The Autumn Republic

By: Brian McClellan

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a rich, distinctive world that mixes magic with technology, who could stand against mages that control gunpowder and bullets?

The capital has fallen...

Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing, his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away.

An army divided...

With the Kez still bearing down upon them and without clear leadership, the Adran army has turned against itself. Inspector Adamat is drawn into the very heart of this new mutiny with promises of finding his kidnapped son.

All hope rests with one...

And Taniel Two-shot, hunted by men he once thought his friends, must safeguard the only chance Adro has of getting through this war without being destroyed.

The Autumn Republic is the epic conclusion that began with Promise of Blood and The Crimson Campaign.

©2015 Brian McClellan (P)2015 Hachette Audio

A five star end to an excellent trilogy

A testament to the Powder Mage Trilogy: I listened to all three books, over 50 hours of it, in a row. While I had issues with some of the series (especially the middle book), it ends on a high note, as The Autumn Republic has many fewer issues -- especially with plotting, token women, and well-rounded relationships -- than either of the former novels. Further, the action remains excellent, the characters get more interesting, and the pace only increases.

It also works well as a final book. In what was a bit of a surprise given the sprawling world-building, almost all of the loose ends of the novels are wrapped up satisfactorily, and the many twists in the novel turn out to evolve naturally from hints laid down in the earlier books. Even better, after a rather grim second book, McClellan finally decides that, despite the low-magic world and constant warfare, he is not really writing grimdark fantasy, but rather the kind of novel where everything works out in satisfying and mostly unambiguous ways. There may be other novels about the powder mages, but this trilogy is a complete work on its own.

This means that, if you haven't read the series, you should. Despite occasional issues, it is engaging trilogy, and one of the best new voices in fantasy in the last couple years. And very well read, as well!

12 of 12 people found this review helpful

Fantastic Trilogy!!!

When I started this trilogy, I wasn't sure if it was good or not... but then I re-red the first book and red the short story ones too.... It is good... back story for all the characters throughout the trilogy and fantastic character development. It is a really good series..

Action sense are the best in this book and too graphical, which is good... too many loses and so many wins as well... there will be moments where your jaw will drop from the shock....

You get to know so many secrets, and the fate of certain characters.. I do hope that there will be more of powder mage books, I can see future trilogies in futuristic world (like ours now), that would be great.

Narration was excellent, Christian Rodska did a fantastic job in giving character and life to all the characters , it was really good...

I am a bit upset that this trilogy is over, but happy that it was a good ending... you will like this final addition to the powder mage trilogy.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

The time for a reckoning has arrived.

Field Marshall Tamas returns to find Adro in the hands of an enemy force and his own army divided against each other. Friends have turned into enemies and the gods themselves are directly involved in the conflict so it is up to Tamas, Taniel, and Adamat to sort out friend from foe and keep the new Republic of Adro alive. Tamas started this whole mess with his coup and it is up to him to fix it or die trying.

The series remains entertaining until the end and many characters play a bigger role than before including Ka-Poel, Borbador, Nila, and Ricard Tumblar. Despite the tangled web created by Brian McClellan he is able to wrap it up neatly and provide a fitting end to the trilogy. With Christian Rodska back again for the third book its a safe choice to go all the way and finish out the series.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Almost good

The story has too many anti climactic wrap ups for what should be important plot points. The magic system has some interesting concepts but never really develops any depth. This whole series feels like a missed opportunity.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

A fairly Disappointing Conclusion

When I first started this book I was very excited, I liked the first novels very much. This novel had so much potential for an epic conclusion to a strong trilogy. Alas it was not to be. The book as a whole was allright. Not a terrible book, but not a very good book either. It was nothing special. The story seemed to wander a bit along the way, as if Mr. McClellan was trying to figure out how he was going to wrap the series up. However, the main problem with the book was the actual ending of it. It was both anticlimactic and rushed. Parts of the ending were decent and seemed to fit together well, but a good portion of it didn't make much sense and seemed to flounder into the finish line. One of the main issues was that some of the main villains didn't turn out to be as awesome as we expected them to be. The other problem was that there were a few twists that the author threw in, but didn't explain either before or after they occurred. Finally, after the anticlimactic climax, I thought the wrap up was almost nonexistent. The book simply ended without much warning. Despite these problems I still loved McClellan's magic system. I will probably get another one of his books just because of the system. The narrator continued his good performances and he did a strong job. Overall, I thought this final book in the trilogy could have been better, but it could have been worse.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

I like this series more and more

Great series. Interesting, well developed characters. Unique world and plot. Well-written and engaging. Each book is better than the last.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Fantastic Conclusion to the Trilogy...

When I saw this book available for pre-order, it reminded me how badly I wanted to read the outcome of this trilogy. One major allure regarding Brian McClellan's approach to releasing his powder trilogy was that he released a number of small novella's about many key characters in his 'flint-lock fantasy' novel, which kept me anticipating the next book. Although it's not economically friendly, his method of story telling revealed characters past history, why, & how prior unknown actions/choices caused people's current consequences, detailing subjects only briefly mentioned/surmised in the main novels. I know certain readers will look at this negatively & I'd likely agree but McClellan was able to make it work, leaving me wanting more, not cursing attempts to take $ in exchange for subpar stories. If you haven't read any of the novella's I recommend a few, highly esp. the ones with Adamant & Tamas when they were younger men.

In the world of "Chronicles" & multiple books written by one author, it is refreshing to read a well-written trilogy that was put out in relatively quick succession & a well put together storyline with a few great character arc's & unique magic system involving different types of sorcery based on separate foundations (powder mages vs. privileged vs. those created by sorcery - Wardens). If you want an entertaining series of books that you won't have to wait 10 years for the entire chronicle to be finished or are looking for a distraction while waiting for said chronicles... The Powder Mage Trilogy & all the novella's that are related to this tale is a choice you won't regret. Not to mention Christian Rodska does a fantastic job of narration! Cheers to McClellan's debut trilogy!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Pretty disappointed...

I loved the first two books but this one just couldn't measure up. The pace was much slower and he nerfed one of my favorite characters. I am pretty disappointed after waiting so long for this to come out.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great story, weird magic system!

First and foremost, I read all three books and enjoyed them. It is a worthwhile series. That being said, I thought the magic system employed was bizarre. Also the mixture of a Napoleonic era war with concurrent use of magic was just weird. Similar to, but not as good as, Brandon Sanderson's elemental series.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Some of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to

This whole series is amazing. I'm sure the books on their own are great but the story telling in these audio books is incredible. Quite possibly the best audio series I've heard yet.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful