Review: Great Potential, Good Result
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 2, 2014
Of all the Powder Mage short stories/novellas, Forsword, I think, had the most potential.  Repeating the pattern of focusing on female characters (contrary to Promise of Blood), Forsworn features Erika, the heir to a Kez duchy and a powder mage.  Being a powder mage is usually the sort of thing that gets you executed in Kez, but there are benefits to being rich and powerful.  Erika is instead only required to forswear the use of powder and prohibited from handling firearms.  It has still earned her the enmity of Duke Nikslaus and means she's willing to put it all on the line when she discovers a child powder mage in the woods.Like, I said, Forsworn has a lot of potential.  It's really our first look at Kez, and the stakes are high.  Unfortunately, we don't learn a whole lot about Kez, and the climax doesn't quite work (because, I think, it was a novella and not a longer book).