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the_readingduck's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cwsprinkle's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
allisonh59's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
alchaea's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
debchan's review against another edition
5.0
the acknowledgement at the end was both the cherry on the top and the final straw on the camel's back.
bennett you have done it again. how do you even describe what happened? if the first book set the tone with the scriving the heists the found family, the second book was a marathon at a million miles per hour all while ripping your heart out, then this last book was a more mature grief, the feeling of being completely alone and the feeling of being connected to an entire group of people you could call "family." it's apt that he wrote this during covid as well.
the battle scenes were screen-worthy. giant monsters, massive floating land masses, doors wrenched from reality. this was pure scifi genius and though i could barely grasp what was going on, i knew it was written incredibly well.
it takes place 8 years after the second book which astounded me. i didn't think it would work, but it did. bc it showcased how extensive this fight became and how huge giva has become. one of my favorite things was greeter and design. the idea of so many people agreeing to become one conglomerate person to fit and work together and hold giva together? i loved it. i loved what is said about when people truly know each other, when their intent is made known, is there really a need for conflict? that this in itself was a small piece of paradise, a utopia? and was it worse that it could never be possible here in this reality?
what could i say about sancia and berenice that i haven't already said? that they were so determined, not just for themselves or each other, but for all of humanity. that they could've run away but they didn't bc then they wouldn't be them. and how berenice has come so far from book 1. their love is so strong, when i read wife i was flabbergasted but yes i'm so happy for them. they know each other so well that sancia just has to run into the fray, report what she sees, and trusts completely that berenice will come up with an idea. my girl is so so smart.
and then we had clef and crasedes and valeria, all beings of incredible power. we get to see more clearly what really happened all those years ago. all the pain they caused each other, everything bc they were trying so hard to fix everything but it was just them and they were the only ones who knew how. and so they did the unforgivable, knowing what it was, in the slight hopes that everything would be ok. their story is so tragic and understandable and horrific and i'm totally glad it's fiction. i'm sure somewhere in another world and time they could have a chance to live freely and smile.
we got gregor back too for just a short while. and he and berenice were holding each other up for as long as they could. only they knew what they had been through. after all those years, i'm glad she had him even if he did leave in the end. and then i just knew bennett had to give us some sort of happy ending. (bc i'd go crazy if berenice were left on her own without sancia). they can get a drink now, they can stroll along the beach, they can hold each other and never let go. the sheer force and power of sancia and berenice's love wow. esp when they were reminiscing about book 1 ugh i miss those times too.
it's about people first and foremost. how we can destroy each other, for sure. but also how we are connected as a whole, how we can be stronger together. how it's impossible to become giva but isn't it worth it a bit to try? not the scriving but the tie, the bonds they had. it's about how crasedes tried over and over to fix the world but he couldn't. how gregor wanted to give reprieve to the people but realized the rot was deep within. it's about how the people you love the most can also hurt you the most. it's about how a seemingly simple choice could ripple into effect for hundreds of years later. it's a series about humanity. (and now i won't ever stop thinking about these books!)
bennett you have done it again. how do you even describe what happened? if the first book set the tone with the scriving the heists the found family, the second book was a marathon at a million miles per hour all while ripping your heart out, then this last book was a more mature grief, the feeling of being completely alone and the feeling of being connected to an entire group of people you could call "family." it's apt that he wrote this during covid as well.
the battle scenes were screen-worthy. giant monsters, massive floating land masses, doors wrenched from reality. this was pure scifi genius and though i could barely grasp what was going on, i knew it was written incredibly well.
it takes place 8 years after the second book which astounded me. i didn't think it would work, but it did. bc it showcased how extensive this fight became and how huge giva has become. one of my favorite things was greeter and design. the idea of so many people agreeing to become one conglomerate person to fit and work together and hold giva together? i loved it. i loved what is said about when people truly know each other, when their intent is made known, is there really a need for conflict? that this in itself was a small piece of paradise, a utopia? and was it worse that it could never be possible here in this reality?
what could i say about sancia and berenice that i haven't already said? that they were so determined, not just for themselves or each other, but for all of humanity. that they could've run away but they didn't bc then they wouldn't be them. and how berenice has come so far from book 1. their love is so strong, when i read wife i was flabbergasted but yes i'm so happy for them. they know each other so well that sancia just has to run into the fray, report what she sees, and trusts completely that berenice will come up with an idea. my girl is so so smart.
and then we had clef and crasedes and valeria, all beings of incredible power. we get to see more clearly what really happened all those years ago. all the pain they caused each other, everything bc they were trying so hard to fix everything but it was just them and they were the only ones who knew how. and so they did the unforgivable, knowing what it was, in the slight hopes that everything would be ok. their story is so tragic and understandable and horrific and i'm totally glad it's fiction. i'm sure somewhere in another world and time they could have a chance to live freely and smile.
