I'm not really sure where to start with this one other than to say I loved it. It had everything I love about epic fantasy: great world-building, compelling characters, a really cool magic system, lots of action, and plenty of political maneuvering with kingdom-altering stakes. In general, the story was a tense ride with steady pacing that kept upping its game the further I got into it. It built up to an ending that absolutely blew my mind, but we'll get to that a little more later in the review.

First, the world-building was astounding. From the very start in the prologue, I was intrigued by the magic, politics, and history of the world. I loved the idea of magic being worked into pieces of glass, with different types of additives in the glass giving different powers. It made the magic a tradable commodity that almost anyone could use, which allowed for the exploration of the fascinating premise of what happens to an empire when one of its most valuable and widely used commodities becomes irrevocably scarce. Hint: nothing good... The world itself had a gritty realness to it, and the author did a fantastic job of writing vivid descriptions that brought it all to life. The politics was one of my favorite things about the book. I'm a sucker for stories with families warring over power and influence (see my obsession of the Green Bone Saga as exhibit A), and this story delivered that in spades. The murder mystery and the conspiracy of how it tied into the struggle between the families kept me turning the pages because I just had to know who was behind it all.

I loved every single one of these characters. A great deal of time in the book was devoted to developing them into three-dimensional people that each had their own distinct motivations, conflicts, and interests despite being caught up in the same general conspiracy. It is rare for me to like all the POVs in a book equally, but this one managed to pull it off. I never found myself wishing to skip a POV to get back to the interesting character(s) because they were all really great. If I had to pick a favorite character, though, it would have to be Demir. I really like characters who start out broken and slowly piece themselves back together over the course of the story, and Demir fit that mold perfectly. He also had really fascinating powers and was a master strategist, which made reading about him enjoyable as he worked through battle tactics and attempted to put all the pieces of the conspiracy together.

As a quick side note, I love how LGBT+ rep was portrayed in this book. It seemed to be a primarily bi/pan society that embraced the fluidity of sexuality in a nonchalant way. Sexuality was never specifically addressed by the characters (at least that I remember), but there were some characters in same sex partnerships and many others who made references to having had attraction to multiple genders. I liked this approach because it normalized the fluidity of attraction in this world. The romance element in this book was fine. It was very much in the back seat, and rightfully so given all the other world-changing things going on, but I'm looking forward to seeing how some of the relationships progress in future books.

Now on to the ending... It was wild, ya'll. Never in a million years would I have guessed where this book was going. ***MILD SPOILER ALERT*** In retrospect, there were definitely signs sprinkled throughout the book, and the series title is actually a huge hint. The ending grabbed my attention and added a totally new dimension to the conflicts. The reveal just came way too late in my opinion. I was super invested in the guild family drama and the politics of it all. The ending felt like kind of a cop out to avoid having to figure out a meaningful way to conclude that drama by introducing a bigger boogeyman at the last minute. I'm definitely curious to see where the story is going now, though, because the ending sets up some really interesting ideas for the future. ***END MILD SPOILERS***

Overall, I really loved this book. The characters, world-building, and writing were all fantastic, and I'll definitely be back for the sequel. The ending was a shocker, but I didn't find it to be a super satisfying conclusion to all the story threads of this book. Luckily, there are more of them coming (hopefully) soon.

I was very much looking forward to this as my first McClellan read. The setting was definitely an interesting one, and I liked the majority of the glass magic. The overall storyline was also mostly quite interesting.

I'm not quite sure what it was but I just couldn't get going with this one. I had genuine interest in what was going on, and wanted to follow what was happening with various characters. The overall package though just didn't grip me for whatever reason, and after only reaching 40% after several weeks of reading, I eventually admitted that it was time to move on.

This new series from Brian McClellan of Powder Mage frame is an excellent start to a new world with an intricate story and interesting characters. While the world is new, it has a very similar vibe to that of Powder Mage - it's still powderpunk, there's a strong military aspect and war of armies, we have character(s) who are big strong burly men and there's even an investigator. None of the similarities are likely to bother you though - they're just fun to notice.

The concept of the new magic system - based on magically-infused glass that induces different types of effects - is fascinating as it doesn't limit magic to magically gifted people. Most of it can be used by anyone, if they can afford it. This means that magic is heavily involved in all aspects of society and economics rather than something weird and mysterious. There is a specific type of 'uber' mage, the Glass Dancers which is more of the traditional mage, but I like the commoditization of magic very much as a story element.

Story: The main protagonist, Demir Grappo, a political/military/magical prodigy has withdrawn from society for the better part of a decade for something that happened in his first campaign. He returns to take charge of the guild house of Grappo when his mother is murdered. The main story lines revolve around finding out the culprits and reasons for the murder, and hidden fact that the sand used to create magical glass is running out and all of civilization depends on it.

