If The Crimson Campaign stuttered a little, Brian McClellan gets back on form with The Autumn Republic, by grabbing everything he has and taking it forward at a furious pace.
The story develops well and overall this is both a strong novel and good conclusion to the Powder Mage trilogy.
It's left namely to Tamas and Adamat to really push the story, though, with Taniel again drifting through with an emotional arc that never really seems to develop - we have touching scenes between him and Vlora, but little shown with Ka-Poel.
The big elephant in the room is that despite the original premise of Promise of Blood - that Tamas has deposed a monarchy to establish a republic - at no point during this series is there any kind of political depth to illustrate this, and we never really get any sense of a city - let alone a country - undergoing new governance.
Grumbling aside, it is an entertaining and gritty series overall, and the worth the read. There are some unique story elements and the writing is very well-done. It's just a shame that there isn't the political depth that could have made this a more challenging read and less escapist.
