Sins of Empire

Executive Summary: An excellent start to a new trilogy in Brian McClellan's Power Mage series. This one is a lot more political than the previous series was, which may be why I think this may be his best book yet.Audiobook: I got [b:Promise of Blood 15790883 Promise of Blood (Powder Mage, #1) Brian McClellan http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1350337505s/15790883.jpg 21512438] in ebook for cheap, so I stuck to that format for the rest of the series. Now I wish I had gone audiobook instead. Christian Rodska is absolutely fantastic. He doesn't attempt to do any feminine voices, which is probably a smart move on his part, but his male voices are all fantastic. I especially like the voice he used for Ben Styke.Full ReviewI hesitated for about half a second on giving this 4.5 stars instead of 5, but then I remembered how I spent like 10 minutes staring at a wall to get in “just one more chapter”. The books you hate to put down and look forward to picking up, are always the deciding factor for me between 4 and 5 stars.If I had one complaint about the original Powder Mage series, it was that the rather intriguing female characters were mostly relegated to supporting cast. This was especially true for Vlora Flint.This book picks up about 10 years after the events of [b:The Autumn Republic 20883847 The Autumn Republic (Powder Mage, #3) Brian McClellan http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1393261950s/20883847.jpg 40224712], and finds Vlora and many of her countryman working as mercenaries for the nation of Fatrasta. I was really happy to see Olem again. He was one of my favorites of the original series.I haven't read any of the shorter works set in this world, but this book finally gave Vlora some character development I would have liked to see in the last series. In addition to Vlora we're introduced to two new characters who are both natives of Fatrasta. The first Michel Bravis works as a spy for the secret police. He did not start off very likable to me, though his story was always interesting.Ben Styke on the other hand was instantly a favorite, albeit a bit of a trope with the grizzled war hero/turned anti-hero. I thought all three stories started out immediately interesting and converged quite nicely by the end of this book.I personally don't enjoy military fiction as much as I do political fiction. There was certainly a lot of politics in the original series, but it definitely felt more like an action/military series more than anything. There was a ton of action with the occasional political intrigue mixed in to move the action along.This book seemed to be the opposite. Much of it was heavy on the politics of Fatrasta, and the role of our three POVs within it. But fear not, the excellent action/battle scenes of the previous series are still quite present, albeit to a lesser degree in the previous series.I'll be curious to see if that trend keeps up with the next book, or if he'll be ratcheting up the action once again. Either way, I'm very eager to get my hands on it. Brian McClellan has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint.

What can I say about this book? If you've ever read this series, I'd legitimately be surprised if you had a different opinion. It rocked! McClellan only gets better and better with every story. This world gets deeper and deeper.
.
.
You get so much out of these characters and their relationships. But just enough to wet your appetite. Because there's still two more books, and these characters rock! I'll give you an insider tip; you want to read the Mad Lancers novella first. You will get that much more out of the story. It's not needed, but it's a good idea.
.
.
There's bigger things at stake, there's stronger enemies and more diverse heroes. Lots of hints to come! Amazing!

Well, McClellan has done it again. I have to say that, in terms of the books I read, I am always hesitant at how a sequel series is going to go. Is it going to be like Rick Riordan with his Heroes of Olympus series, where the characters and action are, more often than not, as good as the previous series? Or is it going to be like his Gods of Asgard series, where often the characters and humor just feel all the same, so that it feels like he is trying the same thing over and over again? I am happy to report that McClellan has improved vastly with this first installment of his Gods of Blood and Powder series.

A word of caution to the reader: If you haven't read his previous series, The Powder Mage Trilogy, then this won't make sense to you. He doesn't waste time explaining things that the reader should already know. If you haven't read it, I highly suggest it. The books are an excellent read.

I think that the element that the author has improved on is the plotting and planning of his novel. We follow several characters through the story. Michel Brevis, a member of the Blackhats, a kind of secret police, who must accomplish finding a mysterious Lawyer named Tampo, who is considered an enemy of the state. Then there is Ben Styke, a former military man who has been freed from a prison camp by Tampo, who orders him to either protect or kill Lady Volara Flint. We then follow Lady Flint's perspective, as she leads a band of mercenaries, who are charged with capturing a local revolutionary. All of these perspectives weave in and out of each other, along with other elements that add up to excellent dramatic irony. We the reader, wait for the metaphorical shoe to drop, as the characters all come closer and closer to revealing their ties to each other. This is definitely the best part of the book. In his other series, when certain characters were brought together, it felt forced, and the mysteries were the weakest part of the Powder Mage trilogy as a whole. Here the author manages to create an intriguing mystery that had me reading late into the night. I greatly enjoyed this mystery.

As for the negatives, well, I would say it is that it tends to drag in the 1st half of the book. We the reader know that the metaphorical bomb of dramatic irony should explode sometime soon, and yet, it just seems to keep going, with some plot points being metaphorically swept under the rung once a major event happens in the halfway mark of the book. After that, it moves at almost breakneck speed.

Still, I greatly enjoyed this book. It was far better paced, and had better plots for characters old and new. I give this book a four out of five. I am excited to see where McClellan takes this series.