Sins of Empire

Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage trilogy is one of my favorite new fantasy series’, and I’ve been looking forward to the new trilogy set in the same world ever since Brian talked about it in my interview with him on my blog a couple of years ago. And now it’s finally out, and I’ve read it, and I thought it was even better than the first trilogy!

The new country of Fatrasta is ruled with an iron fist by the Lady Chancellor Lindet. Her secret police, the Blackhats, are almost everywhere, and where intimidation and arrests won’t work, there are mercenary companies. The famed powder mage Vlora leads one of these companies, and is suddenly called back from the frontier to deal with an insurgency within the capital city of Landfall. show more Of course, the insurgency isn’t as simple as it seems, and the long isolated Dynize Empire appears to be stirring again. It’s up to Vlora, her Blackhat liaison Michel Bravis, and disgraced Fatrastan war hero Ben Styke to figure out what exactly is going on and what it means for Fatrasta.

Sins of Empire is the start of a new standalone trilogy, and you can definitely read it without reading the Powder Mage trilogy – it’s set on an entirely different continent and only shares a few characters. That being said, I have read the Powder Mage books, so I’m going to be referencing them in this review (without spoilers.)

I love the flintlock fantasy subgenre in general, and the world of these books in particular. The gunpowder based magic system is one of the coolest ideas that recent fantasy has produced – I’m not sure why I love it so much, but it probably has something to do with why I also love Westerns and cheesy action movies. Anyway, there are guns, there are printing presses and penny dreadfuls, there’s exploration of colonialism without making anyone the bad guy. The world seems like it’s vibrant and changing quickly, and it really jumps off the page.

The characters are memorable – I already mentioned that there’s no cardboard cut out good guys and bad guys, but that doesn’t mean that everyone is morally ambiguous. There are antagonists, but you understand what makes them what they are. Vlora is an unusually compelling protagonist, she’s a veteran soldier in a committed relationship, she’s already pretty badass, but she’s also flawed and she knows it. Michel Bravis is a weaselly guy, but you’d expect that from a professional informant. Characters like him usually end up being sidekicks or useful friends for the protagonist to have, so he makes a fascinating viewpoint character too. Ben Styke is the most conventional protagonist, but he’s also well done, and I always looked forward to his segments too. Readers of the original trilogy will see some unexpected but welcome familiar faces (I totally called one of the characters the first time they appeared, which is probably useless information in a review, but I’m proud of myself and had to share it.)

The pacing is probably the weakest point of the book, but I’d only call it weak if I was trying really hard to find something negative to say. For the first half of the book, I had no idea what was going on or what the ultimate plot of the book was going to be, but once things started falling into place, the revelations kept coming. My only major complaint is that I want to find out what happens next, and I don’t know when the next book is coming out. show less

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Title: Sins of Empire
Series: Gods of Blood and Powder #1
Author: Brian McClellan
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Flintlock Fantasy
Pages: 507
Words: 177.5K

Synopsis:

Ten years after the Kez-Adran War, General Vlora Flint, now head of the renowned Riflejack Mercenary Company, finds herself hired by the government of the independent colony of Fatrasta. Her mission is to find a dangerous insurgent leader named Mama Palo.

Benjamin "Mad Ben" Styke, former hero of show more the Fatrastan Revolution and convicted traitor, is released from prison after ten years thanks to the machinations of a mysterious benefactor, who asks him to get into General Flint's good graces and keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile, Agent Michel Brevis of the Blackhats, the Fatrastan government's secret police, is given orders to investigate the origin of a widely circulated political pamphlet titled "Sins of Empire".

Everything comes together as the Dynize Empire, which has been closed to any outsider for the last 100 years, sends a fleet and an army to Landfall, the capital city of Fatrasta, to recapture a magical artifact. An artifact that Taniel and Ka-poel have been seeking. An artifact that can create gods.

My Thoughts:

Man, what a rush! I haven't read a lot of epic fantasy recently (outside of my re-reads of the Wheel of Time and the Mistborn books) and it just felt “good” to slide back into this genre. While McClellan is fully a Flintlock fantasy kind of guy, his books do cross over into the Epic, what with their scope and literal size.

The Powder Mage trilogy was gritty. This toned that down as only one of the three points of view was from a powder mage. The inclusion of the political side of things made it feel more of a stiletto kind of story than a powder horn story. The revelation that the godstone could create gods has set some things into motion that I have no idea where McClellan is going to take it. The final revelation that there are two more of the blasted things makes me wonder why the world isn't overrun by gods. I'm hoping the author has some good explanations for all of that.

I am not a fan of Vlora. I didn't care for her in the original trilogy and nothing here makes her any more likeable. Her poor decision making skills endanger herself and by proxy the entirety of the Riflejacks on several occasions and while she is firm once she makes a decision, we as readers get the full view of her internal vacillating. Bleh. She's no Taniel. That and her irrational dislike of Ka-poel grates, as it was Vlora who betrayed Taniel by sleeping with another man during their engagement. Ka-poel only made a move on Taniel once it was clear Vlora disdained him on all levels. So Vlora's dislike just seems like a seed of bitterness that she's nursing. It's ugly.

