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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
This review contains spoilers for [b:City of Stairs|20174424|City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394545220l/20174424._SY75_.jpg|28030792] and [b:City of Blades|23909755|City of Blades (The Divine Cities, #2)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1426255519l/23909755._SY75_.jpg|43516764].
“Change is a slow flower to bloom. Most of us will not see its full radiance. We plant it not for ourselves, but for future generations. But it is worth tending to. Oh, it is so terribly worth tending to.”
The conclusion to RJB’s Divine Cities trilogy made me so happy — even though it started off with tears. Tears for the end of the series and also tears for Shara’s death.
City of Miracles felt very different than its prequels. City of Stairs and City of Blades both revolved more around their central mysteries with wider Divine plots encircling them. This time, we solved the mystery fairly quickly but it led to a much more fantastical plot that felt just in time. Ever since City of Stairs, I’ve been craving a heavy dose of the Divine and I think we got that in this book. Additionally, it was carefully tied to Sigrud’s trauma around Signe’s death and his own murderous rampage of the Saypuri operatives at the end of City of Blades. It was just so good.
I loved this book and this series so much. Am I sad it’s over? Of course. But am I also secretly hoping RJB will surface one day with novellas or additional books in this world? Of course!! I am dying for a prequel novel around the battle between the Kaj and the Divinities. So please, RJB… please write it.
“Change is a slow flower to bloom. Most of us will not see its full radiance. We plant it not for ourselves, but for future generations. But it is worth tending to. Oh, it is so terribly worth tending to.”
The conclusion to RJB’s Divine Cities trilogy made me so happy — even though it started off with tears. Tears for the end of the series and also tears for Shara’s death.
City of Miracles felt very different than its prequels. City of Stairs and City of Blades both revolved more around their central mysteries with wider Divine plots encircling them. This time, we solved the mystery fairly quickly but it led to a much more fantastical plot that felt just in time. Ever since City of Stairs, I’ve been craving a heavy dose of the Divine and I think we got that in this book. Additionally, it was carefully tied to Sigrud’s trauma around Signe’s death and his own murderous rampage of the Saypuri operatives at the end of City of Blades. It was just so good.
I loved this book and this series so much. Am I sad it’s over? Of course. But am I also secretly hoping RJB will surface one day with novellas or additional books in this world? Of course!! I am dying for a prequel novel around the battle between the Kaj and the Divinities. So please, RJB… please write it.
one of the best endings to the best trilogy I have ever read. I am now a blubbering mess. Thank you Robert Jackson Bennett.
This wasn't my favorite book in the series, but it was a nice wrap-up to the series. I didn't find Sigrud to be as interesting as I would have anticipated after reading the first and second books. Part of that might have been because I was reading this intermittently on vacation and finished it up while sick with a sinus infection. He was reduced to experiences we'd already heard about - Slondheim, the Finger of Kolkan, the raid on his village and "death" of his family, and Signe's death but I feel like there could have been mountains of experience to mine, especially information about Dreyling life and customs. I really was hoping he was a Dreyling god, but oh well. All said and done a good series, but one with a somewhat weak ending.
I received an ARC from the LibraryThing Early Readers program. "City of Miracles" is the third book in The Divine Cities series by Robert Jackson Bennett and I think it's the best of the trilogy. What a vast universe Bennett has created and how well the main characters are developed over the course of books. This fictional world is populated by divine and semi-divine beings, strong females, frighteningly evil creatures, and all manner of heroes. There are beautifully described urban settings, fantastical imaginative architecture, sea adventures, and lovely quiet moments with cups of tea. The first book of the trilogy focused on world-building and a wily female spy named Shara Komayd and her strongman sidekick Sigrud. The second book was more militaristic and focused on Turyin Mulaghesh, a strong female general/governor and all around bad-ass. City of Miracles is centered around Sigrud's story - and there's more to this huge, strong man than meets the eye. I feel that much is gained by reading all of books in order, especially to understand the author's messages about the inevitability of time, the real dangers of ultimate power, the foolishness of bureaucracies and politics, and the strength of true hearts in the face of impossible odds.
I'm very glad I kept going in the series. Book #2 was so dark, I was worried this would be more of the same. Yet all that darkness had a point, and you don't get the point until you read this book. All in all, a great trilogy!
*Free copy from NetGalley for an honest review.
I absolutely loved City of Blades, the second book in this series (still need to read City of Stairs) so I was very excited to pick up this third book. Sigrud was such an incredible character in "Blades" that I was eager to see what he would do as a main character. Let me just say, it was awesome.
