Tags
Brandon Sanderson, Brent Weeks, Brian McClellan, fantasy, fiction, McClellan, Mistborn, Promise of Blood, recommendation, review, Sanderson, sci-fi, speculative fiction, storytelling, suggestion, sword and sorcery, Weeks, Writing
Sorry for being late. I was working inner Mondays repair of John Scalzi’s Redshirts. It’s a doozy, but it sure was fun.
As writers we have one of the greatest jobs in the world. It has two fundamental rules.
1. Write
2. Fill your brain with stories: books, games, movies, shows, anime, comics, plays, etc.
So gather ’round dear children, and I will speak of a tale from an eighteenth century that is not our own. I am speaking, in particular, about Brian McClellan’s Promise of Blood.
This is Mr. McClellan’s debut, and while he does make a few mistakes, he makes far fewer starting out as some experienced writers I know. *coughJOHNSCALZIcough*
I hadn’t heard the term before, but someone referred to this as a “flintlock fantasy” set in a country that is an eighteenth century French analogue going through a revolution. McClellan takes a huge risk early on by splitting his story into four different POVs. He handles it very well though. Each and every character is distinct and memorable. So much so that I’m actually looking forward to the second installment in this series.
The story is interesting and utilizes a multi-magic system concept that is reminiscent of Sanderson yet completely its own. McClellan’s storytelling has even been compared to the likes of Sanderson, Weeks, and Rothfuss….
Really, he has the cinematic flair and world-building of Sanderson, but Weeks writes like s**t. And to compare his writing to Rothfuss is an interesting claim, but it really lacks his poetic style that made him famous. Sanderson is an apt comparison however. Check it out.