Promise of Blood

 

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan, 545 pages.

Revolution is a bloody business, but Field Marshal Tamas and his powder mages have no regrets about removing the foolish king and his cabal of Privileged sorcerers. But after the guillotine has fallen on the king and his nobles the nation is still tottering under the weight of debt, war, complex alliances, and betrayals. Beyond the political, the removal of the king had symbolic ramifications, and the people are seeing dark signs everywhere. Signs that may well be more than peasant superstition.

Brian McClellan was a student in Brandon Sanderson's writing classes, which makes a lot of sense to me, because this feels very reminiscent of his work. I really enjoyed the diverse character perspectives that give a very three-dimensional feel to a complex world. This book had a bit of a slow build, as a lot of it is very focused on the day-to-day of the aftermath of a revolution, but I was still very engaged the whole time. I'm very excited to read the next book, which given the end of this one, will have even more epic stakes.