This book is such a wonderful blend of action, intrigue, magic and intelligent characters. The main characters have been doing what they've been doing for many years. They are old(er) people and it shows in their perspectives, their choices, their sheer common sense!
Once again, I find myself appreciating Bennett's ability to combine drama and action with a healthy dose of humor. He makes every character decision and all the dialogue seem so natural. Not only that, but I actually didn't see the big twist coming! I kinda pride myself on being able to predict the flow of books, but there was one, really big twist that I just did not predict, even though all the pieces were there! I swear I was paying attention, but it still surprised me!
For the most part, I don't think you need to have read the full series to enjoy this book. Reading either of the previous books will help with understanding a lot of what's going on in the world overall. However, if you were to "walk into" this book without any knowledge of the world, I think you'd still be able to enjoy it! However, if you're not a fan of a lot of blood in your books, you will want to pick up something else. There is a lot of blood.
I absolutely loved City of Blades, the second book in this series (still need to read City of Stairs) so I was very excited to pick up this third book. Sigrud was such an incredible character in "Blades" that I was eager to see what he would do as a main character. Let me just say, it was awesome.
This book is such a wonderful blend of action, intrigue, magic and intelligent characters. The main characters have been doing what they've been doing for many years. They are old(er) people and it shows in their perspectives, their choices, their sheer common sense!
Once again, I find myself appreciating Bennett's ability to combine drama and action with a healthy dose of humor. He makes every character decision and all the dialogue seem so natural. Not only that, but I actually didn't see the big twist coming! I kinda pride myself on being able to predict the flow of books, but there was one, really big twist that I just did not predict, even though all the pieces were there! I swear I was paying attention, but it still surprised me!
For the most part, I don't think you need to have read the full series to enjoy this book. Reading either of the previous books will help with understanding a lot of what's going on in the world overall. However, if you were to "walk into" this book without any knowledge of the world, I think you'd still be able to enjoy it! However, if you're not a fan of a lot of blood in your books, you will want to pick up something else. There is a lot of blood.
4.5 - 5.0 stars. Loved this. Thought this was a great conclusion to the series.
Some authors always manage to surprise me. Bennett is one of them, with each book I've read a very different flavor from the other. Characterized by complex characters, his stories tend to have vivid world-building and plots that explore the relationship between mundane and divine. City of Miracles is the third book set in the Divine Cities, and although one could read and enjoy it perfectly well as a stand-alone, part of the richness in the story comes from the history of both the world-building and the individual characters.
City begins bloodily, shockingly, a definite departure from the ex-Prime Minister Shara's study in [b:City of Stairs|20174424|City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394545220s/20174424.jpg|28030792], or Mulaghesh's slovenly cottage in [b:City of Blades|23909755|City of Blades (The Divine Cities, #2)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426255519s/23909755.jpg|43516764]. It begins with a back-alley killing and then a vicious attack. Sigurd, Shara's bodyguard and comrade in City of Stairs, hears of Shara's assassination while working a logging job in the middle of nowhere. He swears revenge, rapidly makes his way to the city where Shara disappeared, and sets to tracking those responsible.
Stop me if you heard this before.
It's true; Bennett started with classic revenge fantasy, giving it, of course, his own lovely spin on the emotion and the world. Shara is "a woman so esteemed and so notorious and so influential that everyone seems to be waiting on history to get around to judging her so they can figure out how to feel about her tenure as prime minister. A person made of the stuff of legends." The story is very much colored by Shara and her legacy, a point that probably will have the most impact for those who have read the series.
Even more than her political legacy, she was the only person remaining that connected Sigrud to humanity. "He looks down at his hands. Scarred, worn, ugly things-the left, especially, its palm brutally mutilated using a Divine torture method long, long ago. I was only ever meant for one thing, he thinks. He slowly makes fists. The knuckles pop and creak unpleasantly. Meant to practice one art. How just it feels that now I shall do so." It remains brutal while Sigrud seeks his revenge, and only folds into more gentle emotion as he discovers remaining connection to Shara and discovers the project she was working on.
I'm often hooked by the dual plot technique, the immediate mystery with a larger background and unanswered questions. The assassin is soon unmasked, but that only leads to questions about what Shara was working on and who the mastermind is. Is Shara still alive? Like Sigrud, the reader can't quite believe that she is dead. This is the world of miracles, after all, although the age of the Divine seems to be mostly over. When Sigrud decides to (light spoiler) protect Shara's adopted daughter, it leads to more questions. It felt unusually plot/event driven to me, more so because I associate Bennett's writing with detailed character memories, seemingly non-conflict focused events and general world-building. City of Miracles is very exciting and very hard to put down.