The story is very good and interesting - there's a bit of whodunnit in it and none of the discoveries are guessable nor unbelievable. The A-plot of running out of magic is excellent and feels well thought out. However, the main appeal in the book (like in the Powder Mage) is the characters . We have an ensemble cast with multiple POVs and they're all interesting. They also very nicely tie into each other and interact all the time, keeping the plot tight. Extra points for the author for intentionally avoiding the use of the unnecessary-drama-caused-by-characters-inability-to-communicate crutch which I loathe (there are a few moments where this almost happens, but then characters behave rationally and solve the problem immediately. Love it.)

I listened to this as the audio version, excellently narrated by Damian Lynch. I thought I would hate anyone who is not Christian Rodska (the Powder Mage narrator), but Damian does an excellent job here. Highly recommended.

Basically, I loved everything about this book. The Powder Mage is one of my favorite series and I might like this one even more. If you're a fan of McCellan's earlier books, you should love this. For anyone who likes good fantasy with a bit of twist, give this one a try. It could be the best new book you'll read all yea

The below 4.5-star review was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday, Amazon, and Goodreads on 6/21/22:

Brian McClellan’s opening salvo in his latest series, In the Shadow of Lightning, didn’t immediately grab me. The opening scenes, which take place some nine years before the events in the bulk of the novel and setup Demir’s character arc, were not as effective as, say, the scenes of revolution that open Promise of Blood. The glass-based magic system is clever enough, I suppose, but at some point, you read about so many different magic systems—from McClellan or Brandon Sanderson or whoever—that there are diminishing returns. And it isn’t as distinctive as the powder mage sorcery from Promise of Blood, for example. But McClellan makes great hay out of it, and the story picks up steam as it goes.

This is the sort of fantasy that needs a shiny, inventive magic system of its own. Like I said above, the magic system here is glass-based. The main character, Demir, is a glassdancer (which mostly means using shards of glass to slice large numbers of people to ribbons). The rest of the glass magic revolves around what is known as godglass, forged, sorcerous glass that can have a number of properties. Forgeglass makes someone faster and stronger, for example, and witglass helps them think more quickly and clearly, cureglass heals wounds, etc. Most people suffer ill effects from overuse of godglass, so they keep their godglass in cork-lined pockets when not using them (usually by wearing them as an earring). People with immunity to the ill effects of heavy godglass use, like Idrian, can become super soldiers by loading up on godglass earrings, weapons, and armor. No reaction to godglass at all, on the other hand, is a very handy trait for a godglass forger like Thessa.

McClellan doesn’t just give us a magic system to show off how good he is at thinking up magic systems. He doesn’t even just give us one to facilitate some kick-butt set pieces (although we emphatically get those). He also weaves it deep into his worldbuilding. The politics of the Ossan Empire are reminiscent of the late Roman Republic, with powerful guild-families not only holding seats in the Assembly but also operating extensive patronage networks. The tech is early modern (at least), with firearms and factories. But the Ossan Empire and the economy of the world is built on godglass. Forgeglass isn’t just used by soldiers for an advantage in combat, it is used by laborers to give them extra strength.

It is a big deal, then, that the cindersand necessary to forge godglass is running out. Now, one of my main gripes with the book is here. McClellan makes the same mistake embedded in the idea of Peak Oil. His world will no more suddenly run out of cindersand than ours would suddenly run out of oil. Diminishing supplies would push up prices, which would incentivize cuts in use and expanded efforts to find more of the same or alternatives, thus slowing the reduction in supply. But, regardless, Peak Cindersand is a key plot point. Godglass cannot be recharged, so the demand and need for cindersand to forge fresh godglass is enormous.

Demir goes into self-imposed exile after the events at the very beginning of the book. He restarts his political (and later military) career after his mother is murdered and he becomes patriarch of his guild-family, the Grappo. He discovers his mother was working with a Master Kastoras in Grent on a near-mythical “phoenix challenge” that would allow godglass to be recharged. Complicating things is that Grent, a nearby but independent city-state, gets blamed for his mother’s murder and invaded. Master Kastora’s protégé Thessa becomes a major character. The other two major characters are Idrian, a Breacher with long ties to Demir and a very personal, vital interest in helping him, and Kizzie, a Vorcien guild-family enforcer and bastard family member who has even longer-standing ties to Demir and a reputation for integrity. Demir sets Kizzie to unraveling the conspiracy that killed his mother, tracking down the other five killers (the sixth being a known Grent agent).

