Foundryside. The closest thing Sancia had to a home. She passed through an alley, and was greeted by a familiar scene. Firebaskets sparked and hissed at the street corners ahead. A taverna on her left was still thriving even at this hour, its old yellow windows glimmering with candlelight, cackles and curses spilling through the drapes across the entrance. Weeds and vines and rogue nut trees tumbled out of the flooded alleys as if launching an ambush. Three old women on a balcony above watched her passage, all picking at a wooden plate, upon which sat the remains of a striper - a large, ugly water bug that turned a rather pretty, striped violet pattern when boiled.
The scene was familiar, but it didn't make her any more relaxed.

I suspect I'm really, really going to like this series from Robert Jackson Bennett, but book one was a bit of a mare to get into.

I don't dispute at all that RJB is one of the best when it comes to fantasy with that more uncommon urban setting - he, China Mieville, and Max Gladstone sit at the very top of the peak for me. But I bounced off the first Divine Cities novel a couple of times before I got into it, too, and I'm starting to wonder if it's a first book thing for him - and this was harder for me than that. It's just such a complex world, and the amount of explanation required really bogs the story down, along with some long tracts of dialogue that can be tricky to keep track of. It's absolutely worth the effort, but I almost wish he'd published a separate, dedicated, guide to the world and scriving, and then had the freedom to just get on with the story in this novel.

Scriving, essentially, is programming, but for physical objects - a set of instructions that can give you gates that unlock only for those you want let in, lanterns that will bob gently along by themselves to illuminate a city street, carriages that can follow a pre-set transport route without human intervention. As the book says, though, "Any given innovation that empowers the individual will inevitably come to empower the powerful much, much more." - and the four merchant houses of Tevanne certainly prove that too. Within their campo (essentially a compound) walls like mini-cities full of citizens living comfortable lives as long as they're useful - without is a kind of anarchy held in check by the fear such powerhouses can wield over the lives of the poor or unnecessary.

And into all that comes Sancia, a thief with nothing on her side except a handy ability to hear the scrivings that are invisible to the rest of the world. At least, until she steals something too valuable and ends up with a whole mess of trouble headed her way, events spiralling into a really intriguing and interesting story (once we get past all that early story explanation).

It's a story with a whole lot of potential and I feel like the odds are good it's going to be an amazing series - it really is worth sticking with. I just wish he'd found a better way to get all that info into his readers heads.

It's always really exciting to see a fresh take on the fantasy genre that gets away from tired tropes and recycled plotlines.  Foundryside from Robert Jackson Bennett (review copy from Jo Fletcher books) does exactly that.  This is the story of Sancia, a talented thief with a very special set of skills, who is hired to steal a box.  She makes the mistake of looking inside, and what she finds inside - a sentient gold key that speaks to her telepathically - turns her life and world upside down, thrusting her into the midst of a conflict between the big artisan houses that control the city of Tevanne.

Each House jealously guards its intellectual property: a language that lets it build and sell magical artifacts.  But the Houses are desperate to track down ancient artifacts that might enable a step change in what they can design and build.  There are rumours of a secret language known by the ancients that would let them change the world, not just create localised effects that bend its rules.  An archaelogical dig on a remote island on the far side of the world has created rumours that ancient artifacts could be found, prompting a bidding war between the Houses desperate to lay their hands on any item that can be found.  Clef - the gold key that Sancia steals - is one of those items, with the ability to open any lock, however complicated.  Sancia finds herself pursued by people wanting to recover Clef, and Gregor, a police officer who wants to catch her for the original break in where she stole the box.

Sancia is a brilliantly written character.  A metal plate in her head has gifted with a talent that enables her to feel and understand the shape and size of anything she touches physically.  She can put her hand on the wall of a building and understand its full layout.  This makes breaking into buildings and stealing things remarkably easy for her.  But the talent comes with a price.  She can't touch another human being and finds contact with people, clothes and objects overwhelming and painful.  She is saving up to have the plate removed, believing she has found a surgeon willing to do it.  The traumatic past that resulted in her acquiring the metal plate and living in the margins of Tevanne is slowly revealed as the book goes on.

