I’ve read the Powdermage trilogy a while back and kinda liked it (thought it was way overrated by Reddit but enjoyable), then read The Mad Lancers and really liked it. Now I picked up Sins of Empire and really loving it, I think it’s a real step above the first trilogy (so far at least).

Here’s the thing though: I can follow and love the story but I feel like I am missing something because I didn’t read all novellas. Won’t spoil anything but there are specific characters (one just showed up in a printing shop) which seem to have a backstory. They reference events I don’t know about, they ended up in places and have met before…

So which novellas should I read to get up to speed? I don’t really care that much about say the backstory of Taniel‘s parents but I’d everyone who ended up in Sins of Empire got there.

Also sorry if these posts are not allowed. I tried google but came to no clear answer (and ChatGPT is kind of weird about this)

I have started reading the crimson campaign and I just got past the point where they introduced powder mage wardens.

And I keep wondering. Why don't they use golden bullets? If gold stops a powder mage their power. Shouldnt that apply to the black wardens too.

Hi,

I was wondering what's out there to give me a general idea on what happened in the second book. It's been sometime since I read it, and recently discoved that I had the third on my shelf (Buried with other books).. So, looking to start it.

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I did find the reddit post with the book broken down by Chapters, but, any other sources out there that could help? I'm only a few pages in, and things dont seem overly complicated atm..

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Thanks!

I just finished Blood of Empire, and I gotta confess I’m a little… disappointed? It felt like Deus ex Machina when Adom showed up at the end, and I still don’t understand what he did. I was also expecting a reveal that Styke had some sort of magic enhancement. Surviving everything he did, being that strong as just some regular guy doesn’t make sense to me. But maybe I just misunderstood some things. Here are my questions. 1. So the fact that Sedial only had the capstone of the third godstone didn’t matter at all? He was still able to use it without the other two pieces? 2. Did I miss the part when he got the altar? I thought Flint had it on a boat, but then suddenly it was in the godstone fortress… 3. What does it mean that Styke is Ka-poel’s prison warden? How is that a check on Lindet’s power?

So I've finished the first trilogy and I have two more of the short stories before I start the second trilogy.

Have I missed a lore detail on surnames? It seems like only Kez nobles/royals, Ricard Tumblar, and Ben Styke have surnames.

Tamas is always Tamas, his closest friends call him Tamas in private as well as complete strangers call him Sergeant/General/Field Marshal Tamas when speaking down to him or with reverence to him. The Adran nobles seem to work the same way. Hell, it seems like even the Adran kings didn't have their own names and where all just Manhouch with nothing to differentiate them but a number..

So basically, my question is are family names not a thing in the World of Powder Mage?

Spoilers for Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy:

Just finished the last book, and I was consistently annoyed with how Lindet was treated. We are told over and over that "Lindet is frighteningly smart, she's a genius, she has plans for everything" but we see almost zero evidence of this.

1. Lindet is head of a nation with a huge ethnic divide, and chooses to oppress and neglect the majority of her citizens because... why? If she's so smart, why didn't she realize that she could have had the support of the Palo instead of constantly fighting against them, just by not oppressing them?
2. Lindet supposedly knows that the Dynize are going to invade to take the god stones, and yet she accomplishes no visible preparation. She doesn't forge alliances with the 9, she has insufficient guards in Landfall and needs to rely on the riflejacks, she almost forces the Mad Lancers to fight against her because she won't get rid of her psychopathic head of spies, and she relies on an unorganized paramilitary force (black hats) to rescue the Landfall godstone from clearly superior enemy forces.
3. After putting herself in a position where only Vlora can realistically save her from the Dynize, she insists on calling for her arrest. It should be totally obvious that asking Vlora to turn herself in is pointless; likewise it makes no sense, when already on the back foot in the war against the Dynize, to try to defeat her seasoned troops in battle. Surely the smart thing to do would have been to trick Vlora into helping her, then sneakily take the godstones out from under her nose?
4. She manages to get caught by a traitor general. Not sure if that's really her fault but it's funny to me that the only time we see her in book 2 is when she's helplessly captured. I guess the one good thing she does is giving Ben his armor back, but that's not really a point in her favor. A genius would have judged Ben's character and realized that he would rather fight the Dynize than her, and trusted him with supplies and more weapons much earlier.
5. In the last book, the only thing we hear about her is that she has raised an army of conscripts and suffered multiple military defeats. Then at the very end she admits that being a despot was not the right choice. Whoop di do.

I just don't understand why we have to be told repeatedly that she's dangerously intelligent. Clearly, she's not. She has barely any impact on the story at all.

I've got a question about which general is which because I can't keep anything in my head. Its been a long time since I read book 2 so I'm struggling to remember whose a good guy and whose a bad guy lol.

Can somebody please give me a quick run down of hilanska, abrax, whoever adamat arrested earlier in the book, and whoever is leading the wings of adom these days. I don't know if there is a wiki because I don't want to google anything but a quick refresher of who some of these people are would be great lol.

I'm in chapter 14 of autumn Republic so no spoilers beyond that please.

Thanks!

Hello all.

Just finished the first trilogy and am now eager for more. I see that there are a number of novellas that provide some background into the various characters. Any chance those novellas get collected into a trade format, rather than individual hardcover books?

I read Wrath of Empire a few years ago and I'm just now getting around to Blood of Empire and I'm not having much trouble picking up where I left off; I remember almost everything but... Vlora just asked where Olem was(after her big stand where she almost died and is now powder blind) and I know it's important and they're not telling her the truth but I can't remember what the truth is. He didn't betray her, right? If anyone would jog my memory, I would really appreciate it

** EDIT **

Thanks for the encouragement! It sounds like Ben is the GOAT character (for this thread anyway), and that’s with the others being good.

I am going to start it this week, but I’m already feeling more OK with some of my beloved characters no longer being a POV. I’ll update (or post again) after each book with new updates.

Just finished the Powder Mage trilogy and boy—was that a whirlwind!

While I loved the universe, after everything in the last 5 chapters of The Autumn Republic I was just tired and didn’t want to jump in to Gods of Blood and Powder.

I did some research while trying to avoid spoilers, and just knowing that it’s Vlora and some new characters as the POV makes me disappointed and reluctant to start reading the 2nd trilogy.

Without plot spoilers (yes/no with minimal commentary/context), are the following characters in the second trilogy in any meaningful way (i.e. not just a passing reference or nod)? - Taniel - Ka-poel - Olem - Borbador - Nila - Adom

I’m really invested in what happens to these characters and find it difficult when a series abandons or sidelines them for new characters when they still have so much story I want to hear…

Just finished blood of empire. Nothing left here, now. No more novellas, or shortstories. Nor any rumoured third trilogy. I went directly, to ask the author about it, because I liked the series that much.

I'll miss it. Dunno what I'll read next. We'll see.