Deserving of separate mention is Baby Montego, who isn’t quite a major character. I love Baby Montego. He is a former champion cudgelist, the national sport, and a true celebrity. It is hard for a man that size to avoid notice. But he isn’t just a mountain of a man in possession of truly tremendous strength. He isn’t even just a strong guy who is also very fast and skilled at physical combat. He is also a kind soul and immensely intelligent. As another childhood friend of Demir, he is one of his key allies. One of my favorite things about In the Shadow of Lightning is that Demir, Idrian, Thessa, Kizzie, and Baby Montego are all hugely capable. But they start to uncover a conspiracy far larger and far more dangerous than they could imagine.

McClellan writes great military fantasies, but don’t let the opening scenes fool you. In the Shadow of Lightning is not primarily a military fantasy. It has some of those elements, but the story is driven more by the political intrigue and the detective work uncovering the conspiracy. I was delighted to find just how much I enjoyed those latter elements. McClellan has done it again. I am all-in on his new series.

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of In the Shadow of Lightning from the publisher.

I really enjoyed this! I think that Brian McClellan took what could have been sort of a chaotic mess and weaved together very seamlessly. There were a lot of little components that I was skeptical about it first, but they ultimately ended up being really good. I really loved both of the powder mage trilogies, and so I went in with some preset expectations, and McClellan was able to knock it out of the park. I thought the magic system was amazing, very rich, very interesting. I love the idea of magic forged glass being a key component of it, and I thought the background was well done too. It wasn't too deep and it wasn't too shallow. I also thought that the mystery was really interesting, but it was a little untethered for my taste-- it just seemed a little neatly laid out with no real effort on the characters' part but it was still so good. Overall I really loved this, I was worried going in that my expectations were too high because of the Powder Mage trilogies but I was not let down by this novel!

I absolutely loved it! Brian's pacing and characters especially have tremendously improved. Full booktube review available here: https://youtu.be/fHGWQ5hj5O8

Glass Immortals is the latest series from the excellent Brian McClellan, after the Powder Mage-universe trilogies. As ever, his characterization, worldbuilding and storytelling remain strong with one of the most powerful prologues in recent memories. Demir Grappo is a military commander for the Ossan Empire whose success has led him to see himself as a failure: during the successful surrender of one city, seeming bad orders led to his men brutally sacking it. Disgusted, Demir resigns his commission and becomes an outcast. But after his mother's brutal murder, he is thrust into a dark web of intrigue.

The first thing to say is McClellan's conceptualizing and worldbuilding remain strong. The novel is packed full of fascinating intrigue, with magical resources dwindling. As ever, MCClellan focuses on a fast-paced story that does not forsake characterization. Demir is one of the best characters in the novel; a conqueror whose conscience would not allow him to continue.

He is not the only character. the POV shifts between Kissandra, Idrian and Thessa. Thessa is the strongest of the cast besides Demir, being a master silicer who uses her wits and scientific wherewithal tog et by.

The plot is fast paced and well constructed, though the book suffers from some pacing issues when it could have stood to breathe more at times. Nevertheless, it is an excellent start to a series that will hopefully only get better.

TL;DR

Brian McClellan delivers another innovative magical system in a fantastic society on the verge of magical collapse. In the Shadow of Lightning will please any fantasy fans and especially fans of Brandon Sanderson. Highly recommended.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review: In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan

Fantasy, like all fiction, deals with the world in which the writer lives. In our world, resources are finite and eventually run out. Oil wells will, one day, run dry. Modern society is built around oil. What will happen when it runs out? Brian McClellan gives readers a glimpse in the opening to his Glass Immortals series. In the Shadow of Lightning teases at the political ramifications that are set to rock its society as the magic it depends upon begins to run out.

Demir Grappo is a political prodigy and a strategic genius. It also helps that he has magical assistance in his thinking process through something called witglass. In the Shadow of Lightning opens with Demir’s great victory over the rebels of Holikan. As he accepts the surrender of Holikan’s mayor, his troops began to destroy the town, supposedly on his orders. Except Demir never gave that order. He tries to stop the troops, but their devastation is unstoppable by one man. Demir has a mental breakdown, quits the military, quits his political post, and runs off to the countryside to live in shame and privacy. Nearly a decade after his breakdown, a close friend finds Demir to let him know his mother was murdered. Demir is now the patriarch of the Grappo guild-family. He returns to the capital to take over the family businesses and to try to find out who murdered his mother. While going through her things, Demir’s mother implores him to seek out a glass-smith in the neighboring country of Grent. Except Demir’s nation, Ossa, is using his mother’s murder as an excuse to wage war on Grent. Demir must slip into a warzone to fulfill his mother’s request. He soon learns that godglass society depends upon may soon run out. Without the godglass, economies will crash; nations will fall; and civilization may undergo a dark age. As Demir investigates his mother’s death and the looming godglass crisis, he learns there’s more going on than he ever imagined. Reconnecting with old friends and finding new allies is Demir’s only path to succeed and stay alive.

