characters are thinking, I found that it helped move the story at a pleasant pace. I would complain that some authors frequently waste time and words in an effort to show (or pad the word count) when the showing isn't all that interesting, and telling would keep the story focused and progressing.
The author builds interesting characters. There are many characters of various figurative hues and professions. Most of them have virtues and flaws. Although I can't say that I really like any of them--in the unconditional way that one might like Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and others in the fellowship--some of them have redeeming characteristics and/or difficulties that make them sympathetic. Adamat the detective, and Taniel, Tamas' son, fall into this category. I suspect that Adamat may be one of the characters who survives to the end of the series--but I could be wrong.
The world building never becomes a slog. There are no info-dumps that bury the reader in strange names and bizarre histories. Strange names and bizarre histories do roam like fat cattle upon the fertile plain, but the author doesn't attempt to drive them down the reader's throat by the herd. Even after completing the book, I recognize that I don't understand much of the lore and history. I think some of the characters in the story don't understand it all either. I don't mind the background and larger setting being dribbled out over time. It's like savoring the flavor a new spice that had not previously been manifest in the dish.
Overall, Promise of Blood is a great book. Readers of fantasy, and the flintlock fantasy sub genre, should enjoy the book.
My complaints: The story has been billed by some as something like "The French Revolution with Wizards" but I didn't find that to be an accurate representation. I would have liked more flavor of the French Revolution and/or Napoleonic period than the book delivered. The guillotine figured into the story, and there were some public executions. However, the story never conveyed the terror of a changing tide and tenor, or the confusion and upheaval associated with the regime change. I also would have liked to have seen some large armies maneuvering for battle with generals taking the measure of opposing forces and throwing formations of men at one another in search of the weak link in order to render the enemy position untenable--perhaps those are in later volumes in the series. I would have enjoyed some small unit skirmishes described in detail. Most of the fighting described was rather disorganized and more dependent upon the magic users than the small unit tactics. What the author did was great; I came to the story with certain hopes which were left unrealized. Finally, there are actual gods involved (probably) in the story, and that's a heavy gun that would I prefer to see left in the artillery park. Still, if the next book in the series comes up cheap, say $2.99 or so, I would probably get it. As long as it remains at twelve bucks, I won't be getting it. If I could get a cross of the best parts of Django Wexler's Thousand Names and Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood, with a little more French Revolution and Napoleonic flavor, I would probably still complain because a picture is worth a pound of cure; you can lead a horse to water but you can't change his spots; a stitch in time gathers no moss; curses like chickens are in the eye of the beholder; don't blow your trumpet before swine; don't count your chickens in one basket; never look the early bird in the mouth; every cloud has his day; Rome wasn't built on the other side of the fence; too many cooks get the grease; when the going gets tough, skin a cat; where there's smoke there's a way; while the cat's away another door opens; you can catch more flies without breaking eggs; you can't teach an old dog and eat it too; birds of a feather shouldn't throw stones; familiarity breeds spilt milk; the pen is mightier than the better part of valor; an apple a day killed the cat; a journey of a thousand miles is worth two in the bush; and a bad workman blames the bridge when he comes to it.
I have to apologize for that digression above, but once I got started down that road paved with twisted proverbs, my good intentions all went to... well, you know.
***
As for the gift from a higher-up this week, it came on Monday. I was enjoying an afternoon constitutional, before resuming my efforts at creating a power point presentation on Fourth Amendment issues, when something flashed before my eye. I looked around, unsure of what I had seen. I couldn't see anything, near or far. When I sat back down at the desk to resume my project, I noticed a peculiar smell. The aroma bore a certain familiarity, but I could not place it. I checked my garbage can, as well as the soles of my shoes. I couldn't find the source. Every time I leaned forward to examine my presentation material, the unpleasant odor wafted its way to my senses. Eventually, the smell went away, or I got used to it. I thought no more about it. A couple hours later, someone came into to ask me a couple questions and left with answers, but made no remarks about any observances. It wasn't until I went into the restroom that I discovered the gift. The higher-up, a bird sitting upon a wire, had delivered an unwanted present as I had walked beneath its perch. On the chest of my lovely, sky-blue shirt, right next to the pocket, was a big smear of what looked like it could have been Oreo ice-cream--but it wasn't. By that time the material had become dried and crusted. I brushed it away with a dry paper towel. I can't figure out why my visitor never asked about my decoration.
***
I'll have to save my review of Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Red Hawk until next time. As for my own work in progress, Clamourous Harbingers, Book Three of the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series, and end of that first trilogy, I'll need another couple weeks to complete the story. I'm at the cusp of 100,000 words. I expect to finish before I hit 120,000.
Removed the vent covers around the house today. Last week was the first lawn mowing of the year, as I didn't say any more about the mowing, you may assume it went smoothly--which is mostly true.
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