Reviews

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

coreysees's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

A surprisingly good sequel to City of Stairs. It feels like it was much darker than Stairs, but that might partially be me forgetting how dark book 1 actually was. The change in main character was startling, but very well done. The book did a good job focusing on some of the darker aspects of the military without going full-grimdark.

live_2_read's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

scarbaur's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

marieeve1978's review

5.0

This series in fantastically well written.

toastandhoes's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad fast-paced

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

4.0

caseysw's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.75

nina90's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

stelhan's review

3.0

Strong 3.5 stars. Improved upon the first book and I enjoyed it a lot

erinreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

Wow. City of Stairs was excellent and when I started reading this one I was sad that Shara wasn’t the main character. But as I got into it, I saw why Mulaghesh is the only choice for a protagonist for this one and I learned to love her even more as a protagonist than as a secondary character. What a masterful story told in such a rich, detailed world. The characters, as in the first book, are all very believable and even if I don’t completely understand how some of the miracles and Divine events work, I was completely engrossed and invested in the unraveling of the mystery. I can’t wait to read the final book in the trilogy. 

Read if you like mystery plot lines set in richly built-out fantasy worlds.

lamisosoup's review

3.0

didn't live up to city of stairs imo, but still an engaging read. I found myself wanting to skim large portions of this in a way that I did not with city of stairs - I guess an indication that the writing and pacing could've used some tightening up. I still have lingering questions from the first book about the implications of everyone's races that weren't really answered in this one either. maybe the third book will finally shed some light?