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hjswinford's review against another edition
4.0
My Overall Thoughts - 4/5
Locklands wraps up the Founders Trilogy. It sees the heroes and villains from Shorefall eight years after Shorefall Night, the exciting conclusion to book two, in a world that is utterly unlike the world the series started in. Sancia, Berenice, and all their allies have an array of obstacles to overcome to bring peace to their world once again.
As the conclusion to a series that I loved, this book did a beautiful job at wrapping up loose ends and giving me all the piercing bittersweet moments that I want at the end of such a dark fantasy. The first two books constantly kept me on my toes trying to figure out who was actually the “bad guy” and this book is no different. It turns out, in the world of the Founders Trilogy, there are no “bad guys,” just flawed people trying to do their imperfect best for the world and the people they love most. That’s what I love about this series.
~~*Mild Spoilers to follow*~~
Character Development - 4.5/5
The heroes of Locklands have a lot to go through in order to reach the end of their story, and even within the last third of their arcs, we see a lot of growth and change. Clef and Crasaedes see the biggest growth as, over the course of the book, memories resurface and dire choices are forced upon them. Berenice comes in next with more page time in this book than ever before and a lot of learning to do in order to face her inevitable future. Sancia having to face her premature aging and fear of loss was great, though I am a little uncertain if I love the end of her arc. The only disappointment I have is Gregor’s conclusion. I wish we’d had more time in his head.
Story Structure/Pacing - 3/5
This was the weakest part of the book, I think. The pacing felt a bit scattered. The whole first third of the book dragged a bit for me (perhaps it started as the fault of the CHONK of a Chapter One, the longest chapter in the book by a huge amount). The middle portion of the book had tons going on and while I loved the interspersed character-focused moments, I longed for more of them.
Tone/Style - 3/5
There are a few things Bennett does that really drive me crazy. One, a predilection for interrupting his characters’ dialogue mid-word. Second, ending his dramatic scenes with everything breaking, everything changing, or someone screaming. To be entirely fair, a lot of breaking and screaming occurs in this book because of, as I mentioned before, the world-shattering drama. But it is a bit overdone…definitely not enough to hinder my enjoyment of his books, though. I’ll just twitch my eyes every once in a while. Other than that, his dialogue and turns of phrase are often very funny and he manages to keep the tone light even among very dark and depressing situations.
World Building - 4.5/5
The magic of the Founders Trilogy has been among my favorites since reading book one. The complexity and intricacy of the system has always been interesting and fun. I was a tad disappointed that we didn’t get much Sancia/Clef arguing with scrivings, like we did in previous books…though it made sense in the story for there to be far less of it. We did, however, get all kinds of new systems that had grown from the simpler scriving magic of the earlier books. The coolest new aspect was the cadences. And then the epilogue of the book…!? Consider my mind blown. What an awesome direction to take this magic system in. Loved it.
Content
There is innumerable instances of foul language. If you don’t like flavorful words, probably just steer clear of Bennett’s works. Other than that, a lot of violence and frightening images.
My Final Thoughts
I look forward to rereading this whole series at some point because it was really just so much fun from beginning to end. I loved these characters and this magic system has inspired me. Anyone who loves fun characters, exciting plots, and complex magic systems should definitely give this series a shot.
Locklands wraps up the Founders Trilogy. It sees the heroes and villains from Shorefall eight years after Shorefall Night, the exciting conclusion to book two, in a world that is utterly unlike the world the series started in. Sancia, Berenice, and all their allies have an array of obstacles to overcome to bring peace to their world once again.
As the conclusion to a series that I loved, this book did a beautiful job at wrapping up loose ends and giving me all the piercing bittersweet moments that I want at the end of such a dark fantasy. The first two books constantly kept me on my toes trying to figure out who was actually the “bad guy” and this book is no different. It turns out, in the world of the Founders Trilogy, there are no “bad guys,” just flawed people trying to do their imperfect best for the world and the people they love most. That’s what I love about this series.
~~*Mild Spoilers to follow*~~
Character Development - 4.5/5
The heroes of Locklands have a lot to go through in order to reach the end of their story, and even within the last third of their arcs, we see a lot of growth and change. Clef and Crasaedes see the biggest growth as, over the course of the book, memories resurface and dire choices are forced upon them. Berenice comes in next with more page time in this book than ever before and a lot of learning to do in order to face her inevitable future. Sancia having to face her premature aging and fear of loss was great, though I am a little uncertain if I love the end of her arc. The only disappointment I have is Gregor’s conclusion. I wish we’d had more time in his head.
