Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
This is a very clever fantasy. It careens between SO MUCH FUN and absolutely harrowing in ways that totally worked for me in that a solid chunk of the book is still SO MUCH FUN, but now the stakes are a zillion times higher, and I am riveted.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
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
nothing better than going into a book blind and being met with surprise lesbianism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh, this was FUN!!!!!!!!!!! It’s been a while since I’ve been this enthralled by a book series, especially a high fantasy one. Interesting magic system, great characters, a HEIST??!?!? What more could you ask for? 🤩🤩🤩
The world building was extremely easy to understand. The magic system consists of scriving – writing specific codes into objects to make them do things that would normally be impossible. It’s a surprisingly simple magic system, but it has so many possibilities! I really enjoyed the way the author utilized this simple concept, and how he managed to do so much with it. I also love how academic and intellectual it all felt; it’s interesting to see a magic system that isn’t really about magic at all, but about studying and comprehending codes and ancient alphabets; anyone can do “magic” in this world, they just have to study enough.
The MC, Sancia, is a thief, and a damn good one, because she has the unique ability to touch objects and fully understand what they’re scrived to do; she can basically hear the objects “thoughts”. Sancia’s powers were extremely interesting, and finding out where they came from was… a lot. 😨 I especially appreciated seeing her internal struggle with her freedom. I reeeeally liked following Sancia, and I think she was a great MC! She’s so strong and cunning, but also fun and empathetic. Her desire for companionship felt so real, and I loved seeing her grow closer with Clef. 🥺
Sancia gets caught up in a bunch of problems, and long story short, she ends up having to pull off a VERY DANGEROUS heist, that is also EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, because the whole city (or maybe the whole world) could be affected if she can’t pull it off. 🫣
This heist was SUUUPER intense, and I loved every little step of this adventure, especially how Sancia ended up teaming up with all of the other characters in the book! This was kind of found-family, except it was more like… *forced*-family, because none of them really wanted to work together, but they kind of had to lmfao 💀. Seeing them bickering, hiding secrets, and then, slowly, starting to trust each other, was really nice. I also liked how bizarre this group was lol. Sometimes, a found family is a classist mad scholar, his brilliant (lesbian) apprentice, an overtly moral veteran from a noble house with a hero complex, a thief with impossible powers, and a talking key, and I think that’s beautiful. 🫶🏻
Gregor (the noble veteran) was a really interesting character, too. I enjoyed seeing the duality between his moral integrity and his privilege; I think it was all really well explored (and I appreciated whenever Sancia called him out on his privilege).Finding out that Ofelia had scrived Gregor, and that Sancia was actually NOT the 1st scrived human, was WILD!!! 😨😨 😨 I really enjoyed seeing Gregor fight against her orders, and seeing his morality and empathy “win” in the end.
The villains were also extremely well written! I didn’t really see them coming, though there were definitely clues and foreshadowing! These villains didn’t come out of nowhere, and they had such good motives!Tomas just wanted more power and money, which isn’t unheard of. Ofelia also testing on humans wasn’t entirely surprising, but hearing she did the same to her SON??? 😰 It made sense, though, given her backstory! And Estelle?! She was definitely a bit crazy, but honestly?? I could sympathize with her! All of these villains felt SO REALISTIC! Their actions, while reprehensible, made so much sense, and you could even sympathize with some of their motives! They were very well-developed!
As the story progressed, we learned more and more about this world’s lore, which was *really* interesting. This book has a full, satisfying arc, but definitely leaves the story open for continuation, especially now that we have more mysteries to solve, so I’m really excited about the sequels!
I think my only negative point would be the romance. I don’t think it was very well developed, and I wish the characters had interacted more before showing attraction to each other. The romance was a minimal point in the story, so it didn’t really affect much of it, but I wish it’d been better built up.
But, overall, I think this book was great! It was action-packed and fast-paced, and the characters, magic system and world were great! I also really loved the audiobook, and the different voices the narrator did for each character definitely elevated the story, for me! If you enjoy heist stories, I definitely recommend this one!
