Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

6 reviews

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

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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

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

I came across this book thanks to its mention in an essay about creative commentary through sci-fi/fantasy systems, in which it was lauded in the same breath as N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season. I am happy to report that it lives up to this comparison. The “magic” system of this book is incredibly unique and inspired, and Robert Jackson Bennett skillfully increases how complexly it is applied in a very rewarding way. His style is similar to Brandon Sanderson, with a nice balance of humor, despair, and optimism. And the best part is this book is basically a series of heists with ever increasing stakes and reality-warping magic! This would be a 5 star review if not for some politics regarding policing that feel outdated from a 2023 perspective and the handling of a certain characters’ trauma. I think that element could’ve been handled more tactfully. Ultimately, though,  this book was quite the enjoyable read, and I’m excited to read the next installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Alcohol, Slavery, Torture, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Violence, Vomit, War, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Classism, Death, Medical content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Cannibalism and Death of parent

amandabcook's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical trauma, and Slavery

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Minor: Sexual content, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Sexual violence

booksthatburn's review against another edition

It introduces a disabled secondary character as an object lesson/warning to the protagonist, this character is disabled from mutilation and amputation during previous torture. I’d felt uneasy about how flippantly some topics were handled and then this confirms that my hesitance was well-founded.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, Cursing, Ableism, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Slavery

eegekay's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Car accident and Child death

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

 Foundryside was my first five-star read this year because it was such a fun and amazing experience. First, I was not sure if I would enjoy the novel or not. The beginning felt so typical for a high fantasy with a young female protagonist – this doesn’t make it a YA book! – and I wondered if I became tired of the genre. But just a few chapters later, I was highly invested into the story and the characters. 

I don’t want to say too much about the plot because it was so full of surprises, twists and made me feel so many different emotions. It begins with the main character Sancia following an order to steal a little box. Instead of returning it to her client, she opens it and finds Cleff, the talking key able to open every keylock. This sets off some unexpecting events spiralling into our protagonists being caught between different fronts of a bigger conflict then they would’ve expected. It should be mentioned that it's quite brutal at some point and has some body horror in it, so please keep this in mind if you want to read it. 

The best thing about this novel was the world building and here especially the magic system and the setting. The magic system is one of the greatest I’ve read in a while. In the world of Foundryside, objects are alive and can be commanded through inscribing instructions and properties onto them. It’s furthermore heavily based on physical principles and there are some references to artificial learning. I’m bad at explaining it but Bennett makes it look and work really natural. At many points, it’s integrated so cleverly into the story. I also loved the setting of the story with the different merchant families in an early capitalist era. This is honestly so much better than a fantasy world inspired by the Middle Ages because I’m definitely tired of those. Luckily, this capitalistic world was viewed critically and showed the uneven distribution of wealth vividly – I wonder where the author got the inspiration for this lmao. 

As it is usual for high fantasy, we have a main squad made up of different characters and I loved all of them. It was easy to bound with them, especially Sancia, but surprisingly also with characters like Cleff, the key, as well. They all have a great backstories and diverse backgrounds which is nice to see in high fantasy. 

All in all, Foundryside was one of my favorite fantasy experiences in a while and I hope that this will continue with its sequels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cannibalism