Book Review - Foundryside
Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett - 4/5 🦞🦞🦞🦞
Not quite Steampunk, not quite fantasy, but some happy blend of the two. I was a little bit slow getting into it, but once I hid about the mid-point I sat down and read through the rest of the book in one day. This book is set in a large city run by ruthless merchant families who value profit above all else.
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
These merchant families make their money by creating ‘scrived items’. This is to say they use the ancient language of the gods to convince objects that reality isn’t what they thought. You can convince wheels they’re always rolling downhill for example, or instruct a sword to always strike the most vulnerable part of the enemy.
This book focuses on Sancia Grado, a girl with some unique powers that she acquired in a very unfortunate way, but which make her an exceptional thief. When the job with a payout that she can’t refuse comes her way, her whole world changes. Sancia of course manages to pull the job off, but something doesn’t seem quite right. Breaking one of her own rules, she decides to open the box and see what she’s stolen.
Thus she meets Clef. Clef is my favorite character in the whole book. Clef is a magical key of sorts, who can open any lock. We eventually learn that Clef is a powerful artifact created by an ancient race of powerful beings known as ‘the hierophants’. These ancient wizards were said to have been able to change reality itself, not just convince objects otherwise. We’re not sure what exactly brought about their demise, but at some point, they tried to create their own god, and that their society “fell to ash and ruin.”
We also learn that there are two languages of the ancient hierophants. I’m paraphrasing, but basically the language of the mundane and the language of the divine. Some of the merchant families have gotten a hold of other ancient and powerful artifacts and have likely learned enough of the divine language the scriv terrible things and bring about something of a second world war. It is up to Sancia, Clef, and their uneasy allies to stop history from repeating itself and save the city of Tevanne, and ultimately the world.
The cast is unique and some of them are quite endearing. I appreciate a character who can stick to their own morals and values even to their own detriment. It feels gritty, and Sancia’s powers come with some uncomfortable checks and balances. I’ve seen a lot of love for Gregor Dandolo in other reviews online for this very reason.
My main complaints with the book were that there were a couple of times when it felt like we were getting an info-dump, and that scriving gets explained numerous times. After the first few times it is discussed, you understand the basic principles and don’t need more on it. There are times when characters are discussing the art of advanced and complicated scriving when it is relevant, but there are times when Bennett is just re-hashing how it works that was not necessary in my opinion.
I convinced Phil to read it because he was complaining about some other book he was reading at the time. He and I had a discussion on the “girl with magical powers trope”, which he does not care for. Sancia does get a little bit of a ‘cheat button’ towards the end of book one for her powers. I just recently started book two in the series and I’m curious to see how the author keeps these in check.
On the whole, I still really enjoyed this book, enough to finish about 70% of it in one day, and to get the next book in the series. The story and characters were compelling and kept me curious to find out what happens next. I of course love ancient tech and ancient advanced/lost civilizations/religions and such.
I would recommend this book.
Till next time dear reader, go read a book and leave an author a good review! <3 Tiff
Tiff’s Lobster Rating Scale:
🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞 - A GREAT book, couldn’t put it down, still thinking about it after I’ve finished it, would read again, hit a lot of my ‘book sweet spots’.
🦞🦞🦞🦞 - A REALLY GOOD book, I genuinely enjoyed it.
🦞🦞🦞 - A GOOD book, not bad, but it didn’t leave me wanting more either.
🦞🦞 - Meh, JUST OK. I had serious problems with this book and did not enjoy it. I maybe didn’t finish it.
🦞 - This book was deplorable, and probably contained some highly inappropriate or questionable content.
