Powder Mage Book 2
The Crimson Campaign is a tense book. Fast paced, a lot going on simultaneously. Inspector Adamat continues to be the best character! Rolled right into book 3 so I could find out how things actually resolved. McClellan did a great job of giving the reader information that the characters definitely don’t have.
I still found it annoying that Beau and Taniel were so young, McClellan kept mentioning it over and over. Yet, the dramatic and over the top one in this book was Tamas. The guy spent so much time navel gazing and lamenting something or other that I’d have though he was experiencing puberty again. Admittedly, he was experiencing great mental and physical hardship. Super off putting mental dialogue from the great and brilliant Tamas.
Taniel and Ka’pol do impressive things together. Taniel couldn’t do it without Ka’pol. Taniel acts young and impulsive and doesn’t do a great job of advocating for themselves with other leaders.
The three sub plots are all equally tense and riveting. When returning to Adamat, I was eager to find out how his investigation proceeded, but was worried about Taniel and Tamas. Switching back and forth between the different perspectives kept the tension very high, as each character was experiencing high stakes. The lack of communication between them all makes perfect sense, but really drove home how hard it would be to make informed decisions.
The magic of the Gods is pretty interesting, they have limits but it’s not clearly defined yet.
The Crimson Campaign is a great book two, with each subplot moving forward and completing another arc. While the major campaigns are still ongoing, this book doesn’t end on a huge cliff hanger.
Highlights:
- the action was fast, intense and unrelieved
- Beau, Taniel, Ka’pol and Nila!!
Lowlights:
- okay, so there’s more women doing cool things… but let’s not talk about how dismissively they’re treated or how they’re only important because they’re attached to men….
- Tamas’s adventure seemed so brutal, hard to imagine anyone taking it as well as his whole company. It seriously bummed me out.
