Diagnostic Examination: The Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan

The Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: Apri 8, 2014 (first published: April 16, 2013)
Format: Paperback, 608 pages
Genre: Fantasy – Epic/Flintlock
POV Style: Multi – 3rd Person
Map Included: Yes – Essential

🚑 Fantasy Triage Score
Score: 4.5 — 🚑 Immediate Admission

People snorting gunpowder, who can then shoot a musket over a mile and hit them right between the eyes? C’mon. Nothing short of badass.
Read more: Diagnostic Examination: The Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan

🧾 Patient Intake Summary (Spoiler-Free)

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, and greedy scrambling for money and power by Tamas’s supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces. 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.

Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should…

🦴 Musculoskeletal System — Worldbuilding Skeleton

Diagnosis: 4 — Reinforced Structure

Clinical Notes:
Think French Revolution time period, with the muskets and bayonets. Adro is a nation that has been ruled by Kings since the time of Kesemir, who was the first God to visit. Adro’s relationship with it rival neighbor country, Kez, only grows on in importance as the story progress. The lore of the Gods and their history if something that is explored and made a major part of the story and world too. Magic is an everyday occurrence, with Powder Mages and Privileged, and the rivalry between two.

🫀 Cardiac System — Character Pulse

Diagnosis: 4 — Strong Pulse

Clinical Notes:
There are 3 main POVs in the story: Tamas, Taniel, and Adamat.

Tamas is Powder Mage, and Field Marshall (aka, General) of the Adro army. He is one of leaders of the coup that brings down the current Adro’s Kign’s reign.

Taniel is also a Powder Mage, and it Tama’s son. He is know as “Two-Shot Taniel” because of his elite shooting skills. While a powder Mage gets their power from consuming gunpowder, Taniel, appears to have some sort of addiction to it – or at lest, I assume that what it is considering he is only one who snorts it and gets looks when he does that.

Additionally with Taniel, is a girl, KaPoe. He rescued her from Fatrasta when he was there on a mission. She is known as a “bone-eye”, which is similar to the what the Privileged are.

Adamat is a retired detective, who has a Knack for having a perfect memory. He is hired by Tamas to investigate what “Kresemir’s Promise” is.

⚡ Nervous System – Adventure Adrenaline

Diagnosis: 4 — High tension / frequent danger

Clinical Notes:
What I like most about choosing there three characters as the main POVs is how different each one of them, and reading each one, is alost like reading a different genre.

Tamas, the general leading the coupe, his chapter are heavier on the political intrigue, navigating the current atmosphere in Adro and their relationship with Kez. There is still a lot of action too! I mean, he is a Powder Mage.

Taniel is out on the front lines with Ka-Poel hunting Privilege and getting into gunfights on the front lines.

Then with Adamat, we are doing out detective work, searching for clues and leads, that finds us deep down in the Adro underworld of gangs

🩸 Circulatory System — Political Blood Pressure

Diagnosis: 4 — Hypertensive

Clinical Notes:
The first page is literally Tamas in the middle of coup. So yes, there politics is very important aspect of the story, and all three main story lines revlove around several people, groups of people, and nations struggling for power of different kind. What I did like most about the policitcs in this story, is we do not get bogged down on unnecessary depth and geeking out over (like so many epic fantasy do). There is a good amount of back-stabbing, plotting, and traps to itch that complex political scheming, but at the same, there is some action or fight or intense situation that kept my heart beating.

🧬 Genetics — Magic System DNA

Diagnosis: 4 — Well Sequenced

Clinical Notes:
Powder Mage: Injest gunpowder, can manipulate any gunpowder around you (make it explode), super-human strength stamina recovery and vision, and yeah, can shoot a bullet over a mile.

Privileged: Think mages, they are able to manipulate the “Else” which is the magical energy of the world

Predeii: Essentially the first Priviledges from the time of Kresimir, expect they make today’s Priviledge looks like children

Knacked: Somone who is born with a single, minory, magical ability. Such as perfect memory, never needing to sleep,

🔥 Trauma Response — Climactic Trauma

Diagnosis: 4 — Critical Condition

Clinical Notes:
The whole book is intense, page turning action. And as I’ve stated above, we have three different types of stories being told which each POV: political intrigue, action/military, and mystery detective. Yet, somehow, at the peak-peak of the story, it levels up again, and leaves you thinking, what the ef just happened, and that there cannot be a consequence for that.

