Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Foundryside

There were a few things I liked about this book, but it’s a case where a combination of length and unpleasant tropes brought it down in my esteem the further along the plot went. There’s a kind of fantasy novel that is concerned with magic that is often mechanic, often acts on the human body, is often a curse of gothic body horror, and almost always has someone sadistic and mad with jealous power at its heart. I’ve read a few of these books, and I can feel the dread creep in as I figure out that they’re going in this direction.

Bennett’s basic world-building is kind of cool, though (and this may also be an element of the kind of book I’ve just described) perhaps not to the well-trained, in-depth fantasy reader. The idea that codes can train objects to act like other objects, essentially as though their reality is different and specific to another thing, is intriguing. The scrivers and fabricators, lexicons and Sancia’s powers are all fascinating. The problem is that a lot of the mythology is really complex, the advanced scrived designs get a bit out of hand, and Bennett ends up juggling a lot of stuff that, despite sometimes lengthy explanations, is often a mix of suspension of disbelief and deus ex machina. Which would be a good joke, considering how much of the story deals with gods, machines, advanced beings, magic cyborgs, and the like, except that the piling up of all these pieces sort of cracks the foundations that the story is built on. I was never sure, when the characters refer to god (as in, “god help me” etc.), which god they speak of, since there’s no religion mentioned and the distant past is legend. They also swear way too much, all said, so that it became a distraction and the characters blended together at times; and this alternate universe looks a lot like steampunk 19th century Italy.

Some of the reveals about the key, about Sancia, are moving, but there’s a way to write trauma without putting that trauma in the reader, and Bennett was not interested in doing so. There’s an abundance of scenes of torture, war, enslavement, of misogyny, of medical trials, of starvation and mutilation, a lot of which I didn’t feel served it’s purpose. It’s a terrible world that’s terrible to live in. Sancia is a scrappy thief with a weird curse, and one of the few people worth rooting for. Mostly, these circumstances made me less likely to read the rest of the trilogy.

Content Warnings

iforgotilivedhere's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I loved this book! It was so so good but I had problems near the end.

Near the end whenever Sancia and her crew are trying to get the imperiat and Clef back, we had a whole section of them just going over scientific and boring shit that could of been easily summarized in a paragraph or just a page.

That was really my only problem. I’m so exited to see how Sancia and Berenice’s relationship grows. I’m so exited for some good sapphic romance!!

Content Warnings

erickert's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

bea_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed it once I got into the plot and the magic system! I think the writing is okay but the author could really use an editor.

Content Warnings

alaynatabor's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense slow-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

4.25

Content Warnings

micheala's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This was technically a reread for me. I originally read this back in December of 2018, and we'll I remembered the overarching story for the first 75% I did not remember anything about the climax and conclusion of this book.

I still don't really understand how the magic system works, and for most of the book I didn't feel confident saying that the author understood it either - kinda like if technology was treated as a soft magic system. As someone who prefers hard magic systems, I'm hoping that things get more fleshed out in the next book.

I think the characters are what really shine in this book (don't get me wrong, the plot is well done and yet what I remembered most from my original read was the characters). I loved some characters from their introduction, hated others, and had some grow on me (or free to hate others as the story progressed) and I can't wait to see what happens with certain relationships as the trilogy continues.

The final book come out at the end of the month and so I'm planning on picking up the sequel before then so I can read it as soon as I get my hands on it.

CW: slavery, sexual abuse of minors (mentioned but not graphic), gory, violence, murder, discussions/depictions of treating poor people as disposable/sub-human

Content Warnings

More...