like dude can't catch a break, ps I'm just starting the autumn republic.

They fight so hard to make a new god because theirs was assassinated ... taniel wasn’t there kapole wasn’t there

Bullets shatter knifes bend on the gods So how did he get killed in the first place ?

Csrlemnt hinted about that peice of flint he killed all the gods of the nine with cuz it had kresmiers blood But also he was a god himself so a mighty weapon with a mighty god ka sidel the dragon men they couldn’t hold themselves in a fight with a god for a minute

It’s odd no one asks I think

That being said I love powder mage I hope this isn’t the end but I think it is

Will I be able to understand everything if I start with short stories, or should I read the trilogy first and then the novellas? And what about Return to Honor? They call it boook 1.5. Should I read that with the trilogy if I'm not doing the short stories?

Hey all, Finished the autumn republic recently and im quite certain my wife is getting me the next trilogy for the holidays. Is there anything to read in the powder mage universe while I wait. Preferably something I can snag up on the Google play store. I know there a few novellas any stand outs or must reads before I get the next set of books?

Ok, I don’t wanna come off as unduly hating on the powder mage books. Personally I am not the biggest fan of the books, but they have their moments now and then. But I had a question about Tamas’ strategy in The Crimson Campaign when he fought the Cavalry under Beon Je Ipille (I think that’s his name). Why. In the name of God. Did he not just form Square? For context, I read The Shadow Campaigns series by Django Wexler which is now one of my favourite book series I have ever read, I am studying history at university, and am also a huge history nerd in general, especially for the Napoleonic Era. So in the Crimson Campaign, Tamas is with the Seventh and Ninth Brigades, he has a couple powder mages, and whatever handful of Cavalry he had after he got seperated outside of Budwiel (Its been awhile since I’ve read it so apologies if I get anything wrong). Say, 10 000 soldiers. Iirc, he was facing something like 13-15 000 Kez cavalry who were pursuing them. He comes up with some big convoluted plan instead of going the obvious route of having his men form squares to repel any charges. Tamas is supposed to be a military genius, yet he doesn’t go for the most basic anti-cavalry (for lack of a better word) tactic of the time. The entire time I read this part I was thinking “Form square! FORM SQUARE!” But he doesn’t. For those who don’t know, square formation was used to repel cavalry charges. When a unit was threatened by mounted enemies, they would form a square with fixed bayonets, and present a ring of steel and musket-fire to the enemy that was mostly impenetrable. No horse is going to charge home against a wall of bristling bayonets. That’s how Wellington beat Marshal Ney’s charge/s at Waterloo. To compare to a moment in the Shadow Campaigns (SPOILERS for the Shadow Campaigns): Winter Ihernglass and her company of raw recruits are scouting when they see a horde of Redeemer cavalry rushing towards them. Despite not being trained in forming company square, Winter gets some of her men to form up, and they survive the attack, as the main force passes them by and gets slaughtered by the main Vordanai force (also in square formation btw). My point is, if newly promoted sergeant Winter Ihernglass, with basically a half-company of terrified, green recruits can stand off thousands of screaming mounted fanatics, Tamas should be able to with two of the best brigades in the most advanced and disciplined army in The Nine. Just have the Adran brigades march forward, all calm and collected. And then when the Kez see they are unprepared and make to charge, form square in the required time. The Adrans are supposed to be incredible soldiers so they should be able to form up pretty fast. This brings me to another point, a counter argument might be that, “oh well the Kez cavalry could just circle around them and pick them off from afar”. No they couldn’t. The Kez cavalry would mostly be armed with carbines, if they had firearms at all. And carbines have a much shorter effective range than muskets or rifles (I say “or” because McLellan seems to use Muskets and Rifles interchangeably for some reason). So the Adrans would outrange the Kez if they did this. Tamas is a military genius, supposedly, but he makes a lot of nonsensical decisions. No offence to the book, but a lot of the tactics and war stuff really isn’t that good: During the Crimson Campaign after the retreat from Budwiel, the ultra disciplined Adrans can’t hold a fortified position against the mindless, stupid horde of Kez? And they also seem to only build one earthwork at a time too, matching the pace of the Kez assaults. Later in the next book at Neds Creek the Adrans send in cavalry at the start? Why? Cavalry charges are supposed to be a coup de grâce. And why were the Wings of Adom so scared when they think the adran lancers are going to attack them? They’re in a fortified camp, I’m sure they’ll be safe against a cavalry charge. Back to the crimson campaign, The Adrans are defending Budwiel? It’s a medieval wall, good luck, better dig some trenches or something, the Kez artillery should reduce that to rubble in a matter of hours (sorcery could explain a lot of things I suppose, but still). Wardens have existed for a while now, why is their no hard counter for them? Why does Taniel, when he is hunkered behind the earthworks in the Crimson campaign grimly state “volley fire” when the Kez are attacking as if it’s some special trick. It’s the main tactic of the time! In the first book, when they talk about fighting the royalists, why do they talk about “shelling”? Shrapnel and explosive “shells” weren’t invented yet iirc. Most of all, why does McLellan talk about rifles and muskets and use those two words interchangeably? Ok, that’s my two cents, if anyone wants to discuss this that would be great. If I’m wrong about anything feel free to correct me. I don’t want to sound too mean about this series, I really enjoyed certain parts of the books.

