Sins of Empire

No one else's suffering is ever as acute as your own

I immensely enjoyed the Powder Mage series and thrilled to return to this world. Unfortunately in the three years since I read the original trilogy all I remember are faint memories of characters. Ka-Pole, Two-shot, Tamas, oh, Privileged sounds familiar but what is it?

I don't think my lack of retention hurt my enjoyment of this book but it would have enhanced it more to be reunited with names I was familiar with. With the what I don't know out of the way let's recap what I do know.

McClellan crafts an outstanding world and it captured me right off the bat. There are multiple nationalities, class levels, a plot to overthrow the government and a sprinkling of gunpowder magic mixed in. There are insights to characters (Styke with Celine, Michel with his Mother) that add some humanity and depth as a way to offset the violence.

I was a bit slow on the uptake when Michel and Styke had a similar character influence their story (it wasn't until Vlora Flint's chapter it clicked) and then I began appreciating how each POV was in battle and benefit with the other. As their web expands the greater threats are exposed, a few surprise twists and turns along the way and I had a smile on my face the whole time.

This book was a fun read and had a nice conclusion while baiting me with a hook to keep reading...not that I needed convincing but it's good to get a sense of where the story is heading when the battle is over and the dust has settled.

I have been waiting to start the second trilogy in the Powdermage universe because I hate to start an unfinished series. For some reason I still did it and now I'll have to live with the consequences, because I really enjoyed the first book.

It was great to be back in the universe and to meet a few familiar characters. It was nice that Vlora became a main character. My feelings regarding Ben Styke are more ambivalent. He is a cool character, but he's also a hardened killer. Someone I would definitely not want to be around in real life. And being a killer is apparently all he is, which makes him a bit boring as a character. He's rather one-dimensional with the one dimension being killing people. On an only slightly related note, I have become convinced that Ben Styke is modeled, in name and height, after author Sam Sykes. Maybe there are more familiarities, but I have no knowledge about Sykes' murderous side.

All in all a book I found difficult to put down.