Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

25 reviews

bakenshake's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Slavery, Sexism, and Violence

hybridhavoc's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

3.0

I find myself kind of genuinely surprised at the amount of praise that has been showered on this book. About halfway through the book I was willing to write off a lot of the issues I had with it as being the result of a first-time author. Unfortunately that is not the case.

My largest issue with the book is that the author seems very taken with their magic system and everything else seems to mostly be in service to that. Most of the characters seem flat and inconsistent; knowledge of the world is info-dumped on us very abruptly; dialogue is often to-the-point in a way that feels incredibly unnatural and isn't even necessary. Sometimes the book just skips over what should be important dialogue. Need to convince this character to betray their own family? "He told her only what she needed to hear." That's not a conversation, that's a cop-out.

I know that the trend for modern fantasy is all about hard magic systems, and it seems like that is maybe where the love for this book comes from. After all, it does have what seems to be a clever magic system. I hesitate to call it a hard magic system though, as there are almost no actual details provided, and very little in the way of hard boundaries set. That makes sense, given that the magic system is basically programming, and when you're programming reality there aren't many boundaries beyond your knowledge and imagination. But by its very nature, then, I can't view this as a hard magic system. There is no point at which the author can't simply say "Sure they're in a pickle right now, but what's this? They just got cleverer and came up with a new bit of programming."

I think the part of the book that had me eye-rolling the hardest has to be the villains. They are absolute caricatures, the flattest of flat characters. I suspect that this, at least, gets better in future books in the series. But I honestly can't know for certain because almost none of the characters are consistent in this book.

There is more positive than negative in Foundryside, but I don't think there's enough positive for me to keep going with the series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Misogyny, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Classism and War

Minor: Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

It's basically The Matrix in a fantasy setting.

nokvi's review

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

I contemplated a lot about how to effectively rate this book. Beautiful magic system and lovable characters, Foundryside was one of my more enjoyable reads. Bennett does his best to ease you into the world of Foundryside and the fact that our MC Sancia is just as confused about the magic system as we are is the cherry on top. We navigate the world with Sancia as Bennett, explains the magic system to us over...
and over
and over
okay Robert I understand the basics now I promise

The man can write an action scene because trust there are some gory points in this book. Other than Robert's tendency to tell instead of show sometimes and his over explaining (which I can understand why people DNF this book)

Foundryside is wonderful critique of human greed, capitalism and hard limits. It begs us to ask just how much are we willing to do in the name of advancement? At what point does righteous anger become needless slaughter? We meet men and women willing to bend the very fabric of our world to ensure that they get what they want. Tevanne is a city filled with so much woes and those with the ability to assist can't be bothered thus leaving thousands without. Foundryside examines how history is twisted and lost thus influencing the world to repeat or get trapped in a similar cycle. It ask us to look within as we try to understand world as our characters do

We follow three characters as they interact with the environment and circumstances around them and in a limited third person POV, Bennett produces exceptional world building (other than when he info dumps), which is an experience when 1 member of your cast is as lost as the reader, the other is been blindsided and is naive to just how corrupt the system he is trying to fix is (Gregor my baby) and the last one is so deep within the magical system and power structure that his morals tend to be more self serving before reaching for the better.

Foundryside definitely made it's impact and I do so look forward to what is done in book 2

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Classism

Moderate: War, Violence, Body horror, Fatphobia, Gore, and Slavery

skrulls's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Classism, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Vomit, and War

beebidon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Slavery, Trafficking, War, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Classism, Murder, Mental illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Police brutality, Torture, Sexism, Grief, Gore, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Dementia

Minor: Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

Super fun fantasy novel, big fan of the Italian inspired setting! I liked the characters a lot and I'm excited to see the magic system unfold here 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

kriti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Blood, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, and Slavery

Minor: Child death, Cannibalism, and Car accident

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: War, Blood, Classism, Death, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexism, Slavery, and Gore

Minor: Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Cannibalism, Vomit, Alcohol, Excrement, and Mental illness

aeons_v_atlas's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The beginning was difficult for me to get through, and descriptions left me kinda zoning out or accidentally skipping over them, which incidentally left me with a poor vision of the world

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? No

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Excrement, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Torture, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Slavery, Stalking, Suicide, Trafficking, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Rape