Foundryside

4.5⭐️ The star of Foundryside was definitely the epic world building including such an intricately designed magic system which was described in such detail that you could see it all before you.

This is a heist book taken in new directions!

Our main characters are a mixed bag who all come together when a magical artifact is stolen.

We have Sancia, an orphan girl with a traumatic childhood who is trying to survive the harsh world outside the campos (the protected societies run by magical scriving) by theiving.

Then we meet Gregor, the privileged son of the head of a campo who is setting out to create a better world for those unlucky enough to find themselves without the protection of a campo (much to the dislike of his mother).

Orso, the most talented scriver and his assistant Berenice who are both exceptionally clever and, like many academics, sit outside the real world. Yet, they are the ones creating all the devices that run the world around them.

Now, perhaps the most unexpected of the bunch is Clef… the magical artifact himself, who is a talking key!

These characters all come together when they find themselves chasing the same thing… the key, (which our Sancia happens upon without realising its value) but for very different reasons. Soon, they learn that without each other their chances of surviving those who also seek the key are very slim.

Soon, our characters realise that merely surviving and keeping this key hidden is not enough. Instead of running from this new threat, they decide to use the key to create a better world… and that’s when things get really messy!

Foundryside has many twists and turns that keep you guessing all the way along. The characters lead the journey but it is the world building, the magic system and the plot that captures your attention and completely immerses you in this story.

I absolutely adored this book and am so looking forward to moving straight into book two to continue the journey with Sancia and her friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC.

What a fun adventure this has started off to be! I know I'm a bit behind with this being published five years ago, but, on the bright side, it means I don't have to wait to finish the trilogy :)

I recently discovered Robert Jackson Bennett from an ARC of the Tainted Cup, his newest series, which will release in 2024. I was excited to see there was more in his bibliography, and Foundryside immediately drew me in. Bennett is so creative, he builds worlds and histories and characters with such depth that it is easy to fall into his stories and stay there, utterly entranced. Foundryside is no exception.

From the moment we meet Sancia we are on an adventure through sewers and rats and fire and danger and the story does not let up at any time. Sancia, Clef, Berenice, Gregor and Orso are an unlikely bunch, but at the end of this first tale they have come so far from who they were in the beginning - each testing the limits of themselves and their city and what it means to trust. Sancia and Gregor especially are struggling with who they have been and who they want to be - and I think that journey has led them not to be enemies any longer, but they still have a long way to go, and war appears to be coming for them.

The magical system is a bit confusing at first, but Robert Jackson Bennett takes care to gently build up the reader's knowledge and understanding at multiple times and conversations and plot points so you grow with the story, and you grow with the characters - some of whom are struggling in their own ways with recognizing the abilities of people to create rigs and scriving. The larger part of the history of scriving and artifacts is still a little bit fuzzy for me, what with the ending, but I'm sure that will all be better revealed in Shorefall.

Overall, I thought this was a fantastic read - it's escapism at it's finest, and I hope Shorefall and Locklands are just as good.

This was a good one. There are not too many characters, only a few and you don't really feel anything for them in the start but slowly they grow up on you. Gregor must be my favourite character but I'm still confused a bit coz even when Orso was a rude, narcissistic one, he got quite special for me and I wanted the author to keep all of them alive, no matter the circumstances.

Sancia, the thief and protagonist of the story is well written too but seems like even though she does most or all the stuff in the book she doesn't get the respect she deserves. I'm hoping she gets what she deserved in the second book. Maybe she should have been given a strong voice towards the end in the first book itself but I'm hoping that it is so in the second book.

It is full of action, few fighting scenes are so well written that imagining them gave me real goosebumps. Author has taken care to explain everything as the story goes so we are not left clueless as to what and why it is happening.

Foundryside is the first book of the Founders triology, Shorefall is the second which I already have lined up and I have requested the third book which is Locklands. I'm telling this coz I had got second book and started it and was fascinated with it from the very first few pages but then I came to realisation that actually I had the first book. Sadly I had to finish both books fast coz second book's deadline was fast approaching.

Even if I think you can read any book of the triology but knowing every character and plotline and having idea about how this fantasy world worked made it super easy to understand as I was already connected with the characters.

I would not go into details of the plot as I feel book will be able to explain more in details what's foundryside, scriving and lexicon works. Overall execution and idea was completely mind-blowing. Definitely recommend it.

Thank you so much Netgalley and author and crown publishing for providing me with ARC in exchange of an honest review. Onto the second book we go.

Thanks to Robert Jackson Bennett, Crown Publishing, and NetGalley for the copy of the book in return for an honest review.

