The Book Plank

Forsworn by Brian McClellan, The Powder Mage #0.2 Erika ja Leora is a powder mage in northern Kez, a place where that particular sorcery is punishable by death. She is only protected by her family name and her position as heir to a duchy. When she decides to help a young commoner—a powder mage marked for death, fugitive from the law—she puts her life and family reputation at risk and sets off to deliver her new ward to the safety of Adro while playing cat and mouse with the king’s own mage hunters and their captain, Duke Nikslaus. Occurs 35 years before the events in Promise of Blood. Last year Orbit launched on of their biggest debuts, The Promise of Blood , by Brian McClellan. A first for me in flintlock fantasy: muskets and gunpowder galore! Brian McClellan introduced a very cool setting with Promise of Blood , it is not pure military fantasy because there is a very pronounced backdrop of magic. The Powder Mage should say enough already. His world features a special type ...

The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan, The Powder Mage #2 'The hounds at our heels will soon know we are lions' Tamas's invasion of Kez ends in disaster when a Kez counter-offensive leaves him cut off behind enemy lines with only a fraction of his army, no supplies, and no hope of reinforcements. Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy's best, he must lead his men on a reckless march through northern Kez to safety, and back over the mountains so that he can defend his country from an angry god. In Adro, Inspector Adamat only wants to rescue his wife. To do so he must track down and confront the evil Lord Vetas. He has questions for Vetas concerning his enigmatic master, but the answers might come too quickly. With Tamas and his powder cabal presumed dead, Taniel Two-shot finds himself alongside the god-chef Mihali as the last line of defence against Kresimir's advancing army. Tamas's generals bicker among themselves, the brigades lose g...

Last week I wrote a blog post about the genre books that I enjoyed and found to be the best of 2013, on purpose I avoided including the best book of 2013, I had to give all the nominees another look over before I could decide which books were for me the best. After a lot of debating, scrapping and adding books, I came to the final list of books. Be aware that I am using bullet points instead of numbers, these books are the top 5 of this year.  Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, Harper Voyager I read the whole Broken Empire just this year, from the first page in Prince of Thorns I new this book and the whole series would a winner for me. The start of the series was dark and gritty and there were some very violent scenes in the book that got a lot of criticism however for me, looking at the whole setting, idea and goal that Mark Lawrence wanted to achieve it was just spot on, and well come on. it's fiction for pete's sake. Anyway after finishing the first book, King of T...

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan, The Powder Mage #1 The Age of Kings is dead . . . and I have killed it. It's a bloody business overthrowing a king... Field Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces.   It's up to a few... Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail. But when gods are involved... Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods wa...