In the Shadow of Lightning is a close third person epic fantasy. The books follows four main characters with each chapter rotating between the different points of view. Demir, his childhood friend Kizzie, Idrian the tank of a soldier he served with, and Thessa the apprentice glass-smith well on her way to mastery.

A lot of action takes place in this book. McClellan packs in so many storylines that other authors might take an entire book to explore. The book flies from adventure to crisis to war and back to adventure quickly while still keeping the intimate moments with the characters. Each of the four POV react to the events directing their lives. They reflect on the changes to their world and to themselves. Demir is quite successful in his many adventures, and this might lead one to think that he’s a Gary Stu. However, McClellan walks close to that line without crossing it. Demir’s successes rarely last, and another big problem waits for him and the other characters immediately upon solving a problem.

A side of effect of all the action is that the scenery is bare bones. Upon finishing the book, I couldn’t remember what any of the locations looked like. This might be an issue for some readers but not others. I would have liked to see more of Ossa.

Politics

Demir’s home state of Ossa uses his mother’s assassination as an excuse to make war on its neighbor Grent. But the real reason they go to war is to secure Grent’s godglass forges. Politics plays a grand factor in this novel. Money, favors, jockeying for power, and control of economies all figure into McClellan’s world.

Demir is adept at politics, but his earlier betrayal has left a bad taste in his mouth for the game of grand houses. Yet, he has to play once again to ensure his future and to continue his mother’s work. Demir is a man capable of wooing the elites, winning over crowds, and finding compromise. He comes into contact with the Inner Council of Ossa more than once and comes out a winner once, even the next. In Demir’s world, politics is aided by magical intervention.

Politics in McClellan’s story is inextricably linked to wealth. The wealthy houses are the political elite, and they, in turn, use their status and political power to enhance their wealth. The law very mildly applies to the wealthy. Their biggest fear isn’t prison but the loss of lucrative contracts. Wealth means status means power in this world. If a great house has to deal in black market godglass, so be it as long as it turns a profit.

Magic System

Like in his Power Mage Universe, McClellan knows how to create innovative magical systems. In this novel, glassdancers can manipulate glass. It makes them formidable warriors with glass shards slicing through enemies on the battlefields.

In addition, godglass are magical artifacts infused with various aspects. There’s cureglass to help with wounds, milkglass to help with pain, witglass to aid in thinking, and forgeglass to make you stronger. Anyone can access this by making contact with bits of glass with magic infused. Well, almost anyone, a few rare folk can use godglass. But they also avoid the negatives aspects of godglass. The magic eventually runs out, and the glass is just another bit of pretty artwork.

As long as the magic remains infused in the glass, the user increases their chances of glassrot scales developing on their skin. McClellan doesn’t show us much about the side effects; though, one character later on is described as having changed into something hideous due to years and year of glassrot. Hopefully, future books will explore more the effects and consequences of glassrot.

Conclusion

Brian McClellan’s In the Shadow of Lightning combines his trademark innovative magical systems with excellent battle scenes and a new world to open another must read trilogy. If you liked the Powder Mage Trilogy, you’re gonna love In the Shadow of Lightning.

In the Shadow of Lightning is a fantastic entry into a new series by Brian McClellan. There is so much that I love about this book that it's hard to find anything I was not a fan of. The magic system being split between special glass jewelry that augments the wearers abilities and people gifted with the ability to control glass is unique and really well done. The magic is also extremely balanced. Prolonged exposure to the glass can cause rotted skin that can eventually kill or complete descent into madness means that the characters must decide if their physical and mental wellbeing is worth the boost to their mind and body. While other series do tend to have drawbacks to their magic, McClellan makes sure that you don't forget the consequences for exposure to godglass.
The characters are a bit tropey but they are done really well especially in relation to each other. Everyone seems to have their own thoughts and feelings in regards to anyone they come across and it plays really well with the political aspect of the plot.
The plot itself is really well thought out. Each character appears to have their own piece to the larger puzzle that Demir has found himself in the center of. There is a perspective for the war efforts, the political scheming, and the murder mystery that started it all., Having each perspective follow one route heavily while Demir becomes the connection point for all of them balances everything out. It doesn't feel like we are given politics or war in heavier doses than the other.
Now, the only thing that I could really nit pick about this book is that the first half did not have many roadblocks for our characters to maneuver. Any problem that was in the way was easily overcame whilst the second half was the opposite. While I don't really have much of a problem with that, it does give the two halves of the book different pacing..
All-in-all, really solid read that I would recommend to anyone that enjoys political fantasies, murder mysteries, and flintlock-esque wars.