This book and series is up for a Hugo Award in 2023 for the best series and deservedly so. The book provides an interesting and unique set of characters in a world that is well developed. The plot moves along well to a satisfying conclusion while leaving plenty of items for future books to resolve. Recommended read.

With so many fantasy books out there, it is difficult to know which is going to be a hit and which one is going to be a miss. If you are a fan of Patrick Rothfuss but need more of a gentle push into the fantasy genre, then this one is for you.
Unique, cohesive, and subtle magic system ✔️
Heist thievery plot ✔️
Steampunk-inspired vibes ✔️
Strong female MMC ✔️

Great strong female lead! This book had a very unique setting. I loved the type of magic used throughout this book.

The magic system in this universe is very well done. Basically, you warp an object’s reality to make it do what you want. It works a bit like computer programming, with some real science behind it. My nerdy heart was happy!

It seemed a pity to spend all this lovely world building on heist after heist after heist after heist, and capture/escape/repeat. I think I would also enjoy a slower book set in the same world. But I did like the speed of light plot – it was very exciting and kept me reading. There is also a lot of blood and gore and horrible things being done to people, so you’ve been warned.

Sancia is the most interesting character. Her special abilities are amazing, and the way she is handicapped by them is akin to some aspects of autism. I wonder if that was intentional? It’s a good idea, anyway. Also, I loved her interactions with Clef and wanted more of them.

The other characters were somewhat tropey – especially Orso, the genius with zero social skills. He does grow on you as the story progresses. Here is a fun quote: “Orso grinned deliriously and topped the side of his head. “I don’t know what it is about mortal panic,” he said, “but it keeps giving me the best scrumming ideas.” (Scrumming is a local swearword. They use it a lot. A lot.)

The plot is in such a rush, that some character development has to make way. For example, I thought our team of unlikely heroes started working together so smoothly way too fast. But it was fun to be around them. There was good banter :)
“I did not drive it into the building,” he said, indignant. “We crashed.”

Naturally, the stakes kept going up, up, up, and the ending is a cliffhanger. Give me the sequels, please!

Thank you, thank you, to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-book!

I finished this book rather quickly and while I enjoyed our light fingered protagonist, the narrative moved far slow and there was not enough discovery of the world in this book, the magic system was unique but the book slow crawled towards the ending.

So many fantasy books that I have read start out slow, devoting early chapters to world building, politics, and explaining the magic systems prior to throwing the reader into much action. This is not that book. Foundryside starts in a fast-paces escapade and still manages to serve up a spectacular gritty and interesting world and unveil an exciting magic system. In a sleight of hand, or sleight of words, as this case may be, Robert Jackson Bennett creates this unique world, populated with dynamic characters without sacrificing anything to the momentum of the adventure, even propelling it.
The main character, Sancia Grado, is compelling and the more I learned about her, the more I wanted to follow her thru her journey. All of the character development was multidimensional, laying down a foundation and building upon it. Gregor Dandolo presents simply as someone from a privileged family who wants to right social injustices at first but slowly, details about him unfold to show that he is so much more.
As the book progressed, it was a harmonious melding of an action-filled plot with character and world development. As the first book in a trilogy, it ends in a completed quest-of-sorts, but opens the view to a much greater adventure and one that I was excited to continue with characters that I liked in a world that I was fascinated by and wanted to learn more about.
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Crown Publishing) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.
(4.5/5)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review (although, since this book was published years ago, I'm not sure if the term "ARC' even fits, but I don't complain when I'm offered good books to read for free!)

Recently, I read my first Robert Jackson Bennett book, an ARC of The Tainted Cup. That was interesting enough that when I saw this was being offered as well, I requested it. Foundryside is essentially a fantasy heist book (or multiple heists, technically), as The Tainted Cup was a fantasy Sherlock Holmes story. The world building is very good, with an interesting scientific/logic based magic system that I haven't seen before, and there are good messages in here on the topics of class, control, and what it means to be free. I enjoyed the story, but it was a little too dreary to become a true favorite. The best character, hands down, is a - slight spoiler coming - sentient key named Clef. Yes, you read that correctly. Curious? Read it!

Foundryside starts the trilogy with a bang. It quickly became one of my favourite books of all time with its lovable cast, unique and fascinating magic system, high-octane fight scenes, clever heists, and general 'eat the rich' attitude. 5/5

<b>The Magic:</b>
The thing that likely stands out the most about this book is the magic system. Based in programming, each object in the world is abled to be 'scrived' or essentially have its laws re-written. It is much easier to convince copper that it's gold than to convince a brick that it's gold, because the elements are already quite similar and you have to break fewer natural laws to get there. But the things you can do with the magic are rather limited only by the imagination and determination.