The setting of Tevanne and its magic system is particularly fresh and interesting.  It imports concepts from computer programming into a fantasy magic system in a fascinating way.  The Houses control giant Lexicons defining detailed strings of magical instructions that can then be combined to make artifacts.  Each House has its own specialists responsible for maintaining and expanding the Lexicons and using the instructions to create new magical items.  Those specialists are fiercely intelligent and extremely protective of their work.  But each House's language is also pirated by artisans living outside House walls, where there are no rules and no law to be enforced.  The divide between rich and poor is extreme, and the writer has a lot to say about the exploitation of people, and those who treat them as just one more asset.

This is a fun and pacy adventure with a rewarding reveal as the book progresses.  It sets up well for a sequel, which I will look forward to.

Goodreads rating: 4*

I absolutely loved this book (I love all RJB's books). For a fan of the 'Thief' video games, this was like catnip to me. Great setting, characters, set pieces, I devoured this book and can't wait for the next one!

This is the first of Robert Jackson Bennetts' books I have read. As a fan of sci-fi I was looking forwards to the experience and I wasn't disappointed. It was an action packed adventure.

he final book I have to tell you about is Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. I actually started this book quite a while ago and finally decided to pay it some attention and finish it. Qwill reviewed this book back in August so check out what she thought.

Foundryside took me by surprise. Usually for me, Jackson's stories hit me with a big KAPOW from the first few pages and I am in there, loving the characters and loving the story. This time, it took me a little longer to warm up to Sancia and Gregor. I found it difficult, at first, to know what was going on and how the characters and civilization all fit together. Because I wasn't immediately engaged I got distracted by other books and left Foundryside for several weeks. In retrospect this actually worked in my favour. While it took me a little bit longer to get into the story once I did I was completely hooked. Sancia was a little bit different and her past experiences were horrific but shaped her into the hero she didn't think she could be. Bennett added some really good twists to make sure that we all paid attention and didn't feel the need the spoon feed us with lots of backstory. In the end I thoroughly enjoyed Foundryside and while it will take quite a bit for it to eclipse his Divine Cities series for me I am willing to it a go.

Absolutely brilliant, my favourite books of 2018 by far! I cannot wait for the sequel, definitely is my most anticipated read of 2019

In this Italian-inspired fantasy, the city of Tevanne is ruled by Merchant Houses in a world where the art of scriving can convince an object to have more or less power than it was built for. A sword might be scrived to believe it’s heavier and deadlier than it is, or a locked door forbidden to open inwardly might be convinced it can open outwardly instead.

In this world we meet Sancia Grado, a thief and former slave who has the ability to hear scrivings thanks to an operation she underwent without her consent. When she’s given the opportunity to steal a small box in exchange for an inordinate amount of money that she hopes will afford surgery to remove the scrived plating in her head, she finds herself in possession of a sentient key who can talk to her and, most surprising of all, can open any lock.

Realising that the key, Clef, is far more dangerous in the hands of the Merchant House she’s stolen him for than in her own, Sancia goes into hiding with him, and it’s not long before the whole of Tevanne starts looking for them.

This book starts out fairly slowly, which I think is why it took me a little while to get through it, but that slow start is worth it for Robert Jackson Bennett’s world-building and the introduction of his magic system in the form of scriving. Bennett’s work has been recommended to me a few times, I know both Natalie @ A Sea Change and Deanna @ Deanna Reads Books have both enjoyed previous books of his, and I’m so pleased I finally had the chance to see what all the fuss is about.

