Murder at the Kinnen Hotel

A Powder Mage Novella

By: Brian McClellan

Narrated by: Julie Hoverson

Special Detective Constable Adamat may be the most capable young investigator in all of Adopest. He's sharp, thoughtful, and his particular sorcery gives him a flawless memory. A transfer to the First Precinct seems like the perfect opportunity to showcase his abilities and advance his career.

But things work differently in the First Precinct. The murder of a businessman's mistress quickly pulls Adamat into an unexpected world of conspiracy and politics where he's forced to use all his wits to stay one step ahead of unseen enemies and keep his friends - and himself - from the guillotine.

Occurs 22 years before the events in Promise of Blood.

©2014 Brian McClellan (P)2014 Brian McClellan

Nice Read

Good background story for Powder Mage series re Adamat at age 23, occurring 22 yrs prior to Promise of Blood. Enjoyable & interesting read.

The performance was excellent and fit the mood of the story

The powder mage universe is not only a great setting but and excellent arena for the terrifying story lines McCellen tells

Its All About Adamat

So if you are familiar with the series you know who Adamat is, if you didn't, then it would be better for you to start reading the series at first then come to this short story.

It tells the story of Adamat's career as a detective and the challenges in a particular case... Its quiet enjoyable and not too long.

Narration was ok, but it would have been better if it was the same narrator as in the trilogy.

Prequel

This is a fairly solid prequel that establishes a nice bit of background for Adamant. It is a decent mystery in its own right and is worth a listen.

4.5/5 stars Awesome Introduction to an Intriguing

Summary: A young policeman with a gift for remembering everything struggles to solve several murders, save a friend from the guillotine, and preserve his own career before the rich and powerful destroy him.

Additional Comments:
- I’ve never read the Powder Mage series, but this is a nice introduction to that world.
- 5/5 stars world-building: Fantasy of this sort hinges on creating a world at once familiar yet fantastically and fundamentally different. Brian McClellan does both. It probably helps that he already did the heavy lifting in the regular series, so he’s very comfortable describing his world to us.
- 4/5 stars characters: Adamat’s the sort of guy one can root for. Captain Hewi seems competent. Lieutenant Dorry’s somebody you’d love to hate. Adamat’s friend (the businessman) comes across as a useless lout, which is unfortunate because I think we’re supposed to like him. I don’t even remember his name and I finished the book yesterday. The cabal lady was suitably scary and awesome at the same time.
- 4.5/5 Plot: Things work out and tie up nicely. I liked the pieces where Adamat could explain stuff he’d read in newspapers several weeks ago. Kind of reminded me of a Sherlock Holmes’ moment.
- Content warning: standard fantasy violence. A few descriptions of blood and gore but nothing that would shake most genre fans.

Conclusion: Not sure where this fits in the grand scheme of the world, but it’s a cool introduction all the same. (Also not sure I’d invest $2.99 per subsequent 75 page novella … I’d probably wait for a combo book.)

*I received a free copy of the audiobook. I chose to review it. The opinions are solely my own.*

Most painful narration I have ever heard.

I do not think Monty python could have come up with a worse combination of accents and dreadful mispronunciations. I thought as it was a short story I could survive but 3/4 way in I failed and gave up. Story seemed good and I will get the kindle edition to finish the story. Waste of money and such dreadful treatment of a Brian McClellan work.