The Crimson Campaign

Executive Summary: Another great entry in this series that I found even more enjoyable than the first.Full ReviewI have a feeling I'm going to be sick of Flintlock Fantasy soon. Not because this book is bad, but quite the opposite. I think that this series and [a:Django Wexler 639491 Django Wexler https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1357865518p2/639491.jpg]'s Shadow Campaign series is going to inspire a whole bunch of other people to write Flintlock Fantasy until we're saturated with it.The story picks up right where [b:Promise of Blood 15790883 Promise of Blood (The Powder Mage, #1) Brian McClellan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350337505s/15790883.jpg 21512438] leaves off. Taniel is sort of suffering a kind of PTSD that makes him less likable than the first book. His story is still interesting though, and I found this change of character very understandable.A big change for this book is that instead of having multiple POVs telling part of the same story, the characters are each involved in their own thing which aren't so tightly related. In fact the main characters don't really interact at all.To me this built a sense of a much larger world than the first book. Things weren't so narrowly focused. You got to see things outside of Andro as well as inside of it.My only real complaint here is once again the lack of strong women characters. Oh sure they exist in the world, but they are mostly minor characters. Ka-poel is probably my favorite, but she seems relegated to side-kick. Maybe if the mystery surrounding her character was removed by internal dialogue, I wouldn't feel the same though. However, I think Nila, who is the single female POV of the book, is by far the weakest.This book ends a lot better than the first. [b:Promise of Blood 15790883 Promise of Blood (The Powder Mage, #1) Brian McClellan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350337505s/15790883.jpg 21512438] seemed to just stop rather than end. This one does a good job in resolving the main threads of the book while setting things up nicely for the final book of the trilogy.Overall I think Mr. McClellan shows growth as a writer and improves upon his debut novel with this book. I for one can't wait for the final book in the trilogy.