<b>The Setting:</b>
Which means that this fantasy-Venice has a somewhat charming and old school appearance, while still having advanced technologies such as driverless carriages (the wheels having been scrived to believe that when a lever is in a certain position, they are travelling downhill and therefore gravity is propelling them forward) and elaborate gates that only let in people with specific passwords or tokens on their person.

At the same time it is distinctly divided between the haves and have-nots as the gentry class keeps all their scriving techniques under lock and key within their elaborate walled estates, and the common folk scrimp by, forever on the outside.

<b>The Characters:</b>
I'm not a character-driven reader, but I love the found family in this one. There's a grumpy (yet excitable) old scriver with curmudgeonly Doc Brown energy, his young and very composed apprentice who is a savant with her ability to memorize large blocks and do complex computations accurately and rapidly, a former noble re-creating a fantasy-Police force in an attempt to bring order and comfort to those outside the walls, and our two main characters.

Sancia has a very complex and interesting history, and is also the only known person with her gift. She can see scrivings and manipulate them. This essentially makes her a hacker, as she exposes the weaknesses with how each scriving is written and uses that to her advantage to become an incomparable thief. Eventually she's joined by Clef (who I won't spoil) and I love the banter between the two of them. She's overall rather serious (if wry) while he's a high energy font of knowledge and humor both.

<b>The Vibes:</b>
As the main character is a thief, there are rather a lot of heists (culminating in The Big One) and I think that really helps the pacing of the story. Plenty of moments for tension, close calls, making a plan, the plan falling to bits, clever tricks, improvisation, and sneaking around where the characters shouldn't be which means they're more likely to also stumble across secrets they shouldn't know.

<b>What's Not to Like?:</b>
There are only a few caveats that I think could've been done better--
1. Sometimes the humor is a little crude and therefore will be more subjective on if it works for you or not.
2. Though the magic is nearly limitless and hacking can be approached in any number of different ways, after establishing a path that works they generally continue to hack using the exact same method-- which can get a little stale.

<b>Overall:</b>
I would recommend this to anyone who loves a strong, hard magic system, found family, and a medium to high paced story with plenty of action and eat-the-rich themes.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I’ve read a book by Mr. Jackson before and I have to say that when I read City of Stairs I finished the book completely confused and I really had no idea about what had happened in the story. This book was completely different and I enjoyed every second of it!

While the concept of the story and the setting weren’t completely original, everything else had me gripping the book with interest and studying the uniqueness of it all. It was such a detailed world and the characters were so deep that I really found myself completely invested in their stories. I enjoyed that Sancia and Clef had a relationship that wasn’t romantic, and instead Mr. Jackson concentrated on their struggle to identify with each other and their eventual deep and connected friendship. The plot itself took me a little to follow, but it was so detailed and every little thing was important, this story sucked me in and didn’t let me leave until we had gone up, down, into, and out of the Mountain.

“Move thoughtfully, give freedom to others, and you’ll rarely go wrong.”

I really can’t wait for the next book in this series, sadly I have no idea when it comes out. On the plus side, I would highly recommend this book and it’s a wonderful tome that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a solid science fiction fantasy story that is going to be going places. That’s a solid four out of five from me!

This was fantastic! I am more than a little mad at myself for waiting so long to read this book. I guess the good news is that I can start reading the next book right away instead of having to wait an entire year. I liked Sancia a lot. She has been through a lot and has found a life working as a thief. A good one at that. Her world is turned upside down when she steals an object and meets Clef. Clef is a sentient key and one of my favorite parts of this book. Who knew that I could fall in love with a key? Sancia and Clef soon team up with Gregor, Orso, and Berenice to get to the bottom of things. I listened to the audiobook and thought that Tara Sands did a great job with the story.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Crown Books and purchased a copy of the audiobook.

Sancia Grado is one of the best thieves in Foundryside. Nimble, strong, and ruthless, Sancia also has a mysterious magical ability to aid her in her exploits. But despite her legendary jobs, Sancia’s not exactly living large. When she’s offered a life changing payout to steal a powerful magical artifact, she knows it’s too good to be true. But desperate people make foolish choices, and soon enough she’s joined hands with a ragtag group racing against the clock to prevent the artifact from falling into the wrong hands.

Foundryside is at its best when the worldbuilding takes centre stage. The city of Tevane is ruled by four houses whose members live like royalty thanks to a magic called scriving. Scriving is rooted in linguistics and debate, and uses sigils to “convince” objects to perform all manner of impossible feats. The wheels of a carriage can be scrived to start, stop, and accelerate so that it can move independent of a horse, or a lock can be scrived so that only people with a specific bloodline can be allowed entry to a room.

