The Crimson Campaign picks up right where Promise of Blood left off in
Adro. The Kez are at the Adran's doorstep and Tamas' plan to get behind them
has back-fired, Taniel is drugged out and not looking to improve, and
Adamat is still searching for his kidnapped family. It used to be, a sequel was just a bridge to the exciting events of the final volume of the trilogy. Not so here and with a lot of trilogies I've been reading lately. Crimson Campaign belongs to a new breed of sequels. Where the sequel is better than the first.
Yes, I said it, The Crimson Campaign is better than Promise of Blood, a book I enjoyed the crap out of, in just about every way. The world has already been set up, the players are in place, and this book was filled with so much awesome right from the start.
I enjoyed every second of this book and with how busy I was this month moving my family three states away for a new job, I still sacrificed sleep on multiple occasions just to find myself in Brian McClellan's head. It's a great place to be.
At one front, we have a Chain of Dogs type situation (Deadhouse Gates) with Tamas and his 10,000 running away from the Kez at his heals and who outnumber him 10 to one. On the other hand, we have a superhero-type situation where Taniel is starting to realize something else may have happened when he shot and killed a God.
Then, flowing through this already sufficiently cram-packed-full-of-awesome is Adamat unraveling mystery after mystery and finding even more questions.
The Powder Mage trilogy is turning out to be one of my all-time favorites. I can't wait for The Autumn Republic and anything else McClellan decides to make words on.
4.5 out of 5 Stars
The Powder Mage Trilogy:
1) Promise of Blood (review)
2) The Crimson Campaign
3) The Autumn Republic
