Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Foundryside

I love a well conceived magic system and Foundry side has that in spades. Characters and the central mystery/plot were exquisite.

If I had a nickel every time I read a book in the last two months where

the villain was really the brilliant cast aside and assumed weak woman getting her revenge

I would have 3 nickels.

I do have some qualms. 1) occasionally the book equats being fat with being evil / greedy / lazy. 2) page breaks that don't change POV or skip any time.

Something like:
"Sancia reached into her pocket and threw the scribed sphere. A brilliant white flash lit up the room

...

When her eyes recovered, Sancia dove rushed the guard to grab his sword arm".

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kriti's review against another edition

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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

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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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

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rossandhissandwich's review against another edition

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4.25

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spacecurl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

I picked this book up because I loved the cover, it's stunningly beautiful. It has been a while since I read a fantasy book with a lot of world building so it took me a little bit to get into, but the magic system was really interesting and the highly flawed characters that learned to work with each other over the course of the book was really fun to read.

It was a bit gruesome in parts which took me by surprise, but it matches the overall story and atmosphere of the book so it was tolerable to my soft heart haha

All in all I really enjoyed this book and will be reading the other two in the series in the future.

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jurizprudence's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

3.75

“Reality doesn’t matter. If you can change something’s mind enough, it’ll believe whatever reality you choose.”

so the merchant houses and their scrived tools' main thing is that they gaslight gatekeep girlboss their way into altering/manipulating objects and reality. that was interesting.

this book's biggest strengths lie on its magic system and world-building. if it were not for those two, i think i would've not continued reading, because i'm not the biggest fan of the characters (see, a character saying: "With his blood, the damned thing should open for her like a schoolgirl’s legs!" wth was that i seriously wanted to stop reading when i read that) and the writing style. also the middle took forever to read and i almost always found myself bored throughout the entire thing, which is weird, because i do love action and heists and this book has plenty of those—so maybe my problem is in the author's execution of plots and descriptions. i was also debating whether to pick up the next books or not because i really have complicated feelings about this one, but since i kinda liked the second to the last chapter and somehow i got attached to an actual key, i think i'll be continuing with this series. but not so soon, i guess. i might need a palate cleanser first.

i think if you liked six of crows, you might enjoy this, though that was not the case for me so i really don't know lol

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eegekay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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planetesastraea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I am fond of steampunk universes and this one is no exception: the way technology and magic are intricated builds a fascinating mystery.
The mythology of this world is thought through, clever and refreshing.

The characters are diverse and complex, carrying the weight of their past trauma and current conditions of existence.
Each of them has a pivoting role into the unfolding of events and seeing them work together to achieve something much bigger than themselves is extremely satisfying.

The representation of various ethnic origins, gender and romantic orientations among the main characters made the story even more valuable.

I'll definitely be reading the second installment shortly!

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