💊 Prescription Tropes

Recommended For:

Fans of Brandon Sanderson
Flintlock lock fantasy / a magic-system most people are probably not too familiar with
Revolution/musket time period
Fast-paced, high tension story telling

⚠️ Known Side Effects:

No character appendix! (This will always be my biggest peeve in fantasy/sci-fi)
I could see some people… well, I don’t really have any negatives, to be honest

📝 Long-Term Prognosis

Closing thoughts:
I first this novel back around the time it came out, close to or over 10 years ago now! I enjoyed it a lot, but never had time to go to the sequel. However, at the end of last year, Brian did a Kickstarter for a new novellas that was coming out, and with that I picked up every book in his Powder Mage Universe, and boy am I happy I did!

I thoroughly enjoyed it first time around (I think I gave it a 4?), but this time, I straight up loved it! Love love love the magic system. People snorting gunpowder, who can then shoot a musket over a mile and hit them right between the eyes? C’mon. Nothing short of badass. Fast paced, always turning the page, and no dull movements. Cannot recommend this books enough.

📊 Fantasy / Science Fiction Lab Results

System	Diagnosis
🦴 Worldbuilding Skeleton	4 — Reinforced Structure
🫀 Character Pulse	4 — Strong Pulse
⚡ Adventure/Quest/ Mission Adrenaline	4 — High Tension
🩸 Political Blood Pressure	4 — Hypertensive
🧬 Magic System DNA	4 — Well Sequenced
🔥 Climactic Trauma	4 — Critical Condition

Reading Difficulty Diagnosis: 3 — Moderate Cognitive Load
Map Dependence: Essential
Commitment Level: 🧾 Trilogy PLUS (3 books and several novellas)
Treatment Plan: Continue Immediately

Final Diagnosis: 4.5 – Near Immortal

– DJ, Bookworm MD

Diagnostic Examination: War Song (A Dream of Dust and Steel Saga I) by Michael Michel

War Song (A Dream of Dust and Steel Saga I) by Michael Michel
Publisher: Chainbreaker Books
Publication Date: August 8, 2025
Format: Paperback, 74 pages
Genre: Fantasy – Grimdark
POV Style: Single
Map Included: No – Not Needed

🚑 Fantasy Triage Score
Score: 4 — 🏥 Priority Treatment

Continue reading →

Author Interview: J. Ashley-Smith

Today I am interviewing J. Ashley-Smith, author of the new horror short story collection, The Measure of Sorrow!

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi J. Ashley-Smith! Thanks for stopping by to do this interview!

Please tell us a little about yourself for readers unfamiliar with you.

JAS: Hi, DJ. Thanks for having me.

I’m a British–Australian author of dark speculative fiction. Even though I’ve lived in Australia for coming up on 20 years, I still feel out of place, as though I stepped through a portal into some weird parallel universe. Now, even my old home, when viewed through this lens, seems unrecognisable and unfamiliar—perhaps even more so, now there’s a king on the throne! This kind of wrongness and disorientation, the sense of everyday things just out of true, is something that obsesses me. Another obsession is that inner dark from which the fantastic, the terrifying, and the impossible are born. The collision between the complexities of the modern day-to-day and the invisible or imagined world is another fixation, which I continually explore in my stories.

DJ: What is The Measure of Sorrow about?

JAS: The stories in The Measure of Sorrow are united more by a feeling than a theme: I felt my way into each of them, and I felt my way through their compilation. If a theme emerges it’s as a result of instinct rather than intellect. Children feature strongly. As do parents. There’s thwarted or misguided love. There’s separation, grief and longing. People, all-too human, search for or build islands of meaning, all-too aware they are surrounded by vast oceans of coldness, indifference, or cruelty. At the cusp between these islands and the hard reality outside, there is wonder, horror, awe. People fall victim to their blind spots and weaknesses. Their search for meaning is always rewarded, but never in the way they hoped. The Measure of Sorrow centres on those perimeter moments, the border between one state or condition and another, from which something enters, something small, something strange, something unbidden and unexpected.

DJ: What were some of the inspirations behind The Measure of Sorrow?

JAS: The Australian landscape. The weirdness of dreams. Everyday lives warped by madness. Families tormented by loss. A suburb shrouded in melancholy. Fragmented glimpses of what lies beyond the veil. And, of course, sadness itself. It’s not something that’s really approved of in our culture but there’s a beauty in sadness. To live with your sorrow is to live with sensitivity, receptive to what’s really there. Sadness is an entirely appropriate response to the horrors and wonders of the human condition.

Continue reading →

Author Interview: C.J. Ledee

Today I am interviewing C.J. Leede, author of the new horror novel, Maeve Fly.

