It would have been a better story had they kept it clean and direct. * I understand the need to establish characters, themes, schemes, and world build but this story tries to twist and weave too many times trying to introduce B-stories, C-stories, D-stories and more all at once. Also, later in the book, the term 'god' is used in the ways don't seem to mesh with their earlier uses. They kept saying, 'oh my god' or 'what the hell' but those mean nothing as they we don't have any understanding of the religions in Tevan so what does 'god or hell' even mean to them. Some of these are just overused like 'shit' when they spent time to explain & established 'scrum' as a perfectly sensible replacement. * For a fantasy world where they established their own lingo and slang and descriptions and names for things, the writer uses too many common/modern phrases to keep understandable to regular readers. Many of my complaints will likely just apply to me but here we go. In the end, though, i had so many issues that i struggled to keep going chapter after chapter.

I liked many of the PARTS but had issues with their SUM. 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. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them. Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims. 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. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.īut 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. Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. In a city that runs on industrialized magic, a secret war will be fought to overwrite reality itself - the first in a dazzling new fantasy series from City of Stairs author Robert Jackson Bennett.

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

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett