Foundryside

A Novel

De: Robert Jackson Bennett

Narrado por: Tara Sands

“The exciting beginning of a promising new epic fantasy series. Prepare for ancient mysteries, innovative magic, and heart-pounding heists.”—Brandon Sanderson

“Complex characters, magic that is tech and vice versa, a world bound by warring trade dynasties: Bennett will leave you in awe once you remember to breathe!”—Tamora Pierce

In a city that runs on industrialized magic, a secret war will be fought to overwrite reality itself—the first in a dazzling new series from City of Stairs author Robert Jackson Bennett.

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.

But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic—the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience—have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.

Disappointing but with potential

I remember being impressed by City of Stairs by RJB despite its pulpier moments, but this book did not hit the same high notes.
The magic system is interesting and used to good effect, but the worldbuilding itself is a bit flat and unevocative. The characters have personality, but are not fully rounded. The plot had some twists and turns, but they were often telegraphed by some slightly heavy-handed exposition.
It is not a bad book, and the ending left me intrigued about the sequel, but it still left me a bit disappointed, although I can't deny that I was entertained through out.

It took too long for the story to get interesting

I need to preface this by saying I ended up liking the story at the end. However, as an intro to a supposed trilogy this was a poor representation of how it should be done.

The Good: The intro to the novel was not bad. A heist is a great way to start a novel. I loved the characters in the novel with the exception of one of them. The last 1/3 of the novel was amazing once you really understood what was going on and why the characters are motivated to do what they are doing. I cannot emphasize that I was truly engrossed in the last 5 hours of the book. Tara Sands voice acting was above average and most of the characters were very well represented. I love the "scriving(?)" system in place and the setting is just amazing.

The Bad: The first 2/3 of the novel is just poor plodding, pacing, and over explanation. It took time to get used to the shift in character perspective. Gregor was not a very interesting character to say the least and felt flat. The overuse of the first and last name of characters seemed...odd and I'm not sure what it was done and then suddenly dropped at the end. Things felt jarring and too confusing at times. And I really can't scrumming stand the curse "scrum" as its just silly.

Outside of that I can't wait to actually see where the series goes. I feel like it firmly planted its feet on the ground and can only go but up. Despite the slow start and annoyances I promise if you stick with it you will get an amazing ending to the novel and you will be excited for the next one.

GREEAAAT!

The world and magic system reminds me of Brandon Sanderson (my favorite author). This is an extremely well written and worthwhile book. Buy it.

Interesting Concepts, Some Flawed Touches

Overall, this story is interesting enough for me to pre-order the next book. I like most of the characters (even the one you hate are interesting), and the magical system (or tech might be more accurate) is somewhat uniquely done. However, at times the dialogue is really stilted and some descriptive scenes were overwrought.

I enjoyed Ms Sands performance & hope she’ll continue in the series!

A surprising heist

Towards the end of this book I slowed the narration down because I wanted it to last longer. It has a robust magic system, easy to love characters, and world building that doesn’t get in the way of itself.

One of the top listens of 2019