Review: Excellent Addition to the Powder Mage Books
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 26, 2014
I had a hard time deciding between four and five stars on this one. If it were an option I probably would have given it a 4.5 out of 5.The author did an amazing job of weaving cultural context into the main character instead of just explaining it. I would have loved to have seen a bit more of Kez, but for a novella I thought it did what it needed to do in terms of world building. I understood and connected with Erika and her cause quickly and it held me to the end. She and the supporting cast were well-developed and felt like their own people not just vehicles for the plot. I particularly loved the mistress at arms, Santiole. She was just such a bad ass, but not in a way that felt like a stereotypical warrior woman or something.Honestly, I flat out love the Powder Mage Universe, so it's very hard for me to find fault with any of the stories in it, but I did think the pacing in Forsworn got hasty at the end. There was probably enough material going on here and in the background to merit a full novel, so I can see not wanting to start down that path because then where do you stop? However, I could have used one or two more wind down scenes. It wasn't an issue of not feeling like closure or anything like that, more of wanting a little more. Just a little bit.Overall, I highly recommend this book. I do think it would probably make more sense if you read Promise of Blood first, but I don't think it's inaccessible if you want to try the world out with something short (and what a wonderful world it is.)