Muskets and Magic

So fantasy, particularly Epic Fantasy or High Fantasy as a setting has been following the same tropes or mold for some time. This isn't a bad thing, not usually, it's part of what we all enjoy about the genre. The medieval setting, the swords and sorcery, it could be said to be what makes fantasy fantasy. Yet, there can be more, fantasy is about creating your own worlds with their own rules, so why should they all be so similar? While there are a lot of diverse worlds out there, those that have become mainstream seem to remain close to the thread of Medieval sword and sorcery.

Recently however, I've discovered the world of Musket and Magic! Through Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood I was introduced to a world where black powder and black magic mixed to form a thrilling setting of revolution and national warfare. If you've read my piece on Epic Fantasy Warfare you know that I'm a fan of large scale battles where armies clash and fantastical elements play a part, and Promise of Blood had this and more! Gunpowder upped the explosiveness of the action scenes and had me unable to put the book down. Now I could be a very biased minority among fantasy readers as I've enjoyed the imperial time period a great deal, but it's also a refreshing change of scenery and I've found that the setting tend to lend itself to a different sort of story than the one you'll commonly read in medieval fantasy fare.

My second delving into this world of muskets and magic was The Thousand Names by Django Wexler. While the setting is a similar back drop, the devices of the story are richly unique and reads like a novel on a Napoleonic War Campaign, following an army's march through hostile country attempt to route an enemy. Once again interesting characters were juxtaposed against clashes of large armies. Lucky for me by the time I finished the second novel of this series the third had just been released! I flew through these novels faster than I managed The Powder Mage trilogy! My craving for this new subgenre cannot be sated.

Thanks to the fantastic community at /r/fantasy I've been directed towards Adrian Tchaikovsky's Guns of the Dawn. While I haven't had the chance to pick up this book yet, I can't wait to get my hands on it and take some time to sit down in my favorite chair and give it a read up in the quiet White Mountains.

If you haven't read something from the realm of muskets and magic yet I'd strongly recommend you head out and pick one up. Both of the two novels I wrote about above were debut novels for their authors and they knocked them out of the park. If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson you absolutely have to pick up Brian McClellan's novel Promise of Blood, and if you're a fan of large war novels then The Thousand Names is a must for  you.

It's a great day for writing, and it's a great day for reading.

Thanks,

AR