I have not read any of the short stories (or the book where they are all collected) that McClellan put out on his website back in the day, so I was a complete stranger to Ben Stykes. He's definitely an interesting character. His “mad” added to his name definitely fits and yet he's quite the sympathetic guy too.

I am looking forward to the rest of this trilogy. Just the fact that it is a trilogy and not some bleeding sprawling forever series is a huge plus in my eyes.

★★★★✬ show less

I received this novel from Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review.

A few years ago, I read – and enjoyed – Brian McClellan’s first volume of his Powder Mage trilogy, Promise of Blood. It was a good and engaging start to a new fantasy series, but for some reason – mainly the fact that I get far too easily distracted by any new title that catches my attention – I did not read the two remaining volumes. With the passing of time, my recollection of the events and characters in Promise of Blood faded considerably, so that I knew I would have to re-read book 1 first once I decided to pick up the series again.

When I saw Sins of Empire and realized it was set some ten years after the time-frame for the first trilogy, I knew it show more offered me an opportunity to get back into this world, one where magic shows peculiar features: besides wielders of more “conventional” magic, called Privileged, there are Powder Mages, people graced with exceptional strength, speed and endurance through the use of gunpowder, besides having the ability to detonate it from a distance. Then there are people gifted with a knack, a lesser talent – like needing little or no sleep, or sensing the presence and use of magic – that can nonetheless be quite useful. This much I remembered from my past reading of Promise of Blood, and it helped me settle into this world with no effort, but I should not have worried about it anyway, because the time and place removal of this novel from the original trilogy makes it a totally new start anyone can enjoy, and the author shows a great skill in inserting a few useful snippets of information that refer to the past, and help ground the narrative, without slowing the pace of the story at all.

The nation of Fatrasta gained its independence through a bloody war and is now on the way toward an economic boom, although not everything works smoothly: the Palo natives are marginalized by the Fatrastans and there is unrest brewing both on the frontier and in the capital city of Landfall, administered with an iron fist by Chancellor Lindet and her Blackhat secret police. In the outreaches of Fatrasta, lady Vlora Flint (a character from the original trilogy) and her Riflejack mercenary army are battling against Palo insurgents when they are called back to Landfall as additional manpower against the brewing rebellion carried out in the name of the mysterious Mama Palo, a dissident leader hiding in the warrens of Greenfire Depths, the capital’s Palo enclave where even the Blackhats fear to walk. Michel Bravis, a Blackhat Iron Rose (which means a high-lever officer), is given the task of rooting out the revolutionary clique responsible for the printing and distribution of an anti-government pamphlet, and finds himself, in case of failure, in the unenviable position of losing his status and any hope of acquiring the prestigious Gold Rose that will secure his standing. And last but not least, Ben Styke, former commander of the Mad Lancers, a famed Fatrastan assault battalion, has been languishing in a labor camp for ten years with little hope of getting out alive, when a mysterious lawyer manages his release in exchange for a peculiar request…

These are the three main storylines that give life to Sins of Empire, alternating chapters between the various characters while building them little by little: this is the main reason for the quick pace of this novel that caught my interest and imagination from page one, and never let go. There is much more going on, however, because Landfall is shortly revealed as a power keg waiting only for the right spark, and there are many different currents moving in the background and slowly but inexorably building toward the final showdown. Characters are indeed the driving force of the story, and my absolute favorite is Mad Ben Styke (the “mad” moniker more than amply justified…): a hulking bear of a man prone to violence and with more than a few shadows in his past, but nonetheless the kind of person anyone would want guarding their back in a dangerous situation, and one capable of the most unexpected tenderness and care, as shown with his taking charge of young Celine, a street urchin he met in the labor camp. And Celine is a great character on her own as well, her youth and innocence offset by street-wise expediency and her utter admiration for Ben’s killer instincts.

Vlora Flint, who I remember vaguely from my first foray into McClellan’s storytelling, is a well-rounded, ass-kicking lady hardened by military campaigns and the mistakes of her past (whose hints made me decide I must not wait any further to explore the original trilogy), who nonetheless still cares about decency and fairness, and above all wants the best for the men under her command. If the world described in these books is a welcome variation on the usual fantasy setting, with its end-of-18th / beginning of 19th century feeling, Vlora is a few steps removed from the typical heroines of the genre, even the most empowered ones, because her courage is also supported by pragmatism and a strong sense of responsibility. Knowing more about what makes her tick and what created the person I encountered in this book has now become an imperative.

The character I found most difficult to approach is that of Michel Bravis, particularly because of a few personality quirks – like the habit of keeping long conversations with himself while debating plans and strategies – that puzzled me no end. I could however relate to his need to keep afloat in the difficult milieu of the Blackhats, especially after meeting their commander in chief Fidelis Jes, a real psychopath if there ever was one, and most importantly after a huge revelation shifted my opinion of Michel a nice 180 degrees, while at the same time changing the rules of the game in a major way.

