Reviews

A satisfying ending to the series. My only gripe is some of the lazy writing. How many times can you say "And then everything changed." I expect a little bit better prose than that from such a fantastic book.

al_pbj21's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

mariaoverbooked's review against another edition

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3.0

A solid 3.5 stars for now, after sitting on this I might bump it up to four.

I’m slightly surprised to say that I was a little disappointed in this one. The last installment of the Foundryside series is much bigger, grander than the other two books. Our heroes are trying to save the fate of the known world and so the book felt darker, deeper, and more slow as the ending built. However, I missed the quippy, fast pacing of the first two books in the trilogy. I missed the twists and turns and heist-like action.

I also thought the previous books were funnier, wittier and I loved the character dynamics. The stakes were higher here, our characters older and jaded, and therefore I feel like the chemistry was missing a bit. The spark.

It felt tonally very different and although I understand why in reference to the plot line - I missed the old feeling which drew me in in the first place.

I did like learning more about Clefs history and how he is the key to everything (see what I did there?) I enjoyed how the flashbacks slowly uncovered the mysteries that we’ve been thinking about for three books now.

Overall I thought it wrapped up the ending well but I thought it read slowly, I missed some of the characterization, and it lacked the charm of the first two. However, it was a satisfying ending to the series and I’ve got Bennett’s other trilogy on my tbr.

clarise437's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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? No

4.25

jt793's review

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adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

aoeada's review against another edition

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5.0

I really really loved this series. It’s absolutely one of my favorite things I’ve read and I fully expect to return to this when I need some comfort food. That’s not to say this is a happy trilogy. In fact, it’s so dark by the second half of the second book, I found this difficult to get through since it’s so hard watching these beautifully developed characters go through so much.

There is such vast development in so many characters that by the last few chapters, I was intentionally reading slowly to try to get even more out of them. So difficult to finish because I enjoyed this world and its inhabitants and ideals so much.

If City of Stairs is anything like this, I’m going to have found a new favorite modern writer.

PS everyone is right about that epilogue. so fucking good. the entire time i was savoring it, it felt like a hidden chapter from LeGuin. just a beautiful little topping on this trilogy.

fancypantsben's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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? No

4.75

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