Speculative fiction, alternative worlds, futuristic, supernatural, horror
Apr 16th, 2013, 7:46 pm
The Powder Mage Series by Brian McClellan
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Overview: Brian McClellan’s setting for these novels is the country of Andro one county in several known as The Nine. These kingdoms were created by gods and nine monarchs were chosen to rule those countries till the end of time. There are other continents outside of The Nine with kingdoms and their history can be explored in McClellan’s other short story works. The level of sophistication, philosophies, and technology of the kingdom of Andro would be comparable to that of the French Revolutionary years and the early Napoleonic era. The structure of the kingdom is fairly standard as most fantasy novels go. The social structure follows monarch and their cabal at the top of the food chain, then the nobles, the rich, then the gentry. The military structure also follows a pretty standard format with a city guard, a standing army, a royal guard, and the Mountain Watch which is the equivalent of a “Warden” type army in most fantasy novels.

What makes this setting stand apart from most universes is the coexistence of magic and technology. The level of technology is as mentioned earlier that of the Napoleonic era. This means that they are on the verge of modern technologies and have superior technology to most fantasy worlds (which are generally set in a medieval-like time period). This is unique in the sense that these technologies were real technology in our world and not something powered by magic or technology amalgamated with magic (ie. Golden Compass or Final Fantasy). There are of course enchantments placed on things such as structures and jewelry but these things function as magical items. Their physical structure still acts and are based on science while the magic of these items act separately to their physical function. In his Q&A section of the first book Promise of Blood McClellan even states that he wondered what magic would do along side advancing technologies, and after watching the Sharpeseries decided to use the Napoleonic era as a starting point.
Genre: Epic Fantasy

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Chronological Order
Adding in the main trilogy, here is the chronological order:

01 - "The Siege of Tilpur"
02 - Forsworn (Occurs about thirty-five years before Promise of Blood)
03 - Servant of the Crown (Takes place immediately after the events in Forsworn but before the epilogue)
04 - Murder at the Kinnen Hotel (Takes place about twenty-two years before Promise of Blood)
05 - "Hope's End" (About nineteen years before Promise of Blood)
06 - "The Girl of Hrusch Avenue" (Ten years before Promise of Blood)
07 - "Green-Eyed Vipers" (Eight years before Promise of Blood) - contained in 'In the Field Marshal's Shadow'
08 - The Mad Lancers (Twelve years before the events of Sins of Empire)
09 - "The Face in the Window" (About two years before Promise of Blood)
10 - Ghosts of the Tristan Basin (Takes place after the events of "The Face in the Window")
11 - Promise of Blood
12 - "Return to Honor" (Takes place between Promise of Blood and The Crimson Campaign)
13 - The Crimson Campaign
14 - The Autumn Republic

Book 1 - The Promise of Blood
'The Age of Kings is dead. And I have killed it.'

Field Marshal Tamas's coup against his king sends corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brings bread to the starving. But it also provokes war in the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics and greedy scrambling for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers' unions and mercenary forces.

Stretched to his limit, Tamas relies heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be Tamas's estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty will be tested to its limit.

Now, amid the chaos, a whispered rumour is spreading. A rumour about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods returning to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing . . .

But perhaps they should.

Short Story - The Girl of Hrusch Avenue
This novella is set several years before Powder Mage and serves to fill in the backstory of some of the protagonists. Vlora is an orphan living at a boarding school as a ward of the state. Even at her young age, she already has enemies: the Bulldog Twins, Baron Fendamere, and her own headmistress. When a strange man offers to buy her, Vlora runs away and takes to the roofs above the gunsmithies of Hrusch Avenue. It is there that she meets a boy named Taniel and begins a friendship that will change her life forever.

Short Story - Hope's End
Captain Verundish has two problems. On campaign with the Adran army and far from her homeland, she is helpless when the young daughter she left at home is threatened. To make matters worse, General Tamas has put her lover in command of a Hope's End—the first charge through a breach straight into the teeth of enemy cannon and sorcery. To save the people she loves, Verundish will have to come up with a deadly solution...

Novella - Forsworn Set 35 years before the events in Promise of Blood
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.

Book #2 - The Crimson Campaign
'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 Mihali as the last line of defence against Kresimir's advancing army. Tamas's generals bicker among themselves, the brigades lose ground every day beneath the Kez onslaught and Kresimir wants the head of the man who shot him in the eye.

Novella: Servant of the Crown Captain Tamas is an ambitious young officer in the Adran army. As a commoner, he is one of very few without noble blood to hold a rank. When he challenges the son of a duke over an insult, the subsequent duel lands him in hot water with the nobility and the royal cabal of Privileged sorcerers. Tamas is soon drawn into a conflict that goes to the very highest office in the land, and his only ally is the most unlikely of people; a young noblewoman named Erika, who needs Tamas to teach her how to wield her powers as a powder mage.

Short Story: The Face in the Window Taniel is a powder mage; a flintlock marksman with the ability to imbibe common black powder to strengthen his mind, body, and senses, as well as shoot over long distances. Sent into short-term exile by his father, he's supposed to see some of the world and cool his head, to learn something besides life in the Adran army. His arrival in exile, however, coincides with the eruption of a bloody new conflict as the colony of Fatrasta rises up against its Kez suppressers.