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi C.J.! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

C.J. Leede: Hey there! I’m a horror writer living out in California with my boyfriend and our rescue dog pack! I grew up in Austin, TX and New York, NY, and I’m a big hiker, road tripper, and forever Trekkie. Maeve Fly is my first novel, coming out this summer with Nightfire, and I’ve got two more following!

**DJ: What is Maeve Fly about?**

C.J.: An LA theme park princess by day, Sunset Strip barfly by night whose world is upended when a new hockey player moves to town. It’s about loneliness, Halloween, the things we cling to, and overall is a sordid debaucherous love story.

**DJ: What were some of your influences for Maeve Fly?**

C.J.: American Psycho, Story of the Eye, and Notes from Underground all factor in heavily! But also My Heart is a Chainsaw, The Final Girl Support Group, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Faust, Fight Club, and I’m always reading Stephen King, so I feel like that’s got to have worked its way in too. Also just Los Angeles and its history! All the gritty and shiny dive bars, the Sunset Strip, the *large theme park in Anaheim*. This story never could have come to be if I hadn’t moved here from New York! I tried to include everything that I felt was vital to this town.

DJ: Could you briefly tell us a little about your main characters? Do they have any cool quirks or habits, or any reason why readers will sympathize with them?

C.J.: Maeve enjoys misanthropic literature at dive tiki bars, internet trolling, strange and unsettling youtube videos on repeat, obscure music and trivia, all things Halloween, the grit beneath any shiny surface, masturbation (the weirder the better), theme park visitors, authenticity, audacity, anomalous princesses, non-conformity, pina coladas, and routine. She would do anything for the few people she loves, even if it ends in a bloodbath. She’s a lot of things that maybe aren’t the healthiest, but she is at her core endlessly loyal… in her own wolfish way.

Continue reading →

Author Interview: Sunyi Dean

Photo Credit: Richard Wilson of Richard Wilson Photography

Today I am interviewing Sunyi Dean, debut author of the new fantasy novel, The Book Eaters!

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi Sunyi! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Sunyi Dean: I’m a biracial autistic author and separated mother of two kids. I was born in the States and grew up in Hong Kong, but I now live in the north of England, specifically inner-city Leeds. When not reading or writing, I like running, hiking, swimming, boardgames, video games, and table-top RPGs.

**DJ: What is The Book Eaters about?**

Sunyi: TBE has a kind of dual-story happening. On one hand, it’s about a secret society of people who eat books and how they survive in the world. On the other hand, it’s not about those people at all, but one specific woman who is trying to escape that society. The stakes are small and personal, and I chose to focus on the arc of an individual rather than a broad-scale conflict.

DJ: What were some of your influences for The Book Eaters?

Sunyi: The Victorian fairytales of George MacDonald, the Brontë sisters, ‘classic’ English literature, 90s culture, and various landscapes in England and Scotland (both urban and rural).

DJ: Could you briefly tell us a little about your main characters? Do they have any cool quirks or habits, or any reason why readers with sympathize with them?

Sunyi: Devon’s one goal is to protect her son, who is a little (lot) different from the other ‘eaters in their society. She’s not a good person, and does increasingly bad things in pursuit of her goal, but her actual motivations are not evil, and come from a heartfelt place.

Continue reading →

Author Interview: Alex White

Today I am interviewing Alex White, author of the new science-fiction novel, August Kitko and the Mechas from Space!

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi Alex! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Alex White: I’m a science fiction author who loves music and tech. I wrote a big space fantasy trilogy for Orbit called The Salvagers, as well as two critically-acclaimed Alien books and a Star Trek novel. I’m known for engaging, deeply human characters and cinematic action.

**DJ: What is August Kitko and the Mechas from Space about?**

Alex: Jazz pianist Gus Kitko expected to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at the greatest goodbye party of all time, and maybe kissing rockstar Ardent Violet, before the last of humanity is wiped out forever by the Vanguards–ultra-powerful robots from the dark heart of space, hell-bent on destroying humanity for reasons none can divine.

But when the Vanguards arrive, the unthinkable happens–the mecha that should be killing Gus instead saves him. Suddenly, Gus’s swan song becomes humanity’s encore, as he is chosen to join a small group of traitorous Vanguards and their pilots dedicated to saving humanity.

**DJ: What were some of your influences for August Kitko and the Mechas from Space?**

Alex: There’s plenty of anime–Evangelion, Macross Plus and Escaflowne. From America, there’s some Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a pinch of Pacific Rim. There are also quite a few musical influences: John Coltrane, David Bowie, Prince and Hiromi.