I’m lowkey sad that this series doesn’t have any fandom 😭. There’s like… 3 pieces of fanart and 10 tumblr text posts about it… I’m SAD! This book desserves MORE ATTENTION!!! It deserves memes! Official character cards! Fanart! A beautiful map! PLEASE! 😭🙏🏻
The world building was extremely easy to understand. The magic system consists of scriving – writing specific codes into objects to make them do things that would normally be impossible. It’s a surprisingly simple magic system, but it has so many possibilities! I really enjoyed the way the author utilized this simple concept, and how he managed to do so much with it. I also love how academic and intellectual it all felt; it’s interesting to see a magic system that isn’t really about magic at all, but about studying and comprehending codes and ancient alphabets; anyone can do “magic” in this world, they just have to study enough.
The MC, Sancia, is a thief, and a damn good one, because she has the unique ability to touch objects and fully understand what they’re scrived to do; she can basically hear the objects “thoughts”. Sancia’s powers were extremely interesting, and finding out where they came from was… a lot. 😨 I especially appreciated seeing her internal struggle with her freedom. I reeeeally liked following Sancia, and I think she was a great MC! She’s so strong and cunning, but also fun and empathetic. Her desire for companionship felt so real, and I loved seeing her grow closer with Clef. 🥺
Sancia gets caught up in a bunch of problems, and long story short, she ends up having to pull off a VERY DANGEROUS heist, that is also EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, because the whole city (or maybe the whole world) could be affected if she can’t pull it off. 🫣
This heist was SUUUPER intense, and I loved every little step of this adventure, especially how Sancia ended up teaming up with all of the other characters in the book! This was kind of found-family, except it was more like… *forced*-family, because none of them really wanted to work together, but they kind of had to lmfao 💀. Seeing them bickering, hiding secrets, and then, slowly, starting to trust each other, was really nice. I also liked how bizarre this group was lol. Sometimes, a found family is a classist mad scholar, his brilliant (lesbian) apprentice, an overtly moral veteran from a noble house with a hero complex, a thief with impossible powers, and a talking key, and I think that’s beautiful. 🫶🏻
Gregor (the noble veteran) was a really interesting character, too. I enjoyed seeing the duality between his moral integrity and his privilege; I think it was all really well explored (and I appreciated whenever Sancia called him out on his privilege).
The villains were also extremely well written! I didn’t really see them coming, though there were definitely clues and foreshadowing! These villains didn’t come out of nowhere, and they had such good motives!
As the story progressed, we learned more and more about this world’s lore, which was *really* interesting. This book has a full, satisfying arc, but definitely leaves the story open for continuation, especially now that we have more mysteries to solve, so I’m really excited about the sequels!
I think my only negative point would be the romance. I don’t think it was very well developed, and I wish the characters had interacted more before showing attraction to each other. The romance was a minimal point in the story, so it didn’t really affect much of it, but I wish it’d been better built up.
But, overall, I think this book was great! It was action-packed and fast-paced, and the characters, magic system and world were great! I also really loved the audiobook, and the different voices the narrator did for each character definitely elevated the story, for me! If you enjoy heist stories, I definitely recommend this one!
I’m lowkey sad that this series doesn’t have any fandom 😭. There’s like… 3 pieces of fanart and 10 tumblr text posts about it… I’m SAD! This book desserves MORE ATTENTION!!! It deserves memes! Official character cards! Fanart! A beautiful map! PLEASE! 😭🙏🏻
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Vomit, Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, War
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is a hopeful, action packed, fantastical story. With heists, found family, and fight the evil overlord vibes. The action was exceptional, the characters were loveable, and the world felt vast and fascinating. It delved into the darker side of humanity without making you feel like there was no hope. Totally recommend!
I’m a sucker for a fun fantasy read, and this certainly hit that mark. This may be a niche pull, but if you’re a fan of Rhythm of War, specifically, you’ll really enjoy the magic system of Foundryside and the way the characters work to innovate in a fiddly manner within its boundaries. Furthermore, the two or three most central characters are very strong foundations upon which to continue building, and I also like some of the less-developed folks as well. Overall, a great balance of intra-book plot development and laying ground for a series-spanning story without taking away from either piece. It was a little silly at times, and I’m not entirely sold on some character motivations and development. So for that it’s only 4/5.