I think this one is more for a male reader. I enjoyed it but it wasn’t quite for me. It excelled in its world building and the characters were interesting. Demir is a sympathetic character with his buckets of trauma and guilt. I think it might best appeal to a reader that likes the grim dark at heavy fantasy like The Black Company or the Malazan series. I did like it, I just didn’t love it. It is quite well written.

First of all, I love this cover!
I really liekd the idea of the book, but unfortunately it never fully grasped my attention.
The prologue was absolutely amazing, and I kept hoping that at some part in the book we would reach a similar level, but I don´t feel like we ever did.
I feel nothing was necesarily ´wrong´ with this book, but there was also nothing really outstanding?!

I love the writing within this book. The world-building? Amazing. I couldn’t tell how this was going to end and I LOVED that. Books that manage to shock/surprise me are always great. I enjoyed the magic system. It wasn’t super difficult to understand this new world thanks to the world-building. However, this was only 4/5 because the characters weren’t the best. They just felt lackluster. Can’t wait to see where this goes!!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing the eARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review, all opinions are my own.

*full detailed review will be posted to goodreads on June 19th.*

This was my first experience with Brian McClellan, and while I've heard somewhat mixed reviews for his Powder Mage trilogy, but considering he's a fairly well known author with multiple series published, I was expecting In the Shadow of Lightning to be a polished and entertaining read. Unfortunately the end product was extremely mediocre and felt like a struggling author putting out a sloppy debut.

The premise of this book is what initially pulled me in. We're presented with a world where magic is a finite resource and it's running out. The main character, Demir, is presented as a man who fled his life of power and influence to become an outcast due to a war campaign that went bad. Both premises had a lot of promise, but neither is delivered upon in any meaningful way.

The magic system of glassdancing and godglass in general is interesting, but despite having a character in the book that literally makes godglass (not to mention our main character being a glassdancer) we really learn very little about how the magic system works. I understand that having an "info dump" is not always the best way to explain a magic system, but there was ample opportunity to explore the magic system that was simply not utilized. I have a feeling more will be explained in the future, but I will not be continuing to find out.

Demir's story is especially the one that really feels like it failed to live up to its potential, however. We get no time to see the main character deal with the emotional fallout or cost of either the events that turned him into an outcast, nor the events that make him come back to his old life. The story just jumps past any scenes where a character should be feeling extreme emotions, and at best revisits the emotion later in order to create a false sense of drama.

There are some positives to this book despite all this. The actual prose is solid and very accessible, and the action scenes (though seemingly few and far between) are extremely well written. While much of the climax was quite predictable, the action surrounding it was one of the few sections of this book I enjoyed. The world and the magic system being set up also were interesting, there just wasn't enough to really make me feel engaged in the story or care about the characters.

Overall this book was just "okay." It didn't do anything to really pull me in or make me interested enough to continue in this new series despite not being a bad book. I think cutting down on page count dramatically while adjusting the pacing and story structure to spend a bit more time on giving the characters, world, and magic system more depth would make a huge difference. I'm all for long books, but all the things I would expect from a book this size were unfortunately lacking.

In the Shadow of Lighting doesn't have anything horrendously wrong about it, nor does it have anything amazingly superb about it. It just...is. In the Shadow of Lightning is a fantasy novel that doesn't feel like it strives to set itself apart from the others in its genre. The only truly unique thing about this world is the magic system based around different pieces of glass. Some give you strength, some give you speed, etc. Which, to me, is a lot like Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. Unlike the Mistborn series, In the Shadow of Lightning doesn't dive deeper into the magic system beyond just...explaining what each different type of glass does. It feels flat, like someone trying to throw seasoning over an underwhelming steak. The characters fell flat for me, the plot didn't feel like it had enough grip, and the pacing was off for me.
I hope I'm the odd one out and everyone else enjoys this book, but unfortunately it was not for me.

