Reviews - Foundryside | The StoryGraph

5.29k reviews for:

Foundryside

Robert Jackson Bennett

4.17 AVERAGE

mirazembree's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous inspiring lighthearted 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: No

Fun story about scribed word on objects that make magic, a key, and a robber.

lu_porta's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark inspiring 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

emmeline790's review against another edition

I can’t explain it entirely, but the narrative voice was not working for me, and it felt like a chore to read. Wasn’t going to make myself read something I didn’t want to.

_leitmotif_'s review against another edition

3.75

really enjoyed the way that magic works in this story, it has a mechanical object based science bent to it that was really engaging. gave off a small vibe of william gibson’s ‘the difference engine’. also, even though it made for a book that was too long imo, the fact that it took the characters SO long and so many tries to finally get anywhere with their quest was realistic and appropriate for the scope of what they were trying to do. unfortunately, it was hard to like any of the characters. really only like the key, honestly. and, struggled with the narrator, not sure they were the right choice to do all the cast of characters. this would have been a great book to hire multiple voice actors for!

celiapowell's review against another edition

4.0

There was a moment near the beginning of this book, which featured a fair bit of info-dumping via conversations between the thief Sancia, and a talking key (eg, "what's that piece of slang?", "what do you mean by this?", in which the world gets explained to us via their conversations), where I was a bit disappointed in Foundryside - however, this rapidly disappeared as the novel went on and I was totally drawn into this very exciting adventure story, and Bennett's fantasy world ruled by merchant houses who viciously use of their magical products and conduct industrial espionage. While it is obviously left open for the story to continue, the novel ends in a very satisfying way, which is always nice for the first in a series.

sarkbordark's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I did not expect this book to be so gruesome. While the magic system was pretty thought out, there were times it used elementary science that didn't need so much explanation. It had a weird mix of YA and grimdark. Also the romance was just kinda thrown in, like the author felt the need for a live interest, but there was very little connection between the reo characters. I am tempted to continue, bur it's not at the top of my list. Also the rape threat was thrown around a lot, I get tired of that.

Content Warnings

batsinthecastle's review against another edition

4.0

**3.8 stars**

This was a fantasy series I have wanted to read for ages but had put off for a while because the audiobook is rather long, but I knew it was definitely the way I wanted to enjoy this. I'm glad I read it this way and I'm glad I stopped waiting! While there may be older YA crossover appeal, this isn't YA at all. That being said, it's perfect for a SciFi/Fantasy Book Club - which is why I prioritized it :)

While I got a little confused in the magic system from time to time, I liked the characters enough (Cleft was the best!) to keep reading this series. This would make a fantastic TV show. I will get to book 2 soon, very soon!