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A review by forgottenwitch
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Buckle up boys, this is going to be a long one because I have once again come across a book that has a lot in it that I’m really a big fan of, but for one reason or another the execution just seems to have ruined it for me :/
Foundryside has a very interesting magic system! If you mash together magic, coding, and some engineering, you’d basically end up with Scriving. Now, I don't feel like the base idea behind Scriving is anything new in the fantasy genre (Sygaldry from The Kingkiller Chronicles comes to mind), but the way it’s used throughout the book and applied to the world as a whole makes it feel very unique. I especially loved how integrated it felt within this universe and it was tons of fun to see a character who was able to “converse” with this coding, and get it to do things that it may not otherwise be inclined to do
From the very start of the book, we get a very comprehensive explanation of Scriving; from what it is, to how it works, to what all it could potentially do if studied and applied to its full extent! This, for me, is where the problems began. Now, despite how technical Scriving can potentially be in universe, it really isn't that difficult to wrap your head around as a reader — I’d even go as far as to say that it’s incredibly straight forward. But, throughout the book, the explanations about Scriving never actually stop. At no point does the author trust the reader enough to assume that we have a good understanding of the base principles of Scriving and will be able to figure things out on our own
The amount of explanations and info dumping going on throughout Foundryside concerning Scriving particulars had me constantly on the cusp of saying fuck it and DNFing the book. It was actually crazy to me how often action, plot, and even conversations were interrupted or completely set to the side to explain something about Scriving that I was absolutely able to infer on my own. It made for an infuriating reading experience and often completely broke the tension or mood of whatever was happening at the time
I love Scriving for how complex it is and how natural it feels in the world Bennett created, but its overall execution came across as a huge disappointment
Alongside the magic system, the setting for Foundryside drew me in instantly. This story takes place in a steampunky/post-industrial world that has a very italian renaissance vibe where four merchant houses have have built prosperous enclaves within a city that is falling into absolute decay. Mix that with the overarching plot line that these houses are trying to replicate the god like powers of an ancient civilization, and you have a recipe for in universe lore that is checking boxed left and right for things that I adore
My second biggest disappointment with this book comes from the fact that a majority of the main cast of characters do not speak or act like they belong in the setting Bennett worked so hard to create. It feels like such a disservice to the world building when the book is littered with modern colloquialisms and forms of speech. It takes me out of the setting to hear the characters joke and curse at each other like someone from the modern day, and it makes the book (and characters) seem somewhat juvenile. I checked multiple times to confirm that this book was a full adult scifi/fantasy, because the syntax and diction make it feel so much like a young adult novel and it created such a huge dissonance with everything going on in universe that it constantly took me out of the book. This is becoming a more and more common trend in fantasy books, and I absolutely despise it
Aside from those major sins, I actually did enjoy quite a few if the characters and I thought the plot was really interesting! Im so curious to see where the author goes with this universe, but I honest to god don't think I can get through another one of these books without losing my mind
Parting thoughts, I really wish I had grabbed the ebook of this from the library because I would love to do a search of how many times “shit” or “shit”-adjacent words were included. It had to have passed over 200 times, it was literally everywhere for absolutely no reason
Foundryside has a very interesting magic system! If you mash together magic, coding, and some engineering, you’d basically end up with Scriving. Now, I don't feel like the base idea behind Scriving is anything new in the fantasy genre (Sygaldry from The Kingkiller Chronicles comes to mind), but the way it’s used throughout the book and applied to the world as a whole makes it feel very unique. I especially loved how integrated it felt within this universe and it was tons of fun to see a character who was able to “converse” with this coding, and get it to do things that it may not otherwise be inclined to do
From the very start of the book, we get a very comprehensive explanation of Scriving; from what it is, to how it works, to what all it could potentially do if studied and applied to its full extent! This, for me, is where the problems began. Now, despite how technical Scriving can potentially be in universe, it really isn't that difficult to wrap your head around as a reader — I’d even go as far as to say that it’s incredibly straight forward. But, throughout the book, the explanations about Scriving never actually stop. At no point does the author trust the reader enough to assume that we have a good understanding of the base principles of Scriving and will be able to figure things out on our own
The amount of explanations and info dumping going on throughout Foundryside concerning Scriving particulars had me constantly on the cusp of saying fuck it and DNFing the book. It was actually crazy to me how often action, plot, and even conversations were interrupted or completely set to the side to explain something about Scriving that I was absolutely able to infer on my own. It made for an infuriating reading experience and often completely broke the tension or mood of whatever was happening at the time
I love Scriving for how complex it is and how natural it feels in the world Bennett created, but its overall execution came across as a huge disappointment
Alongside the magic system, the setting for Foundryside drew me in instantly. This story takes place in a steampunky/post-industrial world that has a very italian renaissance vibe where four merchant houses have have built prosperous enclaves within a city that is falling into absolute decay. Mix that with the overarching plot line that these houses are trying to replicate the god like powers of an ancient civilization, and you have a recipe for in universe lore that is checking boxed left and right for things that I adore
My second biggest disappointment with this book comes from the fact that a majority of the main cast of characters do not speak or act like they belong in the setting Bennett worked so hard to create. It feels like such a disservice to the world building when the book is littered with modern colloquialisms and forms of speech. It takes me out of the setting to hear the characters joke and curse at each other like someone from the modern day, and it makes the book (and characters) seem somewhat juvenile. I checked multiple times to confirm that this book was a full adult scifi/fantasy, because the syntax and diction make it feel so much like a young adult novel and it created such a huge dissonance with everything going on in universe that it constantly took me out of the book. This is becoming a more and more common trend in fantasy books, and I absolutely despise it
Aside from those major sins, I actually did enjoy quite a few if the characters and I thought the plot was really interesting! Im so curious to see where the author goes with this universe, but I honest to god don't think I can get through another one of these books without losing my mind
Parting thoughts, I really wish I had grabbed the ebook of this from the library because I would love to do a search of how many times “shit” or “shit”-adjacent words were included. It had to have passed over 200 times, it was literally everywhere for absolutely no reason