McClellan really kills it with his Fantasy Magic.
Never have I read a book, where the surrounding focal magic system is Magic Forged Glass.
MAGIC FORGED GLASS? SAY WHAT?
So let me break these kaleidoscope of glass powers for you, because to me this is what really “ROCKED “in the book.
So, we have: Forgeglass-Which Enhances Strength
Cureglass- Which Make you Heal Faster (Like it sounds)
Milkglass-Takes the pain away
Museglass- Augments artistic creativity
Sightglass- Sensory augmentation
Witglass- Augments mental acuity
Shackleglass- When this is put on a person, it makes them tell the truth. (Damn! Where can I get some of that?) Hee Hee
Fearglass- Makes a person fearful
Dazeglass- Makes a person confused of their surroundings.
Omniglass- Increases the resonance of nearby Godglass
Hammerglass- Extremely Durable (What Idrian’s suit is made of) most often used for armor.
Razorglass- Can be given an edge that can cut through almost anything.
So, there you have it folks! All the Godglass. So now that the cool stuff is out of the way, this is what the story is about.
Demir Grappo, Youngest General/Politician, aka Prince of Lightning, Member of the Grappo family Guild, Glassdancer (feared special tactician who can control glass telekinetically) when out on a military mission, someone gave the order in his name to sack Holkian City.
Devastated by the killings, Grappo leaves Ossa and goes into exile for 9 years, only to be tracked down by “said” best friend Capric Vorcien, Member of the largest family Guild in Ossa, to tell him that his mother has been murdered.
Grappo, devastated and much to Caprics chagrin returns to Ossa and enlists help from his childhood friend Kizzie Vorcien. (The bastard daughter of the Vorcien family) The Enforcer and One BADASS with the nose that Grappo needs for snooping out information about his mother’s murder.
Kizzie, however, has ulterior motives for helping Grappo out.
Baby Montego, also Grappos childhood friend/brother, retired fighter, the fiercest warrior in the world. Baby Montego brings depth to the story and bits of comedy.
Idrian Sepulki, The Breacher and super soldier thanks to his armor, he is also the oldest and the protector of the group. Idrian will do anything for these guys, even if it means risking his own life for them.
Thessa, The Silicreer and the best Godglass forger in the world and now tasked to save godglass existence.
Together the four of them are set on a course not only to find out who killed Grappos mother, but also the reason behind WHY?
McClellan takes readers on the Shinkansen filled with Murder, Mystery, Magic, and a Gaffer?
McClellan’s word building is thoroughly thought out and flows seamlessly.
Characters are endearing and you cannot help but empathize with them and fully feel every emotion.
Now that ending…. THAT ENDING.
GLASSDAM! NEXT!!!!
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, which was given to me free. My review is given voluntarily.

Usually, I try to not start a new series by an author if I have started another series by him (or her), and sure there are exceptions, because if I have reached the last published volume of the series I can start a new one while I wait, and sometimes I just start another series because I have no will power whatsoever when we speak about books, but I try. And with McClellan, I failed miserably! I am currently reading three series by him, if we count this one too, and I am not sorry in the least!
Anyway, when I saw this book on NetGalley I had to request it, and when they approved me I was excited. A lot. Then I started it and… wow! I was awed by it. Amazed. And completely captivated. There is so much in this book. And I really mean it. We have amazing characters, a lot of them, we have an interesting world-building, and a solid plot, with some twists and turns. And so much more.
And the point is that I really mean it, but I am not in the best frame of mind to express that coherently, so I’ll try with an example: I was reading and enjoying the book, and I was around the 70% when I needed to take a little break (do you know when you are reading something that it is so good, so captivating so perfect that it become a tad too much and you just need a little breath? It was like that) so I put down the book and decided to check some reviews for it. And I found a review that was talking about things that were unknown to me. So much so that I had the doubt for a moment that this was a review for a completely different book, because I read more than half of it, and all this guy was saying was totally new to me. And he was right because those things were in the book. It was mindblowing. But in the best possible way!

You really should read this book, if you are an epic fantasy reader, and if you liked his other books or Sanderson’s books, you would love this one. And here are some reasons:
1)Demir Grappo. Our MC. He is one of the best MCs ever. You know from the start that you would suffer with him. But he would be there for it because you can’t just leave him all alone. You need to be there for him. He is adorable and cute, but not naive, he can be ruthless when there is a need, but his heart is in the right place. And he is brilliant. He is a master tactician, he is so good he is scary. Really. And he is a rascal, too. And a powerful glassdancer. (Glassdancers are the magician of this world, of a sort). He is a flawed hero, he is not the shining knight, at all, but you just love him for that!
2)Idrian.We have some different POVs in this book, one is Demir’s obviously, and another one is Idrian. I need more of him. He is an interesting and deep character. And wow… he is so good. He is loyal, he is resourceful and he, like Demir too, has a unique sense of humor, quite dark, but it is the perfect kind for a soldier. And he is one who is really worth meeting. Trust me.
3)Baby Montego. Once you can pass over the name without laughing because… really dear author? Baby?? Anyway, we don’t have a POV for him and this was a bit disappointing because come on! He is an amazing character. He is so good!!! I cant’ decide between these three, but every one of them feels so real, and so amazing.