The power disparity between house members and unaffiliated citizens is, unsurprisingly, quite vast. Those who don’t live in or work for a house are living in the city’s worst slums, a neighbourhood called Foundryside. Life there is marked by squalor, violence, and desperation. Bennett’s evocative descriptions of Foundryside made the area and its inhabitants feel real in all their rawness. Personally, I thought the concept of Foundryside was much more interesting and original than the houses were, and I would’ve liked more scenes there.

Ultimately, Foundryside suffered from uneven pacing and writing. The narrative attempts to combine serious philosophical questions with a fun heist story but I don’t think it does justice to either. There are some interesting ideas here around capitalism, war, and slavery, but unfortunately, they aren’t fully explored – there simply wasn’t enough time.

I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading Foundryside but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, either.

I was originally turned on to this series when someone claimed that this was steam punk.....

nope.

Oh well. Foundryside did have a unique scientific magic system based on writing formulas that convince....things that they are something other than what they are. IE a wooden walking stick convinced that it has the same properties as a stone rod.

Bennett built a pretty good world with a wide range of possibilities. The characters were likeable but I never really got a deep connection to them.
In this case 2 starz does not mean that it was bad. It just honestly wasn't my jam.
Honestly the talking key threw me off for the longest time and I never fully recovered.

The narrator on the audio version was ok.

An e copy of this was provided to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

check out my review on GoodReads : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2453534424

My experience with this book was right book but wrong time. I wasn't in the right mood for it each time I've tried to pick it up and the pandemic didn't help any because all I wanted to read were romances. I've only made it to the 20% mark. I did go out an buy a copy of this book and I hope to try again down the road. When I do, I'll come back and update this review to reflect that.

This was a fun read. I enjoyed the ride it took me on and it was more than I expected. The world building was top notch and the characters were very likeable. I enjoyed this read.

A very clever magic system
Combined with social commentary
Add a dash of mad sorcerer trying to take over the world
And you have a very promising start to a series from a modern master that keeps delivering compellingly original works

Stars: 4 out of 5

Robert Jackson Bennett is a Creator of Worlds, and yes, the capital letters are fully intended here. Every time his new book comes out, I am amazed at this man's imagination. His Divine Cities trilogy is in the top 10 of my most favorite series ever. That worldbuilding was absolutely top notch and like nothing I had ever read before. And he delivers again with Foundryside.

Imagine a world where certain words inscribed into inanimate objects can give the truly magical characteristics? A few glyphs put on a carriage wheels can persuade that wheel that it is going downhill, even if it's on a flat surface, so the wheel will roll forward even if in reality it goes uphill. What you get is a self-propelling carriage that doesn't need horses or engines. Imagine the implications for such a technology? Imagine how rich and powerful the Merchant Houses who control this art have become? No wonder they guard their glyphs and techniques with murderous jealousy.

Now imagine a person who, through a horrible and inhumane experiment, can interact with these scribed objects and sometimes use them in ways not intended by their creators. That would make Sancia a very good thief indeed... Until she is commissioned to steal an object from a heavily guarded warehouse. Now all the merchant houses want her dead, and everyone wants the artifact in her possession. All Sancia wants is to stay alive.

I loved everything about this story - the worldbuilding,  the characters, the tension and the seemingly overwhelming odds our protagonists face. I also liked that ultimately this is a story of transformation. Yes, objects are transformed by the art of scrivening, but more importantly, human beings are transformed by the circumstances and encounters they make during that book. Sancia is the best example of it. She starts the story as a loner who doesn't trust anyone and struggles with her ability, considering it more of a curse than anything else. She comes to the end of this book as an almost different person - she has found friends and has mastered her ability, but she has also found a purpose. And a group of misfits was transformed into a found family as well. But not all the transformations are good ones, unfortunately, because one good man was transformed into a mindless monster, though I think there is still hope for him and he will come back in future books.

The reason why I gave this book 4 instead of 5 stars is because the protagonists seem less mature than in the author's other series, even though the book isn't categorized as YA, so that was a little off-putting for me, but that's only my preference, since I'm not much into young adult books. Hopefully, Sancia will do more maturing in the next books of the series because I definitely want to check them out.

If you like great worldbuilding, like I do. If you like fast paced stories with twists and turns and wonderfully flawed characters, you should definitely check out this book.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rep: LGBTQIA+

As I was reading this book, I was cursing myself for waiting so long to pick up this book. It was just that fantastic of a read! I loved all of the characters and was glad to have the chance to read from multiple perspectives. The worldbuilding is fantastic but does require the reader to focus and pay attention to all of the details. The pacing was great, with tons of action taking place and plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader interested. Suffice to say, this book was a clear favourite for me and I would recommend this to anyone who likes heist-style stories!