Taniel has certain talents that the Fatrastan militia could very well use, and he just can't help but get involved...

Novella - Murder at the Kinnen Hotel Special Detective Constable Adamat may be the most capable young investigator in all of Adopest. He's sharp, thoughtful, and his particular sorcery gives him a flawless memory. A transfer to the First Precinct seems like the perfect opportunity to showcase his abilities and advance his career.

But things work differently in the First Precinct. The murder of a businessman's mistress quickly pulls Adamat into an unexpected world of conspiracy and politics where he's forced to use all his wits to stay one step ahead of unseen enemies and keep his friends—and himself—from the guillotine.

Short Story - Return to Honor Captain Vlora is a powder mage in the Adran army. Once the favored, adopted daughter of the field marshal, she is now a pariah amongst those she called her family. Her superior officers would like nothing more than to send her to a far off posting and forget about her, but no one is exempt when there is a war - and powder mages are desperately needed.

When a traitorous guard captain goes on the run with information that could harm the war effort, Vlora is sent on his trail. She has three days to find him; she will have to make new friends and test the limits of her skills. Fail, and good soldiers will die. Succeed and maybe, just maybe, she can begin to work her way back into the field marshal's good graces.

A new story set in the world of the Powder Mage trilogy, the most acclaimed and action-packed new epic fantasy series in recent years. RETURN TO HONOR takes place directly following the events of book one, Promise of Blood.

Book 03 - The Autumn Republic The capital has fallen...
Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing, his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away.

An army divided...
With the Kez still bearing down upon them and without clear leadership, the Adran army has turned against itself. Inspector Adamat is drawn into the very heart of this new mutiny with promises of finding his kidnapped son.

All hope rests with one...
And Taniel Two-shot, hunted by men he once thought his friends, must safeguard the only chance Adro has of getting through this war without being destroyed...

Ghosts of the Tristan Basin: A Powder Mage Novella Taniel Two-Shot is a powder mage with the Tristan Ghost Irregulars, a band of volunteers who have made a name for themselves fighting in the Fatrastan Revolution. They range through the swamps of the frontier, cutting off enemy supplies and raiding towns while Taniel hunts the Privileged sorcerers that make the Kez armies so powerful.

When a desperate call for help comes from the nearby city of Planth, the Irregulars aren't the only ones to answer and Taniel must deal with another hero of the revolution: Mad Colonel Styke. But not all is well within the young Fatrastan government, and more hangs on the defense of Planth than Taniel and his companions could possibly know.

Occurs eight months before the events of Promise of Blood.

The Mad Lancers: A Powder Mage Novella

Young war hero Ben Styke commands a colonial garrison in a sleepy Fatrastan town. It’s a well-deserved quiet posting and Styke intends to keep the peace despite rumblings of discontent across the continent.

But peace is difficult to maintain on the frontier. Taxes imposed by the far away Kez government, and their heavy-handed methods of enforcing them, have the people on edge. When the governor’s cruel brother stops for the night in Fernhollow, Styke is forced to protect the people of his town in a brutal escalation that threatens to destroy everything—and everyone—he has fought for.

Occurs twelve years before the events in Sins of Empire.

The Siege of Tilpur: Short Story The short story "The Siege of Tilpur" will follow Sergeant Tamas as he risks everything to claw his way up the chain of command in the Gurlish desert. To date, it'll be the earliest of the Powder Mage stories chronologically.

Powder Mage Trilogy Omnibus
In a world where mages control gunpowder and bullets, a brilliant general must defend his country from both war and insurrection. Check out the complete Powder Mage Trilogy in this omnibus edition, a series that Brandon Sanderson called "Just plain awesome!"
In Promise of Blood: 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. 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.
In The Crimson Campaign: Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy's best, Tamas 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, Kresimir.
In The Autumn Republic: Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing, his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away.

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Apr 16th, 2013, 7:46 pm

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Jul 11th, 2013, 9:13 pm
added The Girl of Hrusch Avenue: A Powder Mage Short Story
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Nov 22nd, 2013, 5:24 pm
added Hope's End: A Powder Mage Short Story
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Jan 23rd, 2014, 7:42 pm
added Forsworn: A Powder Mage Novella

Many thanks to jonas007 for this donation and his help to keep the series all in one place
Jan 23rd, 2014, 7:42 pm

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May 6th, 2014, 12:42 pm
Added Book #2 - The Crimson Campaign
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Jun 19th, 2014, 6:00 am
Added Servant of the Crown: A Powder Mage Novella
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Jun 23rd, 2014, 7:37 pm
Added The Face in the Window: A Powder Mage Short Story
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Dec 2nd, 2014, 12:40 am
Added Murder at the Kinnen Hotel

Many thanks go to bobcat61 & blitzschmeiss for this
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Jan 7th, 2015, 2:33 pm
Added Return to Honor - Short Story
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Feb 22nd, 2016, 11:14 pm
Added Ghosts of the Tristan Basin

Many thanks to addz
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Sep 6th, 2017, 10:34 am
Added The Mad Lancers: A Powder Mage Novella
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Nov 28th, 2017, 5:48 pm
Added The Siege of Tilpur - Short Story
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Apr 8th, 2019, 4:22 pm
Added 'The Powder Mage Omnibus'
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