“I am Baby Montego and I will sing my own song”

4)The Characters. I loved the previous three the most, but we have a lot of interesting and amazing characters in this book, besides these three. Thessa is amazing, and I love when we find people who are capable and that love their job and are freaking good at it! Tad is another interesting one, and I wanted to know him better because there is some potential in there too. And I just have to talk about Mika, because she is another amazing character. She is, like Thessa, amazing in her work, and she knows how good she is. And she is brilliant too!
5)The Magical System.It reminded me a bit of the one in Mistborn by Sanderson. They are not alike. They are not the same, but there is something that can remind you of it. And I loved it! Even if we don’t have a heavy magic system in there, and even if it is not really at the center of things, it is intriguing and captivating.
6)The Prologue.It’s the best ever. You just have to read it. And once you read it, well… you won’t be able to put down the book!
7)The Intrigues. We have a mystery in there, and a lot of powerful families who are constantly trying to be the ones on top. So intrigues, plot, politics, and more. So much more! And betrayals. And some of them hurt so much!
8)The Humor. It is a pretty dark book, all things considered, but the characters have the ability to make things better with some good humor. Sure, more often than not it is pretty dark, but it is so good. So so good! I suffered so much with this book, but I rejoiced with it too and laughed. I was there for it, and I had a blast out of it!
9)Cudgeling.It is a sport. That the author creates. Perfect!

I know that my words aren’t enough. I really can’t stress enough how much I loved this one. I had a blast out of it. It made me feel so much, it made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me feel like all these characters were real. And now I am so invested in their story, so intrigued by this world, that I am really having a hard time letting it go. And it was pure bliss!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Here be me honest musings . . .

I have only read one novella by the author and I loved it so I was excited to give his longer works a shot.  This is the start of a new fantasy series where the economy is run by glass magic.  It was a decent read for me and I will be reading the next in the series.

The characters were the best thing about the book. Demir (who feels like the main character) was a member of the elite and a promising general before a betrayal broke his mind.  He lives as a self-imposed outcast until his mother's murder brings him back into politics.  Other POV characters include Kizzie (a type of investigator), Tessa (who works with glass magic), and Idrian (a soldier who uses magic).  There is a larger cast portrayed though.  A favorite was Baby Montego who should come across as ridiculous but instead is endearing.  I also enjoyed that men and women are fairly equal in society.  The female characters in this book actually tended to be the more interesting.  None of the characters seemed to have a lot of depth but I was rooting for them.

But while I liked the characters, the rest of the book felt derivative and rather unoriginal.  Not bad per se but not enthralling.  The magic system of using glass felt rather boring overall.  The economy runs on it but I never felt that it was particularly practical or even widespread.  The rich families have a lot but can't use a lot because of the side effects.  The author's idea is that glass making is coming to an end and thus the economy is going to fall apart but I didn't really feel that the world is better off with it or that the stakes of it disappearing would frankly really matter after the initial shock.  The glass certainly didn't seem worth dying for.

The murder mystery of who killed Demir's mother and the other mystery of the secret society were also lackluster.  I didn't feel that there really was a big mystery and watching the characters flail around and make no real progress was frustrating.  And the reveal when it came was rather expected even if the overall why of it hasn't been explained completely yet.  And the bad guys all felt rather one-dimensional.

Also the book felt too long and dragged in many, many places.  I liked individual moments in character stories and the interpersonal relationships but the overall conflict felt cliché and rather short-sighted.  Aye, this book was flawed but I do not regret reading it.  I just think I was expected more given how much the crew loves the Powder Mage trilogy.  Arrrrr!

Possible Triggers:
Death (especially of children) | All the Violence

Summary:
This is the first book in the ‘Glass Immortals’ series.

Characters:
This story follows multiple points of view; Demir, Kissandra, Idrian, and Thessa.

Every single one of these characters was fantastic. There wasn't one that I was less interested in their story arc. Usually you get one or two characters when they feature multiple PoV’s that just don't really resonate with you, not so in the case of this story. I want to know what happens to all the characters.

Positives:
+ The prologue just tears right into you. What a way to emotionally drag you into the story and set the tone. The next chapters don't let up. It's basically a relentless hammering of feelings.
+ That magic system. I loved the limitations; the breadth and scope of what could be done. I loved that the magic could be manufactured (in a way) and that there were consequences to using the magic. I loved that there were long term effects that were time sensitive. A++ for having so many awesome aspects to the magic.
+ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH the big reveal holy heck AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
+ I LOVE these fight scenes. SO EPIC. Guns! Swords! Stilletos! Mounted Dragoons! Cudgel fights! MAGIC BATTLES. Such a varied array of fighting taking place. Brian McClellan has the best damn fight scenes. I would love to read him writing a scene of my goblins fighting. I'm sure it would be positively epic.
+ Holy crap that Epilogue. Beat the crap outta the feels with the start and end it with a great big fish hook into my curiosity. Book 2 can not come soon enough.

Negatives:
- The only negative is that I don't already have a hard copy on my shelf.