Continue reading →

Author Interview: Raymond E. Feist

Today I am interviewing Raymond E. Feist, author of the new epic fantasy novel, Master of Furies, final book in the Firemane saga!

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi Raymond! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Raymond E. Feist: My official bio has all the usual stuff, born in L.A., moved to San Diego fifty odd years ago, traveled a lot, got fired from many jobs before discovering writing. Educated at UC San Diego, and the rest of that sort of data. At my age, wanderlust, romance, and adventures are mostly fond memories and (slightly exaggerated) stories. Writing is the toughest and best job I’ve ever had. I write to entertain, nothing more, but occasionally good fiction touches on a truth or two that readers take seriously, My kids are grown and moved away. My current vices include sports (San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Rams), really good whisky, great films (and a few guilty pleasures), and reading history and biographies.

**DJ: What is Master of Furies and then the Firemane saga about?**

Raymond: There really is no twenty-five word or less answer to that one. The smart aleck answer is, “About four hundred and eighty pages, and three novels, respectively.” Summing up novels is tricky, because of spoilers, so let’s start with the Firemane Saga. My novels are all pretty much find a character and stick him or her into a world of hurt then see how they cope. The three novel chart the journey of three main characters, Hatushaly, the scion to a fallen kingdom, raised in secret by a hidden nation of criminals and assassins. He has known Hava, a young woman who was also raised by the same people. Third is Declan, a smith’s apprentice who becomes a master swordmaker. Destiny brings them together, with their stories intertwined by fate. Revenge becomes a factor in all their lives and drives them along paths none could anticipate.

Master of Furies is the third volume in that story, resolving horrific events and conflict detailed in the previous two books, bringing our main characters and others to life changing choices and irreversible consequences. Mysterious enemies are revealed and massive challenges manifest. Lives are forever changed and new confrontations arise that span worlds.

Continue reading →

Author Interview: Joseph Stone

Today I am interviewing Joseph Stone, author of the new horror and fantasy novel, A Perfect Night, first book in the Haunted Women series.

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi Joseph! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Joseph Stone: Hello, there! I am a historical and dark fantasy novelist. Aside from regular folks, my characters include ghosts, demons, werewolves, and now witches.

**DJ: What is A Perfect Night about?**

Joseph: This novel is about a girl named Fran who loses her mother at a young age, only to find the woman’s spirit remains by her side. The spirit comforts Fran when she’s sad or lonely, and disciplines her when she misbehaves. As Fran becomes a teenager, those disciplinary punishments become more severe and terrifying. One day, the estranged family of Fran’s father contacts her, and she learns what her abilities to sense spirits truly is.

**DJ: What were some of your influences for A Perfect Night and the series?**

Joseph: I’ve always wanted to write about witches since I read Anne Rice’s Lives of the Mayfair Witches as a boy. I loved the enormity of that story and the idea of a human bloodline having significance to the spirit world.

The idea for this story came from a dear friend of mine, also named Fran, who revealed to me how she and her family have been haunted by spirits all their lives. It’s not a matter they’re comfortable discussing, but each of them has had multiple, often unpleasant experiences with ghosts. Fran came to believe ghosts are attracted to her family because she and her siblings can sense the ghosts’ presence. To this day, Fran will not visit her aunt’s house because of the number of angry ghosts in the house who would taunt her as a girl.

The idea of a haunted house simmered with me for years before Fran also revealed that her mother’s spirit has visited her many times. They had a humorous relationship as adults in life, and to this day, her mother’s ghost plays pranks on Fran. A favorite keepsake will go missing for days or weeks, only to reappear on Fran’s pillow one night before going to bed. The idea of a parent remaining on earth to play with their child struck a chord with me, and a much larger story was born in my imagination.

Continue reading →

Author Interview: Edith Pawlicki

Today I am interviewing Edith Pawlicki, author of the new fantasy novel, Trials of Fire and Rebirth, latest installment in The Immortal Beings series.

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi Edith! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Edith Pawlicki: Thanks for having me! I always love talking about writing! Since 2016, I have been a full-time mother of twin boys. Honestly, that pretty much consumed my existence for two years, but I have always loved writing, and in 2018, I started again. My sons started school in 2020, and that’s given me a lot more time to write (Trials of Fire and Rebirth is my fourth book since I started writing again).Writing novels is wonderful for me because I am interested in everything! I double-majored in Japanese and Computer Science, and I minored in history; I taught English abroad and math and programming in the US before my sons were born. Throughout college, I was an assistant to the manuscript librarian at Rare Books and I spent my summers as a park ranger – so really, everything intrigues me, and books are a great way to use what I learn!