A lovely bit of writing that describes the antagonist:
"The first night that humanity experienced. Before light, before civilization, before your kind named the stars. That's what he is, that's how he works. He is darkness, he is shadows, he is the primeval manifestation of what's outside your windows, what's beyond the fence gate, what lives under the light of the cold, distant moon..."
Narrative is largely third-person, focusing on Sigrud, but there are a few character viewpoints shared throughout the story, giving insight into the conflict and the character of the antagonist. Although this technique often annoys me because of its lazy application to escalate tension, in this case Bennett uses it to bring both emotional depth and tragedy to the antagonist. It's one of the fascinating things about Bennett's writing that seems to flavor all his works, that exploration of damage, choice and evil. The ending, while non-unexpected, is sob-worthy. Good stuff.
"Some things even a miracle can't suppress, I guess. Sometimes I wonder if we're little more than walking patchworks of traumas, all stitched together." They sit in silence for a moment, watching the waves churn and roil under the overcast skies.
*Quotes taken from an ARC and may change in the published copy.
And for my friend, Cillian:
City begins bloodily, shockingly, a definite departure from the ex-Prime Minister Shara's study in [b:City of Stairs|20174424|City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394545220s/20174424.jpg|28030792], or Mulaghesh's slovenly cottage in [b:City of Blades|23909755|City of Blades (The Divine Cities, #2)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426255519s/23909755.jpg|43516764]. It begins with a back-alley killing and then a vicious attack. Sigurd, Shara's bodyguard and comrade in City of Stairs, hears of Shara's assassination while working a logging job in the middle of nowhere. He swears revenge, rapidly makes his way to the city where Shara disappeared, and sets to tracking those responsible.
Stop me if you heard this before.
It's true; Bennett started with classic revenge fantasy, giving it, of course, his own lovely spin on the emotion and the world. Shara is "a woman so esteemed and so notorious and so influential that everyone seems to be waiting on history to get around to judging her so they can figure out how to feel about her tenure as prime minister. A person made of the stuff of legends." The story is very much colored by Shara and her legacy, a point that probably will have the most impact for those who have read the series.
Even more than her political legacy, she was the only person remaining that connected Sigrud to humanity. "He looks down at his hands. Scarred, worn, ugly things-the left, especially, its palm brutally mutilated using a Divine torture method long, long ago. I was only ever meant for one thing, he thinks. He slowly makes fists. The knuckles pop and creak unpleasantly. Meant to practice one art. How just it feels that now I shall do so." It remains brutal while Sigrud seeks his revenge, and only folds into more gentle emotion as he discovers remaining connection to Shara and discovers the project she was working on.
I'm often hooked by the dual plot technique, the immediate mystery with a larger background and unanswered questions. The assassin is soon unmasked, but that only leads to questions about what Shara was working on and who the mastermind is. Is Shara still alive? Like Sigrud, the reader can't quite believe that she is dead. This is the world of miracles, after all, although the age of the Divine seems to be mostly over. When Sigrud decides to (light spoiler)
A lovely bit of writing that describes the antagonist:
"The first night that humanity experienced. Before light, before civilization, before your kind named the stars. That's what he is, that's how he works. He is darkness, he is shadows, he is the primeval manifestation of what's outside your windows, what's beyond the fence gate, what lives under the light of the cold, distant moon..."
Narrative is largely third-person, focusing on Sigrud, but there are a few character viewpoints shared throughout the story, giving insight into the conflict and the character of the antagonist. Although this technique often annoys me because of its lazy application to escalate tension, in this case Bennett uses it to bring both emotional depth and tragedy to the antagonist. It's one of the fascinating things about Bennett's writing that seems to flavor all his works, that exploration of damage, choice and evil. The ending, while non-unexpected, is sob-worthy. Good stuff.
"Some things even a miracle can't suppress, I guess. Sometimes I wonder if we're little more than walking patchworks of traumas, all stitched together." They sit in silence for a moment, watching the waves churn and roil under the overcast skies.
*Quotes taken from an ARC and may change in the published copy.
And for my friend, Cillian:
Good read, I loved the world building and will read Bennett's new series.
Goodreads says I reviewed the Kindle edition of this book, but I cannot find that review.
I bet the review was brilliant, but I don't remember what insightful things I said.
Maybe that I hope Mr. Bennett finds a reason to go back to this world even though he seems to have wrapped up the story.
I bet the review was brilliant, but I don't remember what insightful things I said.
Maybe that I hope Mr. Bennett finds a reason to go back to this world even though he seems to have wrapped up the story.