Sancia is the kind of heroine I love. She’s brave and sarcastic and afraid, and Bennett’s exploration of her history is done so well; through Sancia and the other characters she meets along the way, both heroes and villains and everyone in-between, Bennett leads his readers through discussions on slavery, the price of freedom and what it means to be a person. This last thread, in particular, is deftly woven into the fabric of Tevanne having been built on scrived objects – if you tamper with an object, at what point does it become a person? And if you tamper with a person, at what point do they become an object? – as well as the wealthy benefiting from slavery and the subjugation of the city’s poorest inhabitants.

Sancia’s friendship with Clef was one of my favourite things about this book, and to be completely honest I never thought I’d feel so attached to a sentient key, but the villains were equally compelling. One villain, in particular, was the kind of villain I love: a villain I understood, and a villain who broke my heart a little because they had such potential to be good if the world in which they lived had only given them the chance.

I was even more pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of an f/f romance. It’s a very small part of this book, to the point where I’m not sure it can entirely be described as a romance when the two women in question are still at the very early stages of showing an interest in each other, but both women were well-written, fleshed out characters and I’d love to see more of this relationship developing throughout the rest of this series.

Though it started out slow, by the time I got to the mid-point all I could think about was how much I wanted to read this book, so much so that I stayed up into the wee hours of the night to finish it. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series, Hierophant, and recommend this book to anyone in search of a high fantasy novel with a fresh, original magic system!

This is such an original concept and Bennett tells the story with great aplomb. The narrative focuses on Sancia, a thief with a secret affinity to her surroundings, which helps her in her profession a lot! What I found so refreshing here was the magic system. There is a real industrial/mechanical aspect to the world, with magic working in the form of scrivings on items, changing the way in which they behave. There are some metaphysical discussions later in the book about the nature of reality that were really interesting and the narrative is very fast paced, which keeps you turning the pages through what is a pretty long book. The characters are well drawn and feel authentic, with believable motivations and corresponding actions and there is a wonderful undercurrent that runs throughout, which teases further magic, but never shows too much of its hand. All in all, I found this a really intriguing and well done first book in a series and will look forward to the next instalment with relish.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This one is a Fantasy story about a professional thief by the name of Sancia. It takes place in an imaginary world with lots of magic with an original approach. Sancia has been hired to steal an item she knows little about from a safe. This takes her sneaking into a compound through sewage, ensorcelled blade on guard.

Many items have magic in this world, referred to as scriving, a sigil-based spell method which in this world is defined as magical writing. The item she is after has a few surprises which will lead much of the progression of events. It is well-written, if perhaps a little cliché as thieves in Fantasy worlds tend to be. The world building is quite workable though and I found it an enjoyable read.

I was thrown off a little by the voice of a certain magical item because it sounded too modern day and pulled me out of the fantasy world a little. Also, a few occasional phrases pulled me out like "Praise God" in a world where religion hasn't been an element in the story up to then. Otherwise the characters were as you would expect for the genre.

I found myself deeply engaged with the story and have to give it a high rating for that, but this expertly constructed alternative world is both stressful and depressing and makes me think I may pass on the sequels. It also had a blatant 'buy the next book' ending and I'm finding myself less and less enamoured of those. Why must everything be a series?

Earlier this year I read and loved City of Stairs, also by Robert Jackson Bennett. When I saw Foundryside on NetGalley I immediately requested it and I was delighted to be approved to read an ARC of it.

Unfortunately, it turned out that Foundryside was not really to my taste and I put it down at 56%. I could have pushed through, but it would have been a bit pointless since I made more than halfway into the book and was not enjoying myself nor engaged in the story.

Foundryside begins with a heist. The MC, Sancia, is supposed to steal a box (its content unknown to her) and from then on there is just so much action, so much running around that I simply got bored. I believe I was supposed to care about her, since she was in so much danger at so many moments but I did not know her well enough to be able to care.

The world building was a bit sketchy, I thought. There are four great merchant houses and if you are a member of the elite you will live in the grounds of one of them. If not, you'll just have to fend for yourself in lawless and extremely poor areas.

