Review: The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennet

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead — killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible. Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.
At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home. Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

"Civilization is often a task that is only barely managed."

Robert Jackson Bennet's The Tainted Cup is an excellent murder mystery wrapped in the beautiful package of an immaculate worldbuilding, featuring an autistic investigator and her dyslexic assistant, who is our only narrator. This Watsonian figure is thus often as clueless as we are to the investigator's sharp deductions, and it's a delight to be there for the ride, desperately trying to keep up.

This really feels like much more of a mystery novel than a fantasy story, but I have an inkling that there will be a larger plot to unravel about the world. In this first book, the world is more in the background, but we are immersed in it with deft, precise, and small strokes. This is a world where people are artificially augmented in order to cover various tasks, where an empire built walls in order to protect the population from giant creatures called leviathans whose arrival by sea is heralded by earthquakes. This vividly painted world is teeming with contagions that scare the population, while the government is in a power struggle with powerful families. The books thus touches upon themes of classism and social injustice, and it's certain to delve more on them in the rest of the trilogy.

The interactions between Din and Ana are naturally an highlight of the book, with Din's inexperience playing well against Ana's greatness. He's not one to be intimidated, though, and he ends up being of great help thanks to his general stubborness. The rest of the cast is very vibrant, with many support characters who all feel very distinct and have their own development, following the big revelations coming from the investigation. There's even time for the sweet first steps of an achillean relationship between Din and another character, but it's not a focus.

The Tainted Cup is a great first installment.

✨ 4.5 stars

Review: Locklands, by Robert Jackson Bennett

Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against plenty of long odds in the past. But the war they’re fighting now is one even they can’t win. This time, they’re not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe—a ghost in the machine that uses the magic of scriving to possess and control not just objects, but human minds.
To fight it, they’ve used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army—a society—that’s like nothing humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they’ve freed a handful of their enemy’s hosts from servitude, even brought down some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on—implacable. Unstoppable. Now, as their opponent closes in on its true prize—an ancient doorway, long buried, that leads to the chambers at the center of creation itself—Sancia and her friends glimpse a chance at reaching it first, and with it, a last desperate opportunity to stop this unbeatable foe. But to do so, they’ll have to unlock the centuries-old mystery of scriving’s origins, embark on a desperate mission into the heart of their enemy’s power, and pull off the most daring heist they’ve ever attempted.

"There is no dancing through a monsoon". Robert Jackson Bennett's Locklands aims higher than ever and crafts a tale of gigantic scope, a novel about transhumanism, choices, and sacrifices. Set eight years after Shorefall's devastating conclusion, it follows the original cast as they make a new society, something so vastly different from everything that came before, a new way of being. They fight for a chance to survive, battling against the ancient being that they awakened in the past, and finding unexpected allies. It's all-out war, vast and desperate, the very surface of the earth altered.

And yet at its heart, it's also a quiet story of loss and despair, about what a single man can accomplish in the face of a personal tragedy. It's terrible to imagine that much of the pain and catastrophies suffered by humanity were done in the course of attempting to right a wrong. Against the backdrop of the war mysteries are revealed, and the tragedy at the center of it all pulls at heartstrings in its simplicity.

Sancia and Berenice suffer through a trial of their own, as they're forced to face the consequences of what happened in the first book. They're an older couple now, they've been together for years, and they're comfortable in their skin and their love and in the ties that bind them; they know each other, inside and out, but darkness looms ahead, and choices that must be made.

The epilogue is masterful, tying all the final threads together to form a heartbreaking conclusion that nonetheless is filled with hope.

Locklands is the perfect finale to an imaginative trilogy.

✨ 5 stars

Review: Shorefall, by Robert Jackson Bennett

Having narrowly saved the metropolis of Tevanne from destruction, Sancia Grado and her allies have turned to their next task: sowing the seeds of a full-on magical-industrial revolution. If they succeed, the secrets behind scriving—the art of imbuing everyday objects with sentience—will be accessible to all of Tevanne’s citizens, much to the displeasure of the robber-barons who’ve hoarded this knowledge for themselves.
But one of Sancia’s enemies has embarked on a desperate gambit, an attempt to resurrect a figure straight out of legend—an immortal being known as a heirophant. Long ago, the heirophant was an ordinary man, but he’s used scriving to transform himself into something closer to a god. Once awakened, he’ll stop at nothing to remake the world in his horrifying image. And if Sancia can’t stop this ancient power from returning? Well, the only way to fight a god… is with another god.

"What a wondrous thing, to share my life, and be loved". Robert Jackson Bennett's Shorefall pulls no punches. The stakes couldn't be higher as a new menace comes to the city, a threat that must be dealt with in a mere matter of days. Set a few years after the first installment of the series, this books is brimming with action and heart, and it's an emotional journey that makes you grapple with what it means to be human. It's about found families, and choices, and the cost of innovation.

The world-building is superb, expanding the threads in the first book to create an immersive experience. The magic system is terrific, of course, and new applications of it are reavealed, making for gripping scenes. Gregor's backstory is fully revealed, and suffice it to say that it pulls at the heartstrings for the injustice of it all. The villain is extraordinary, set on change and terrifying and not entirely wrong in his assessment.

Sancia and Berenice are still together, and we even get a few chapters from Berenice's POV. Their relationship is solid and sweet, but they never lose track of the goal; they know that the fate of the world is in their hands, and they aren't going to ruin their chances by worrying about each other. After all, they're both extremeley competent.

Shorefall is a stunning sequel to Foundryside.

✨ 4.5 stars

Review: Foundryside, by Robert Jackson Bennett

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle. But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.
Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them. To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.

"Move thoughtfully, give freedom to others, and you'll rarely do wrong". Robert Jackson Bennett's Foundryside is the incredible first book in a trilogy that delves deep into matters of free will, that asks the question: what makes something or someone conscious? It explores the damages of capitalism in a setting that is reminiscent of Venice at the heights of its commercial power, governed by merchant houses that have no care for the poor and the afflicted. In fact, there's abuse of power and terrifying experiments that threaten to break the very fabric of reality.

The book starts like many other fantasy novels, with a heist, but it quickly becomes so much more. The magic system is complex: inscriptions can contain a number of instructions, to make objects do pretty much anything. The limit depends on one's morals, as we discover as the novel goes on. Scriving on human beings is apparently banned, but unfortunately not everyone follows the rules. There's a slight horror vibe to this book when it explores the lengths some people go to in order to obtain power. There's a cautionary tale in the past of this world, a veritable mystery about an ancient war, but the warnings aren't heeded. Mysteries abound and our incredible band of main characters will have to unveil them quickly.

The true protagonist of the novel, Sancia, is a twenty-something thief with a terrible past that allows her to be the best at her profession. A painful past bothers also the cop that reluctantly begins helping her, a man with powerful connections and an agenda of justice; to complete the cast, there's a caustic scriver and his assistant, a quick-witted woman who'll start a romance with Sancia. And then there's the sentient key, who is a sheer delight of a character. Nothing is as it seems, though, and as the characters unveil a conspiracy, they find out that they might have bitten off more than they can chew.

The writing is phenomenal, sharp and cutting and, also, funny in some places, especially with Sancia's remarks and some of her conversations with the key.

Foundryside is a frantic heist book with great depth.

✨ 4.5 stars