it's about people first and foremost. how we can destroy each other, for sure. but also how we are connected as a whole, how we can be stronger together. how it's impossible to become giva but isn't it worth it a bit to try? not the scriving but the tie, the bonds they had. it's about how crasedes tried over and over to fix the world but he couldn't. how gregor wanted to give reprieve to the people but realized the rot was deep within. it's about how the people you love the most can also hurt you the most. it's about how a seemingly simple choice could ripple into effect for hundreds of years later. it's a series about humanity. (and now i won't ever stop thinking about these books!)
gotopieces's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A little bit hard to get through in spots, but a great ending to a unique and wonderful story.
mcloonejack's review against another edition
5.0
“For if the Founders Trilogy is about anything, I suppose, it is that the innovations of our species do not yield dividends on their own.”
The final stanza of any trilogy is exceedingly difficult, the author juggling not just plot lines and character arcs but also reader expectations. Robert Jackson Bennett fully sticks the landing with Locklands.
One difficulty of a final book is keeping it fresh. Bennett achieves this by adding in more POVs than just Sancia’s, a change I initially chaffed at but worked not just storytelling-wise, but also fits into the larger themes of this book and the series as a whole.
This book also largely maintains the non-stop action of the first two, but also makes space for a lot more emotional lifting that hit its marks, for me (though I am largely a sap). If I hadn’t been reading the final pages in my friends’ apartment, I likely would have let loose at least a couple tears.
While I’m usually not one for assessing the themes of fiction, this one is maybe a little heavy-handed with its messaging by the end, but is also not so horribly overbearing as to be preachy. The internal conflict between brilliance and wisdom, as framed in Bennett’s quote from his acknowledgements that I started this with, runs through the whole series and particularly this book. Invention for invention’s sake is not inherently virtuous, particularly when driven by a singular voice. It is also a critique of captive and exploitative “togetherness” as opposed to truly open connection: think Zuckerberg’s Facebook and the timesuck we spend in the vortex of being #Online to, say, the open-source investigations of Bellingcat.
There’s also a parallel, to me, to the United States government’s response to the COVID pandemic (Bennett wrote this in the midst of the early days). Without getting overly spoiler, Tevanne’s building on the literal lifeforce of mindless, captive bodies—one focal point building and expanding on the lives of others will actively ignoring their plight—compared to the empathetic collectivism of the people of Giva is a vision of how things were vs. how they should’ve been (and maybe, still could be).
Anyways, that’s a lot of words and thoughts, but the center important point here is that this is a BANGER, all three are bangers, and must reads. I’ll be recommending this series for a long time.
The final stanza of any trilogy is exceedingly difficult, the author juggling not just plot lines and character arcs but also reader expectations. Robert Jackson Bennett fully sticks the landing with Locklands.
One difficulty of a final book is keeping it fresh. Bennett achieves this by adding in more POVs than just Sancia’s, a change I initially chaffed at but worked not just storytelling-wise, but also fits into the larger themes of this book and the series as a whole.
This book also largely maintains the non-stop action of the first two, but also makes space for a lot more emotional lifting that hit its marks, for me (though I am largely a sap). If I hadn’t been reading the final pages in my friends’ apartment, I likely would have let loose at least a couple tears.
While I’m usually not one for assessing the themes of fiction, this one is maybe a little heavy-handed with its messaging by the end, but is also not so horribly overbearing as to be preachy. The internal conflict between brilliance and wisdom, as framed in Bennett’s quote from his acknowledgements that I started this with, runs through the whole series and particularly this book. Invention for invention’s sake is not inherently virtuous, particularly when driven by a singular voice. It is also a critique of captive and exploitative “togetherness” as opposed to truly open connection: think Zuckerberg’s Facebook and the timesuck we spend in the vortex of being #Online to, say, the open-source investigations of Bellingcat.
There’s also a parallel, to me, to the United States government’s response to the COVID pandemic (Bennett wrote this in the midst of the early days). Without getting overly spoiler, Tevanne’s building on the literal lifeforce of mindless, captive bodies—one focal point building and expanding on the lives of others will actively ignoring their plight—compared to the empathetic collectivism of the people of Giva is a vision of how things were vs. how they should’ve been (and maybe, still could be).
Anyways, that’s a lot of words and thoughts, but the center important point here is that this is a BANGER, all three are bangers, and must reads. I’ll be recommending this series for a long time.
thelenn3's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
delia91's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
cjroyg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0