Final Thoughts:
Holy crap, this book. I haven't binge read a book for a full straight 6 hours just to finish it and KNOW what happens at the end in a long long time. Finishing the book just had me sitting in silence for a long while wishing I could have someone to talk about the series with. I absolutely loved this book. It reminded me a lot of the tone and violence of Scott Lynchs’ “The Lies of Locke Lamora”, which is my favorite book. So if you enjoyed that book I think you will like this one as well. The story is fantastic. Heads up there is a lot of violence (it is set during conflict) and the violence encompasses EVERYONE. If you are sensitive to civilian casualties I suggest you take a lot of breaks (deep breaths, maybe with a favorite soothing drink on hand - i binged tea). Many of the things that happen in the book are really heart-rending. I loved all of the freaking characters. They are flawed and have distinct personalities and needs. I am conflicted on who I like most, but I think I have to go with Demir or maybe Idrian. The twist near the end of the book. Wow. Just mind blown. This was a mashup of all my favorite things with an awesome author at the helm. Buckle up buttercups! Be prepared to not be able to put this book down.

Guys! June has already brought me another book that will go on my Best Books of 2022 list!! Having seen the magic that Brian McClellan can work with the Powder Mage and Gods of Blood and Powder series, I had high expectations for In the Shadow of Lightning. And oh my, I could not have been happier unless I had the entire finished series in my hands at once. This book was incredible with an epic new magic system based on godglass, which grants the user enhanced intelligence, sight, strength, and even the ability to shoot razor sharp glass projectiles, but not without consequence.

AND THE POLITICS! I LOVE the politics between the guild families in the city of Ossa! I’m a big softie when it comes to vicious family rivalries, long held vendettas, and groups of powerful old geezers being outwitted by the upstart younger generation. It just warms my soul! 

Demir Grappo is at the forefront of that upstart younger generation when In the Shadow of Lightning begins. He’s barely past childhood and yet is leading a successful campaign against a rebelling territory until a traitorous miscommunication is sent out in his name to sack the city of Holikan. The Lightning Prince slips away into the outer territories for nine years, hiding from his mistakes and the event that broke him, only returning to Ossa when news that his mother was murdered reaches him. Demir finds himself the head of the Grappo guild family and thus responsible for their fortunes, properties, and retainers, but he also must find out who murdered his clever and compassionate mother AND take over the secret project she had begun. 

In order to complete these tasks, he gathers those he trusts most around him and here we are introduced to the other POV characters. Kizzie is a bastard daughter of the Vorcien clan and she’s currently out of favor, so when Demir offers her the opportunity to investigate Adriana Grappo’s murder rather than play beat cop she eagerly agrees. Not to mention, she, Demir, and Baby Montego have been close friends since childhood. Baby Montego is Demir’s adopted brother and world famous cudgeling champion (UFC, but fighters beat each other with cudgels). Montego is a terror to his enemies, adored by his fans, and will do anything for those he cares about. Then there’s Idrian Sepulki, a Breacher (human tank) who serves under Demir’s uncle in an engineering company of the Foreign Legion. Idrian is tough as forgeglass, and serves as the prime POV for the war between Grent and Ossa. He’s also slowly going mad as his witglass eye slowly loses its power. Lastly there’s Thessa, the only protege to a master siliceer (godglass developer) who was working with Demir’s mother to craft a phoenix channel. The phoenix channel was a theoretical design that could recharge godglass, which is quite important since the supply of material needed to craft it is running out.

There are so many layers to this story and Brian McClellan crafts and weaves these layers together in artful mastery. This book is a brilliant combination of detective work, war, and political intrigue much as with the original Powder Mage trilogy and frankly, it’s a combination I find totally addictive. It’s the ultimate combination of my favorite themes and the multiple POV characters bring everything together so seamlessly *chef’s kiss*. It was honestly tough to pick a favorite character, though Demir admittedly edges out the others just a smidge because I’m weak for overly competent, damaged characters. And boy-o, that ending was something else! The sudden appearance of eldritch horrors?? I am indescribably excited for the next book (currently my excitement level is at a frequency that could shatter glass). I’m about to go recommend this to every single person I know who actually reads books.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I can say that I have rarely been so disappointed. I am DNFing this book at just 15%. If I was to finish and give an actual rating I would give this a grudging 3 stars.

Coming off the Of Gods of and Powder trilogy that I absolutely loved this just is not on that level. I find the characters one-dimensional and flat. The pacing is sloppy and there is no emotional weight to anything. The aspects of the military and society are inconsistent. All I can say is that I am truly stunned by how much I have not enjoyed this story. Of the five chapters I have read, there have been immersion-breaking aspects in EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Just from the prologue to the first chapter we have a character from exile and back into society. With no real gap or time to sit with the consequences of the prologue. It seems to be the rule for this book rather than the exception. I hope I am an outlier here and that the book finds great success but this one is not for me