I’m a big fan of Jack Campbell's "The Lost Fleet" series, so I was a bit slow to get on board with his "The Pillars of Reality" series because it's a major shift in the genre—Sci-Fi to Steampunk Fantasy. But "The Hidden Masters of Marandur" has warmed me to it.
What I think did the trick is that once you get past the character introduction phase of Campbell's stories, with a little time, these earnest, hard-working, brave people always worm their way into your heart. Well, they do for me, at least. That's a bit of a back-handed compliment/insult, though, because having reread "Dauntless," recently, the first book of my beloved "The Lost Fleet" series, I did notice the same weak up front character introductions in that story too. His characters are a slow burn, but I almost always find myself liking them by the end.
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Author's Website: https://www.jack-campbell.com/