Promise of Blood

Review

This first installment of The Powder Mage Trilogy does a nice job of creating an interesting world with its own flavor of magic. The gunpowder magic of the Marked is fairly unique and reminds me a bit of the "curve the bullet" trope in the movie, Wanted.

Overall, my favorite part of this book is probably the investigator, Adamat's arc of searching out the truth and finding that Field Marshal Tamas has enemies everywhere - as well as dealing with a few demons of his own. The characters of Tamas and some of the other military men lean a bit heavily on the gruff, tough-guy persona but the characters still stand apart from each other and are very enjoyable protagonists.

Having read Brandon Sanderson's books, I was excited to read the work of someone who was taught by Sanderson. This book definitely piqued my interest and I will 100% be finishing this initial trilogy!