Before you set off, you should collect the barrel. Or two. And a musket! – review of the series “Gods of Blood and Gunpowder”

Year of invention – c. 800 AD [i]

The emergence of black powder dates back to the 9th century in China. It probably arose by accident, and its first uses had nothing to do with military. Some 300 years later, it began to be used, among others for the production of rockets, and in the next 200 years it was already widely used and the firearms based on it began to displace other ranged weapons. Back then, nobody expected that this invention would lay the foundations for one of the best trilogies of the 21st century.

We are talking here, of course, about the first, historically, started by the great Promise of Blood . I remember my first contact with this book today. I was still a student, with a lot of free time devoted mostly to reading. After finishing one of our numerous discussions with a colleague (I think it was about what, in our opinion, Brett botched, in one of the parts of The Painted Man)I noticed he was very excited. Then he told me that there was an author on the market who added something fresh to what we like about fantasy literature. And he lent me the first volume. I fell in love with this piece so much that I devoured all three parts as soon as they were available. Expressive heroes, twists, picturesque descriptions and inventive dialogues. In my opinion, there are definitely tops. And now we come to the point when I sit sadly at breakfast break scrolling Facebook and see the group information about the premiere of the next book by McClellan. The long-unseen monster in my chest woke up and began loudly demanding more pages. A glance showed me that this is the culmination of the second trilogy. SECOND! God! What you’ve been doing, man over the years, that you missed the previous two parts! Not so long ago, after all, there was the premiere of a collection of short stories that I simply swallowed up on a plane during one of my business trips. I was so happy. To paraphrase KMN’s classic sketch – McClellan? Good, he should write more!

Explosion energy 2.8 MJ / kg

I will try to make this review free of spoilers greater than the descriptions on the book covers. For those who do not know the subject at all, I will tell you that the first trilogy takes place in a world similar to ours, but with a completely different geography, religion and political divisions. Firearms are commonly used, gunpowder has slightly different and definitely less common properties (more on that in a moment), and people travel on horseback, in carriages and barges. So we have a fairly classic take on traditional fantasy, which includes an equally classic take on the magic of drawing (in this case not directly from the elements, but from the “universe”). The author also used an interesting twist at this point, making the presence of a catalyst in the form of gloves necessary for magic. In the second trilogy, this theme is the nucleus of a discussion on modernism. A specific antithesis of magicians – let’s call it “traditional” – are in this case gunpowder magicians who, by contact with powder (that is, by eating it or rubbing it between their teeth), gain superhuman physical abilities, and can also control it in some way. The first trilogy tells the story of a war veteran who decides to take radical steps to defend his homeland from destruction. It may sound a bit banal, but the plot itself is multi-threaded and touches upon both universal and difficult topics. The first trilogy tells the story of a war veteran who decides to take radical steps to defend his homeland from destruction. It may sound a bit banal, but the plot itself is multi-threaded and touches upon both universal and difficult topics. The first trilogy tells the story of a war veteran who decides to take radical steps to defend his homeland from destruction. It may sound a bit banal, but the plot itself is multi-threaded and touches upon both universal and difficult topics.

Crushing capacity – 30 cm ^ 3 Pb per 10g

The second trilogy begins a few months after the end of the first. The world has changed a bit and old problems are slowly being replaced by new ones. The action is once again broken down into several stories that are told from the point of view of several characters. The scheme is basically similar, although one main character is slightly missing, which may, however, give more room for others to show off. This time we are returning not to Adro, but to Fatrasta, who has recently got rid of the problem of the Kesan invaders and now looks at the other side of the bordering with disgust, having considerable internal problems. The three main characters are: Vlora, here most often portrayed as General Krzemień, who still struggles with the sins of the past, and in Fatrast she hired herself to suppress indigenous uprisings; Michel, an agent of the Fatrastan political police,

The story itself is full of references and twin themes similar to the predecessor, which I treat as winking at the fans. There are probably even more twists and turns, and the author does not allow the reader to catch his breath too often. One would like to say a classic sequel – new heroes, new locations, the atmosphere of the original in the background, and even more explosions, death and magic in the main set. However, can it compete with its predecessor?

Temperature during the explosion – 2200 degrees Celsius

In my opinion – unfortunately not. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a really great story, keeping you in suspense from start to finish! What, for me, does not reach the level of a masterpiece, unfortunately, are the heroes. The heroine, whom we are to consider as the main one, is simply unpleasant to me. I absolutely don’t see any other reason to cheer her on except that I already know her. In the course of the book, it undergoes a certain transformation, but it is terribly stretched and I have the impression that it was thrown a bit by force. Big disappointment.

Another character I have a problem with is Styke. I didn’t really like him, and if I were to compare him as a veteran archetype with Tamas, these are ordinary washings, but the harshness and simplicity (in a way) of this character may appeal to some. I didn’t get it. Although some of his relationships are satisfying.

Michel is definitely the best here, who, although similar to Adamat (I do not miss him at all), acts in a different way and penetrates other environments. How he has to react to the development of the action is very interesting and it is just pleasant to observe this character. Maybe some sequel / prequel?

Deflagration temperature – no data available

I miss Tamas, the previous Daniele. One has to admit, however, that the supporting characters keep the level and the likes of Bo and Adom have a worthy replacement in the form of Vallencien, Ibana or Tenik. One thing that also needs to give McCllelan back is that his characters are flesh and blood. They are wrong, they are happy and they laugh. When they cry, they really cry. The characters do not follow the straight path, they are not omniscient, and although some of them are brilliant, they have this very important human part, through which I love some and hate others.

And now two words about antagonists. They are maybe not extraordinary, but they keep the level and are definitely better than the protagonists. I have to accuse the author of only one thing at this point – the marginalization of the importance of a certain caste, which in the early volumes had the potential for something epic, but ending up with nothing special. You could have bitten it better. At this point, also quite a disappointment.

Impact sensitivity – medium

I admit that my expectations were very high. There is less time for everything, and the last “more ambitious” reading I have read are two volumes of Dr. Strange from Egmont (a third is already in preparation – I highly recommend it!). I had my worst crisis of faith in an author somewhere at the beginning of the third part, but the ending was really satisfying for me. McClellan still has it and can keep the tension in fantasy like no one else. In my opinion, he is the Creator with a capital T and I am already looking forward to his next work. At the end, a few comments on the release – the covers are, as usual, a masterpiece, the translation is of a high standard, however, a few small linguistic mishaps were not avoided.

[i] All subheadings refer to black powder and are based on Wikipedia [https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proch_czarny]