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nimeneth's review against another edition
dark
tense
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
4.0
This is a somewhat reluctant 4 stars? The middle portion of the book dragged and was highly technical with the world's magic, plus there were some very gory bits that I skimmed through. That said, holy shit the ending. I figured something was going to happen with Gregor but I was not expecting specifically that. I will be grabbing the next installment because I want to know what new hijinx Sancia and Berenice get up to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Murder, Violence, War, and Blood
Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Slavery, and Genocide
jjjreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Trafficking, Genocide, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Torture, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Confinement, Vomit, Death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Drug use
fi_reads_books's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, War, Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Child death, Colonisation, and Car accident
Minor: Vomit
faduma's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
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? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, War, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Excrement, Kidnapping, and Domestic abuse
micheala's review against another edition
3.75
This sequel is tonally very different from Foundryside. It's much darker and gorier, and the stakes are much higher.
While the first book was more of your typical heist novel with a cool magic system, this one is about a resurrected god and attempting to prevent his world domination.
Foundryside had the ability to be read as a standalone, however this one, well let's just say I'm glad I waited for the finally to come out before I read it - if I had to wait for two years with that ending? No thanks
On a happier note, I loved seeing the casual relationship between Sancia and Ber that has clearly been developing in the three years since the first book ended.
I'm interested to see how the final book concludes some of the plot points and character arcs. I'm also interested to see how long of a time jump will occur between books two and three - I hope only a short one, but from the blurb I suspect it will be a long time jump.
While the first book was more of your typical heist novel with a cool magic system, this one is about a resurrected god and attempting to prevent his world domination.
Foundryside had the ability to be read as a standalone, however this one, well let's just say I'm glad I waited for the finally to come out before I read it - if I had to wait for two years with that ending? No thanks
On a happier note, I loved seeing the casual relationship between Sancia and Ber that has clearly been developing in the three years since the first book ended.
I'm interested to see how the final book concludes some of the plot points and character arcs. I'm also interested to see how long of a time jump will occur between books two and three - I hope only a short one, but from the blurb I suspect it will be a long time jump.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape
rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Shorefall takes place three years after the first book, Foundryside, and first I was not sure what to think about this quite big time-skip. After a few chapters though, this series was once again able to captivate me, and it kept me in suspense to the end.
Because of this time-skip, the first ten percent of the novel are spent with exposition, telling us what has happened in the last three years. I love how the city basically became more communist insofar as the drafts of the scrivings are shared with each other and are not sold anymore.
But after this exposition, the pace of the story significantly picks up and it becomes quite dark and suspenseful like the last book. We get to know the new main villain Crasedes who’s such an evil creature. The plot around him was so good and it created such an interesting atmosphere that only our characters knew about his resurrection. Like I’ve said before, I also still love how the story only takes place in one city. Some smaller parts of the story irritated me, like the mind connection thing , but this didn’t lower my level of enjoyment for this book.
Like it was before, there are some shocking revelations about the characters that we thought would know, like the fact that Ofelia killed her husband and her son or that Sancia won’t live long because of her powers. Clef is also back but sadly only for a short time until he’s captured again .
Last but definitely not least, the finale was so great and suspenseful because of the time pressure: It was so amazing how Ofelia helped our heroes, but I was so shocked that Gregor actually killed her. All this was almost for nothing, since they’re not able to defeat Crasedes in the end. Orso sacrificing himself and him crying made me also almost cry – and this means a lot for me .
I’ve talked about this in my previous review, but I’m still in awe about the magic system. It’s so creative and just enjoyable to see how Sancia is able to manipulate the understanding of time and space that objects have so that they will do what she wants them to.
The characters are another thing that makes this series so great. They’re all amazing and I love them all, especially Sancia, Orso and Gregor – he deserves so much better. I also liked the “villains” that were mostly painted in a grey light as well. Bennett is just so good at transporting the emotions of his characters that I even was so sad when a mountain exploded. The dialogues between the characters are also so well written.
My greatest critique is probably the execution of the relationship of Sancia and Berenice. I love them but sadly we didn’t see how their relationship developed and are only told about it. In general, they often didn’t seem like a couple and lacked some chemistry. Another critique I have concerning the characters is that every older female character has to be described as attractive, as if this is so important.
After the devastating ending of Shorefall, I need to know how this series will be wrapped up. I already read that there will now be a seven-year time skip and I hope that Bennett is able to manage this one well so that the story will end in a satisfying way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Terminal illness, Child death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Minor: Genocide
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.5
I am not okay 😅
This book was so good. Wow. So many amazing twists I didn't see coming! I would say it leans more towards 4.5 stars because I think there were some pacing issues for me before the middle. But I seriously love these characters and this world is just so cool.
I am both terrified and excited for the next book...
This book was so good. Wow. So many amazing twists I didn't see coming! I would say it leans more towards 4.5 stars because I think there were some pacing issues for me before the middle. But I seriously love these characters and this world is just so cool.
I am both terrified and excited for the next book...
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
caidyn's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
(4/21: Now it's out!! Since time is weird and getting books are hard, I want to promote my favorite book from March!)
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
CW: violence, blood, gore, war, and deception
If I thought the first book was intense, nothing compared me for this one. I was legit sitting at my desk for a few minutes trying to realize what I read at the end and that this is going to be one hell of a book series, as if it wasn't already.
I'll likely have spoilers for the first book since this takes place three years after the events of the first book.
So, the whole gang is together at the house they founded on their own. Everyone still hates them, but things have been brewing for the past three years. Clef is still silent, but someone new is about to come back. The Maker, or Craesedes. (Which I probably spelled wrong tbh.) But, really, everything's about to go to hell.
I honestly mean that this book is a wild ride. It completely blew me away and I'm still left wondering where the hell the next book is going to go. Hell, I'm still wondering who's still going to be around for the next book because that ending killed me. The whole book was so fast and entrancing and I probably could have read it faster, but I made myself slow down to really savor it. Torture in its own way, but worth it.
Robert Jackson Bennett, you better get on writing that third book because I'm already dying for it!
Original review
I'm not even 100 pages into the first book and I know I want to read this one.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
CW: violence, blood, gore, war, and deception
If I thought the first book was intense, nothing compared me for this one. I was legit sitting at my desk for a few minutes trying to realize what I read at the end and that this is going to be one hell of a book series, as if it wasn't already.
I'll likely have spoilers for the first book since this takes place three years after the events of the first book.
So, the whole gang is together at the house they founded on their own. Everyone still hates them, but things have been brewing for the past three years. Clef is still silent, but someone new is about to come back. The Maker, or Craesedes. (Which I probably spelled wrong tbh.) But, really, everything's about to go to hell.
I honestly mean that this book is a wild ride. It completely blew me away and I'm still left wondering where the hell the next book is going to go. Hell, I'm still wondering who's still going to be around for the next book because that ending killed me. The whole book was so fast and entrancing and I probably could have read it faster, but I made myself slow down to really savor it. Torture in its own way, but worth it.
Robert Jackson Bennett, you better get on writing that third book because I'm already dying for it!
Original review
I'm not even 100 pages into the first book and I know I want to read this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Gore
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