Story Structure/Pacing - 3/5
This was the weakest part of the book, I think. The pacing felt a bit scattered. The whole first third of the book dragged a bit for me (perhaps it started as the fault of the CHONK of a Chapter One, the longest chapter in the book by a huge amount). The middle portion of the book had tons going on and while I loved the interspersed character-focused moments, I longed for more of them.
Tone/Style - 3/5
There are a few things Bennett does that really drive me crazy. One, a predilection for interrupting his characters’ dialogue mid-word. Second, ending his dramatic scenes with everything breaking, everything changing, or someone screaming. To be entirely fair, a lot of breaking and screaming occurs in this book because of, as I mentioned before, the world-shattering drama. But it is a bit overdone…definitely not enough to hinder my enjoyment of his books, though. I’ll just twitch my eyes every once in a while. Other than that, his dialogue and turns of phrase are often very funny and he manages to keep the tone light even among very dark and depressing situations.
World Building - 4.5/5
The magic of the Founders Trilogy has been among my favorites since reading book one. The complexity and intricacy of the system has always been interesting and fun. I was a tad disappointed that we didn’t get much Sancia/Clef arguing with scrivings, like we did in previous books…though it made sense in the story for there to be far less of it. We did, however, get all kinds of new systems that had grown from the simpler scriving magic of the earlier books. The coolest new aspect was the cadences. And then the epilogue of the book…!? Consider my mind blown. What an awesome direction to take this magic system in. Loved it.
Content
There is innumerable instances of foul language. If you don’t like flavorful words, probably just steer clear of Bennett’s works. Other than that, a lot of violence and frightening images.
My Final Thoughts
I look forward to rereading this whole series at some point because it was really just so much fun from beginning to end. I loved these characters and this magic system has inspired me. Anyone who loves fun characters, exciting plots, and complex magic systems should definitely give this series a shot.
paigeautum's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
weedoo99's review against another edition
4.0
“Aloneness is different from loneliness: loneliness is an emotional state, but aloneness is the intense awareness that you do not have support.”
soupstand's review against another edition
3.0
god, this was so hard to get through compared to the first two books in the series. feels like we lot the plot but i still enjoyed parts of it.
laurel_whitley's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
darkskybooks's review against another edition
4.0
The Founders Trilogy burst onto the scene with Foundryside showing an engaging cast of characters and a very clever magic system. Now we are at the close of the series, the gang of characters is mostly still with us but has expanded to include a whole nation with some intriguing new characters in the form of Aspects. And that expansion of scope is probably the defining feature of this finale. The scope is huge. Whereas the first two novels were largely confined to the city of Tevanne, we are now in a world spanning story. On the whole RJB handles this well, but the sprawl loses some of the intimacy of the earlier novels. The enemy has changed here too. Rather than wealthy elite, or god like Heirophant, they are now facing a world spanning AI entity. In some ways this shows an interesting allegory to modern society.
The story is as action packed as previous ones, the stakes do feel genuine (RJB is not scared of killing off characters). The world building is as fascinating as ever - the ancient city where the door through reality was first opened is an intriguing and vividly realised fever dream. The resolution between Clef, Cresades and Tevanne was well done, giving a satisfying conclusion. However, I miss the heists, the scheming and more intimate feel of the earlier books. This was a good finale, but it is my least favourite book of the series, mostly due to some of my favourite elements of the earlier books getting a bit overwhelmed by the increase in scale.
The story is as action packed as previous ones, the stakes do feel genuine (RJB is not scared of killing off characters). The world building is as fascinating as ever - the ancient city where the door through reality was first opened is an intriguing and vividly realised fever dream. The resolution between Clef, Cresades and Tevanne was well done, giving a satisfying conclusion. However, I miss the heists, the scheming and more intimate feel of the earlier books. This was a good finale, but it is my least favourite book of the series, mostly due to some of my favourite elements of the earlier books getting a bit overwhelmed by the increase in scale.
sarsh's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
prophetcutstone's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
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
5.0
maryeverettb's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.0
jndsouza's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.75