The magic system is complex and well-explained but I wish there had been more information on the origins of scriving. Bennett is great at creating mythologies and I did not see much of this talent on the pages of Foundryside. There were hints here and there but no diving into it. At least not in the part I read.

My other problem with the story, and it is just a matter of personal taste, was the steampunk feel to it. For some reason, steampunk does not work for me. It was also more YA than Adult Fantasy, which was not what I had been expecting.

Also, Clef reminded me SO MUCH of a certain Brandon Sanderson character that I could not help but be amused by Sanderson's glowing review of Foundryside. :)

It was a shame that I didn't like Bennett's new book as much as I hoped I would. If your thoughts about Foundryside are similar to mine, do not be discouraged from trying his other work. City of Stairs was wonderful, in my opinion, and Foundryside has been getting quite good reviews which shows that Bennett's vast imagination can captivate wildly different readers.

From GoodReads:
Really enjoyed this.
Cleve and interesting new world and love the main character.
The rest of the characters a bit blah so far,but loads of room for them to develop going forward.
Goes along at a fair old pace with lots of action sequences. Could count as YA - would have preferred a bit more grit.
Great start to a series - I will be looking out for next installment

Wow, just wow. In all honesty, I requested this book because I liked the cover and though the story was kind of cool. I didn't expect to enjoy it that much. But I did.

The main characters are well developed and complex each with their own complicated and emotional backstories. The secondary character less so but in all honesty that didn't matter too much in the book, if the next one stays the same there could be a few issues.

The narrative was good too but took a little while to understand some of the terms in the book. Overall it was a great read and I would recommend to any fantasy/sci-fi lover!

I can see a lot of people love this one, so I think my 3-star review is at least in part due to me rather falling out of love with the high fantasy genre. I don't read much fantasy nowadays and only gave this one a go because I've loved some of RJB's other books (notably American Elsewhere) which are more urban fantasy/horror.

Anyway, Foundryside started pretty well. The story concerns a thief named Sancia who's latest job goes awry and lands her in a world of trouble. There's a really interesting (but slightly over-explained/complex) magic system called scriving and a nice air of mystery about historical God-types who invented the system.

After a promising start, I felt the book really sagged in the middle. I was interested in the story but left a little cold by an endless chain of action sequences that dominated the middle sections of the book. I also found the language a little jarring. The characters spoke American-English most of the time with the key exception being an annoying, levered-in fantasy swear word which was used far too "scrumming" often.

The book picked up towards the end and hooked me back in to some extent but I'm simply not invested enough in the characters to look forward to sequels with any real enthusiasm.

Whilst everyone else enjoys this trilogy, I shall selfishly pray that Robert Jackson Bennett someday goes back to writing wonderful urban-fantasy/sci-fi books like American Elsewhere or The Troupe.

4.5 stars

Foundryside is the story of Sancia, a gifted thief and runaway slave with the ability to get the job done, no matter how difficult or how hard. The key to Sancia's success is known only to herself, but when she's offered a job (to steal an artefact) that's too tempting to refuse, she finds her self in all kinds of trouble, the dead trouble kind! What power does this ordinary looking object hold, that makes it worth killing for?

Sancia's world consists mainly of four Merchant Houses and if you don't belong to a House, you'll find yourself living on the outskirts and trying to survive. It's a grim life! The city where Sancia lives is powered by scrivings, an ancient form of magic that uses inscriptions to power the city, bring objects to life and much more.

From the outset this book kicks off with an explosive story and the pace just keeps on going until the very end. I loved the story behind the magic and the scriving magic that was used in this book. It's so original and sets it apart from most other magic infused stories. The world building and story-telling was amazing and really allows you to immerse yourself into this cutthroat fantasy world.