And remarkable revelations do indeed abound in this novel, especially concerning identity and goals, to the point I was often reminded of a quote from my beloved Babylon5: “no one here is exactly what they appear”. The surprises that the author sprung on me along the road were both unexpected and momentous, and added to my enjoyment of the story, one that starts deceptively slowly but builds with inexorable momentum toward the final showdown – a battle of epic proportions that kept me on tenterhooks the whole time. In this regard, I must reveal that I usually don’t do well with battle scenes, since I find them both confused and confusing: not so here, where the crystal-clear cinematic quality of the writing made those scenes come alive in my mind’s eye.

Despite being the first book in a new series, Sins of Empire does not end in a true cliffhanger (which is something I greatly appreciate), but still lays the groundwork for some very intriguing developments, the most important of them being a danger coming from far away, something steeped in legends and the half-remembered past. Only the awareness I can now backtrack through Brian McClellan’s previous works will help me weather the wait for the next installment.



Originally posted at SPACE AND SORCERY BLOG show less

Now it's been a number of years since I last read books in this series and sometimes I was wondering who was who but I did find myself being swept up in the story of war and the aftermath of war and complicated politics that made me want to read more.
The Lady Chancellor holds the city of Landfall together almost by willpower alone, there are factions that want revenge for past hurts and then there's a man who was a war hero and is now in a prisoner camp, damaged and being damaged while trying to keep a friend alive. The police force is in the hands of a man who will brook no excuses and one of the main characters is one of his underlings who isn't all he appears. Into the mix comes a mercenary army and other people who appeared show more before.
Overall it's very interesting, would probably be a better read closer to reading the rest set in this world but I do want more. show less

Brian McClellan returns us to his world of magic and gunpowder and sprinkles it with intrigue ten years after the events in The Autumn Republic. While you don't have to read the Powder Mage trilogy to follow what goes on in Sins of Empire, I recommend you do. Not only to know who the returning characters are, but how Privileged and powder magic work are explained in those novels.

The Napoleonic inspired setting has moved to the frontier, where the newly independent Fatrasta is waiting to boil over with a mistreated native population, the unearthing of a powerful artifact, and the sighting of a strangely armored fighter. Where Promise of Blood thrusts the reader straight into the action, Sins of Empire begins with the aforementioned show more artifact and fighter that only hint of what is coming. A secret police force known as the Blackhats work to prevent action against the Lady Chancellor using shady methods including torture and suppressing the flow of information.

Returning from the first trilogy is Vlora, now commanding her mercenary company the Riflejacks with Olem. Previously she was underdeveloped and mainly there to create tension with the protagonists of the first trilogy, but now she has her own conflicts in the spotlight. Notably balancing her conscience with commanding a mercenary company. Michel, a mid-level Blackhat agent, gives glimpses of how the Fatrastan government operates. He is the most introverted of the POV characters, but his observations and spycraft bring variety to a cast who prefer direct action. The last POV character is Ben Styke, a disgraced veteran who just refuses to be killed. He's easily my favorite, the hardened killer granted a second chance yet
it's hinted that his fall from grace might have been an injustice.

The plot is fairly well paced, constantly feeding information to reader until the twists in the middle and the final act. Here's hoping we learn more about the artifact and the Dynize invaders and bone-eye sorcery. show less

"But, sir, you look like you've seen a ghost!"

Robson considered the brief vision, his brow furrowing as he let it hand in his mind for a few moments. "No," he sad. "Not a ghost. I've seen God."

It's been rather a while since I read [b:Promise of Blood|15790883|Promise of Blood (Powder Mage, #1)|Brian McClellan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1350337505l/15790883._SY75_.jpg|21512438] and the rest of the Powder Mage books. Long enough that I've forgotten a lot of the details (something about traditional fireball mages versus gunpowder/crack mages and killing a god), but I still remember most of the world building. Combined with fairly intense world building Full Of Proper Nouns, it does make for a show more rather confusing read from time to time.

Characterwise, it's quite the cast. Mad Ben Styke, decorated war hero thought dead and imprisoned for ten years as a war criminal with a quasi-adapted orphan (Celine) following him around. Michel Brevis, part of the secret police with a penchant for talking to himself and a secret past. Lady Flint, a badass mercenary general and powder mage. Oh, and Taniel and Ka-Poel back again for another run. All of which are about to be thrown together in a plot involving slums built in a crater, an obelisk that whispers to you, and an invading empire of dragon warriors no one has seen or heard of in a century or more.

Like I said. It's a deep story.

It's a continuation of the story from the Powder mage trilogy with enough continuation (in characters in world) from the previous story to make you feel at home while at the same time taking you on a whole new ride.

I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.

It was an unimposing word, and not even that particularly fun to say, but it was bandied about in the newspapers so much that you’d think it was the name of Fatrasta’s new god. As if Fatrasta, a land of bickering immigrants, a twice-stolen nation of industrialized robbery, would ever spawn its own god. Landfall, the capital city of Fatrasta, would chew up a god and spit it out and it would barely make the newspapers.

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This was excellent. Great characters, cool plot, suspense, action, magic, gritty world building and a great narrator (for the audio book). Will definitely be reading more from Mr. McClellan.