**DJ: What is Trials of Fire and Rebirth and then The Immortal Beings about?**

Edith: I created the Immortal Beings world for Vows of Gold and Laughter because I was fascinated by xuanhuan (western-influenced Chinese fantasy) and basically wanted to create an Asian-influenced western fantasy to explore. For Vows, I set myself the challenge of writing four very distinct characters with contrasting love stories but a shared quest. Their story was too complex for a single volume, so I split it into tales one and two of the Immortal Beings. For each story within the series, I choose an idea that I want to explore. For Trials of Fire and Rebirth, I was thinking about objective versus subjective reality. In the book, there’s a mortal cult that worships the God of Destruction. He thinks they’re crazy and does his best to ignore them, but as the atrocities that they commit in his name get worse, he realizes he has to face his past mistakes in order to understand and stop the cult. In the course of this, he meets a young god who is dealing with her own contradiction: she considers herself a woman, but she presents as male to the world. So the book explores both how truth can warp into delusion, and how belief can manifest a new reality, all while two gods fall in love and try to make the world a better place!

**DJ: What were some of your influences for The Immortal Beings series?**

Edith: I watched the Chinese epic Ashes of Love in 2019, and it blew my mind. The only Chinese fantasy I had encountered before that was the Monkey King as a child. I started researching the mythology in Ashes of Love only to realize it was based on a fantasy novel rather than mythology – Heavy Sweetness, Ash-Like Frost by Dian Xian. I started exploring xuanhuan, xianxia, and wuxia (subgenres of Chinese fantasy) and decided I really wanted to create my own Eastern-Western fantasy fusion. Most of the book is pure fantasy, but it draws on Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hindu, and Thai influences. I think that Japan comes through the most strongly because I was exposed to Japanese culture since birth and lived there, but my grandfather grew up in India and my sister-in-law is Chinese, so a lot of stuff in my subconscious bubbles up and merges together.

Continue reading →

Author Interview: Maya Deane

Today I am interviewing Maya Deane, author of the new fantasy novel, Wrath Goddess Sing!

◊ ◊ ◊

DJ: Hi Maya! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview!

For readers who aren’t familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Maya Deane: “As I was sitting down to this interview, I heard about the murder of a trans woman and the acquittal of her killer. They had gone out on a date together a month before he killed her; then he tracked her down a month later and broke every bone in her face. At a time like this, when trans women’s lives are under constant peril and what little progress we’ve made is threatened by total annihilation, I think the most salient thing about me is that I am a trans woman, and will live or die with other trans women. In happier times, I might also add that I am a genuinely strange woman, a linguist’s daughter, a poet, obsessed with history, mad for cats, glorious in jewelry, skilled in the ways of food, cunning with makeup, and, no lie, an instructor in meme analysis. But all of that is beside the point when the lives of my sisters can be ended, free of consequences to their murderers, because one man decided to go back and murder his Tinder date and there was at least one transmisogynist on the jury, happy to rebrand the trans panic murder defense as something like ‘fear of mistaken gender identity.’”

**DJ: What is Wrath Goddess Sing about?**

Maya: Wrath Goddess Sing is about divine anger and love. It is the story of Achilles, a woman like me – and a legendary warrior – who fled to the island of Skyros to live as herself, far from the cruelty of the world outside. But war followed her to Skyros, and the heroes of the Achaians demanded that she fight for them to recover the lost Hittite princess Helen, whom the Achaians viewed as an innocent kidnapping victim cruelly ripped from her husband’s people. Naturally, Achilles had no interest in fighting for her old oppressors, but when her divine mother the Silent One offered her everything to fight – and destroyed the bubble of safety she built for herself on Skyros – Achilles went to war. There she found death – and love.

**DJ: What were some of your influences for Wrath Goddess Sing?**

Maya: They are innumerable, but I owe a particular debt to Tanith Lee, who taught me that stories can be spells and that love can become more powerful than any god. I also owe a debt to the late Shannon Andrews, who encouraged me to tell the truth and never coddle my readers, and to Alina Boyden, who taught me so much about the way transmisogyny constrains trans women’s lives – and taught me how we must, with absolute resourcefulness and indomitable bloody-mindedness in the face of it all, persist, thrive, grow, and live.

Continue reading →