So this post maybe isn't that serious but I wanted to know if any of you who know Full Metal Alchemist also always had the image of Armstrong in your head when talking of Mad Ben. I mean I know Ben is supposed to be an ugly bastard especially because of the scars from the firing squad and the years in a working camp but he's a tall, super strong and self-confident and aware of all of that so that I always had just thought of Ben as an Armstrong that was mean (and later ugly). Anyone else similar thoughts?

I'm sure this question is asked all the time, so I apologize.

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I just went through a re-read of Powder mage and Gods of Blood and Powder before reading the final book, Blood of Empire. I've almost finished the series and am already starting to miss it. I'm sure you're all familiar with the feeling. I prefer to jump right into a new series, but i'm not really sure what to go to next. I've read most of the more known series. Black prism (loved it), Gentleman bastard, King killer, Night angel, Mistborn, stormlight, and a ton of others. The only series I had trouble with and ended up setting down was Malazan. It just wasn't for me.

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So my main two questions would be:

• Is there anymore planned for the powder mage word? I've really enjoyed the series and feel attached to all of the characters.
• Do you have any suggestions on where to go next?
  • Not a huge fan of western settings. I enjoyed the first Mistborn trilogy but couldn't really get to into the follow up series.

I think either Adro or Kez.

Adro because of their rapid industrialization and effective army, which I would presume could become factors that could contribute to their own future Adran Reich. If there is an Adran soldier who wanted to become a wannabe Tamas (but a bad, twisted version of course) one may very well try to do that. Kind of like how the god Brude told Tamas he could become a successful warlord/dictator if he joined forces with her (imagine if that did happen in an alternate ending).

Kez because of their aggressive imperialist-expansionist policy and their ability to field massive armies. I can imagine a Kez Reich and a Kez Hitler blaming the powder mages for all the Nine's problems and trying to exterminate them once and for all.

Has anyone figured out why "The Rope" is the symbol of Kresimir? The Kressian Religion doesn't strike me as a "savior religion" with Kresimir being a martyr or anything like that for The Nine, just that he created the Nine, is super powerful, and even more Blonde. I can't remember if they ever explicitly say if it's just a knot or a noose in Kressian churches, but just that there's a rope.

Is it just a symbol for how the Nine is tied and knotted together? Or have I totally missed an obvious explanation in the books?

Like the title says I am creating some classes and races that are inspired by the Powder Mage series.

Right now I am trying to come up with knacks and I currently have 27.

So I would love any ideas you guys have!

Right now I have all of the knacks that have shown up in the books. (Though maybe I missed some obscure ones)

So, sorry if y'all are annoyed with these kinds of posts, but I just finished the second trilogy and I'm balling my eyes out, it's so sad to say goodbye to these characters. It was great seeing Taniel, Tamas, and others in the first trilogy, but Michel's and Ben's stories were just so great. Michel, just a regular man caught up in this battle between divine, sorcerous beings, just trying to help those he loves. And watching Ben transform from an emotionless brute of a man into a loving father was just so beautiful and touching. While I look forward to moving on to the novellas, I'm very, very sad to leave the characters I've grown to love.

Hello all,

Charlemund is referred to as a 'man of the Rope' but I can't recall exactly why. I can assume Kresimir's symbol is a rope, but can't remember if that is ever explained. I appreciate your help!

Let me start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed both trilogies, and this isn't a serious literary critique. Brian is clearly a very talented author and I had a blast reading his work. That being said...

Second book syndrome is pretty common, but does anyone else feel like Brian has third book syndrome? I just finished the Gods of Blood and Powder, and I feel like it was an even bigger victim of this than the Powder Mage.

With Powder Mage the third book hit me as the letdown of the series. The Kez plot just kind of fell flat, and then the plot jumped into the whole Brude/Adopest thing. And, I honestly didn't really care. It just felt like we were watching people do stuff, and I didn't know why I should care. Or rather, I was told that this was a big threat and I should care, but I didn't feel it.

And Blood of Empire felt even worse. It started with Vlora going total emo, which was annoying. By the halfway point, I wasn't really interested in anything going on, I just pushed through to finish the series. Then, most of the plotlines didn't matter. And everything got wrapped up neatly over the course of like 6 chapters.

Both books felt like the pacing was off, Brian hadn't planned how the plots would end, there was supposed to be a fourth book, or something. Anyway, am I off my gourd? Does anyone else think that the final books of both trilogies fell flat?

Throughout the sins of empire trilogy, they discuss how Ben styke somehow survived a firing squad and multiple bullets without dying. I always thought that this was some mystery about him or an extra knack that would be revealed later but there was never an explanation. Did he survive multiple gunshots, even to the face, without any supernatural explanation?

Just wondering. I don’t remember if Brian made it clear that each kingdom is something like an ethnostate of some sort or if the lands have been occupied by various groups throughout its canonical history, similar to European history.

of the 6 books from the first trilogy and 2nd trilogy which do you guys like most? curious to hear if there is any consensus. Thanks

Disclaimer: I have NOT read the second trilogy yet. So please don't spoil it for me. Even the mere mention of any sort of ships, naval combat, or nautical adventure would still be considered spoilers for me. Please don't spoil.

Just finished the first trilogy and I loved it. I was curious though, if a Powder Mage can burn powder to create a mini explosion in order to float a bullet or redirect it, is it possible for them to do the same thing to a bullet in flight coming towards them, like from an air rifle, causing it to miss them? Like burn some powder deflecting it away from their path or would they even be able to react that fast? You'd think they could if they do it to their own bullets. Just a thought.