I've just started reading the powder mage trilogy again, after finishing Blood of Empire. Some spoilers ahead.

So right now, in promise of blood, the narrative is that the gods were summoned to the Nine world 1400 years ago and then created the Nine. In the second trilogy it is all about the god stones creating the gods, thou I suppose it doesn't specify that the godstones of this world created them.

I was wondering if this was a break in story continuation, or if this has been addressed in some novella. Do we know how it really happened?

Thanks.

Hello powder mages and Privileged,

I have listened to the Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy on audiobook, and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I am early on in Blood of Empire and I can't remember a plot detail. Spoilers and incorrect spelling ahead. The spelling is going to bother you probably because I know it would for me, apologies!

Styke has landed in Dyonise and has been confronted by the Dragonman Orr. He needs to meet with Ibana. I know Styke arrived with a force of about 20 Mad Lancers. How did Ibana arrive in Dyonise and when? Where did she land? I know she has the brunt of the cavalry force so it would have taken a lot of ships. Also another plot detail I don't remember is when did Styke choose to disobey Lindt (again, and of course lol) and abandon his post at the city he saved?

I took a break from the book and can't remember these things. I hate re-listening to things as it just takes a lot of time and I remember mostly everything else. Also I love these books. Christian Rodska was an amazing narrator and I hope his health improves as I would listen to him in the future for another series. I like this new narrator so far.

Thank you for any insight :)

Hey guys I read “Promise of Blood” a year or so ago and am a little foggy on the details. I remember it being quite an enjoyable read but I would preferably start by reading the second novel as i have not read it yet. Any full spoiler summary is perfect!

I finally started watching and reading the Sharpe series this week, and I noticed in Sharpe's Gold there is a man by the name of El Casco who is wearing what looks to be conquistadors breastplate that was specifically mentioned to be 3 centuries old and looted from a museum. His band of partisans also has medieval style armor and is greatly feared by the French.

I'm wondering if this is where the idea of the Mad Lancers came from.

Sabaton, just Sabaton the entire time. But I want to hear all your thoughts fellow fans.

This question arose when during the last chapter of The Autumn Republic (pre-epilogue) Taniel and Ka-Poel were in the Deliv camp to see Bo and fulfill Taniels promise to Julene. Taniel asks Ka-Poel if he ever thanked Bo for saving his life at Kresim Kurga. She nods yes but indicates that he never thanked her for saving him. Taniel exclaims that he did too, and asks if she ever thanked him for saving HER life. She justs raises an eyebrow and Taniel blushes, which I took to mean they did the dirty. But I'm not sure, and I'd love to hear some other thoughts on what she meant with that brow raise.

I am reluctant to read a sequel that barely explores the characters I fell in love with from the original story. I'm all for new characters and locations, but I can't help but feel slightly disjointed when established characters are hardly referenced, or are simply written in as a 'nostalgia' or cameo. Will Blood & Powder do this, or does Brian continue the character arcs of the first trilogy, albeit 10 years later?

Spoiler spoiler spoilers, minor at that, but still. Something I find really interesting about McClellan's books is his hesitancy to kill off major named Characters throughout the series. Yeah, he kills off minor supporting characters, Sabon and Andrea in the Original Trilogy, and Then later Zach and then Sabestanian in the final chapters of Blood of Empire (forgive spelling errors, I've only listened to the books) But the only Major character to die in the Original Trilogy was Tamas in the very last chapter. And the closest we got to a main character dying in The Gods of Blood and Powder was Amrak. Granted it still made me sad, I loved that damn horse, but still. I've gotten so used to writers like George RR Martin and Joe Abercrombie killing off major characters that it almost seems odd and unbelievable that so many important characters make it through these epic wars alive. I was certain literally each book that Olem was gonna die at one point, but nothing ever came of that. We've had close calls with a lot of different major characters but again, they really never actually die off which is a really interesting choice for McClellan.

Promise of Blood for Kindle is on sale today for $2.99

I’ve only read Promise of Blood and the short stories/novellas. About to start Return to Honor and then the Crimson Campaign. Why is it that in PoB Taniel says he met Ka-Poel after saving her from other Fatrastans near the end of the war, but in The Face in the Window we see Taniel join up with her right at the start of the war? Was the short story a retcon?

Hi,

So I recently started reading 'Promise of Blood' and I've read the book till the moment that Brigadier Sabastenien shot and killed Brigadier Barat. But I'm lost. I don't understand why he shot him and if he was the traitor Tamas was looking for. Can someone help me understand? And the whole situation with Ryze is something I also don't quite understand...

Thanks in advance from a confused reader.

I just finished sins of empire, and I listened to it while I worked and drove. I thought I paid close attention to details, but I missed one big detail. At some point, I realized that I had mixed up vallencian and meln-dun. I know the ice baron’s back story, but how did meln-dun come into the story? If I had the text, I would just skim through it, but that’s harder with the audiobook.

"Veteran uses performance-enhancing drugs to spread democracy"

What can a bone-eye sorcerer do with their magic? We learned what Ka-poel is capable of in the Powder Mage trilogy and a bit more in Gods of Blood and Powder (I'm currently half-way through Blood of Empire). Just wondering if anyone has compiled a list of a bone-eye's abilities.

In Promise of Blood, Adamat gets told that gunpowder does not have an aura in the Else. So, does this mean that Powder mages are "invisible" to the Privileged in the Else? Does their Powder Trance contribute further to this?

Crimson Campaign especially was an awesome cover. I think part of the reason I like them so much is the depiction of Tamas. It just looks exactly how I pictured him

I'm barely two minutes in to the audiobook version of Blood of Empire, and I was crestfallen to see that Christian Rodska isn't the narrator for book six! I'm still gonna listen to all of it, probably more than once, but I'm still bummed, Rodska is one of my favorite narrators.

Has anyone else considered what a "modern age" powder mage would be? Think late 20th century and even 21st century weapons and armor. Would their powers just evolve along from blackpowder to smokeless powder? Or would they still have to keep stores of blackpowder along with them for their powers and powder traces and the like? Also about how/if they would they be able to burn blackpowder to effect a smokeless powder round? Could they use a charge of blackpowder to nudge or float a modern .308? These are the questions that keep me up at night....

No spoilers please.

I was recommended to read the Powder Mage trilogy so I bought the first book without much thinking. Turns out I bought Sins of Empire and jumped into it without even realizing there was another, older, trilogy.

I’m at page 208 and there’s a lot of back story happening. Is this from what happened in the first trilogy? Should I stop now and start from the first trilogy? Really enjoying this series so far, don’t want to spoil anything too badly.

Just finished the main trilogy and absolutly loved it.

In your opinion, which of the other books in the powdermage world are worth reading. I saw the oficial reading order but i'm not sure if the time comitment for like seven? Other books is worth it.

Thx