Sancia is an unusual hero with an unusual ability, but she's also street smart and able to use her brains, fists and ability to fight her way out of dangerous situations. The characters she meets along the way are mostly complicated and dangerous. At times it's hard to know who to trust - everyone she meets seems to be hiding something (including Sancia) and I loved that about this book! But you gotta trust someone right! Sancia does find an ally and it's an unusual one (who offers something fresh and new) and their interaction offers some light relief at times, humour and also creates some intense moments. Sancia and her relationship with Clef was brilliant! She also has to lower her guard and rely on the friendship of others if she's going to make it out of it alive!

Sometimes the story felt a bit too technical and went in to so much detail about scriving and magic formulae, that the characters felt glossed over at times. We do learn a bit why Sancia is the way she is, and more about the other main characters towards the end, but I felt like some of the richness of a story that comes with knowing more about a character/s was missing. Having said that, the story was original, fresh and intense and exciting. The ending has lots of twists and turns and there's a surprising conclusion. I look forward to reading the next instalment.

Thank to to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the ARC.

Let me lay it straight out: I absolutely loved City of Stairs and its sequels. It was my first foray in Bennett's work and over a couple of years, I read the sequels and was delighted with his worldbuilding, his characters and his ability to put together a very tight plot, culminating in books that kept me reading deep into the night. So imagine my delight when I was approved for the first book in his new series.

Now imagine my disappointment when I found that Foundryside doesn't live up the the exceptionally high bar that City of Stairs set. Which isn't to say that this book won't do it for someone, but it didn't quite do it for me.

The city of Tevanne is a sort of steampunk(ish) version of Venice, reminiscent of The Lies of Locke Lamora , where magical scrivings keep everything going. It is a city that is ruled over by the rich Companies while outside the walls of their compounds, poor people try to eke out a living. Scrivings, in this world, are instructions that shape and change reality. They do everything from lock doors to keep carriages moving, they make weapons more powerful and deadlier and they are a closely-guarded secret of the four ruling Houses. The story kicks off when Sancia, a street rat, is asked to steal an artefact for a ridiculous sum of money. Her heist leads to something much bigger though and soon she's thrown into a race to save her life, keep the artefact out of the wrong hands and prevents perhaps the end of the world as she knows it.

Now, there are things that once again, Bennett does incredibly well. I really enjoyed Tevanne (the whole invented 'scrumming' swearing aside, especially considering that some of the language is fairly modern and 'goddamn' wouldn't somehow be out of place here), it felt like a city that was truly lived in. It's got character, it's got history and I actually enjoyed seeing it through the eyes of Sancia and of Gregor, the son of a campo leader (which makes him, in the world of Foundryside, something akin to royalty); they both relate to the world around them in vastly different ways and where Sancia only ever thinks about her survival (in ways that are revealed as the book progresses), whereas Gregor wants something perhaps more abstract but no less important (and no, I won't spoil what it is for you!). There is also history between the characters and the city (going now beyond just Sancia and Gregor as POV characters) and it's obvious that Bennett has situated Tevanne within a greater world and its lore; there is religion, there is magic, but there is also conflict and slavery, an ugliness and a grittiness that goes beyond just a grimdark novel. The world of Tevanne is not one that is very kind to its people, to say the least.

The magic system is intricate and detailed, and I really enjoyed the way it was portrayed. I've seen people compare it to the work of Brandon Sanderson, but as I'm not familiar with his work, I can't tell you quite how accurate it is. However, I really liked seeing how different characters reacted to it, from Sancia (who doesn't really understand quite how it all works) to the scrappers whose livelihood depends on it. I liked that Bennett didn't treat the reader to long and windy infodumps, instead showing us how scrivings are put together, how they can be manipulated and what a clever scriver can do with enough imagination. It ties in nicely with the mysterious Occidental empire, the hierophants and the devices that could make and unmake the world and it definitely piqued my interest.

Unfortunately, had this review only had the positives in it, I wouldn't have rated this below 4 stars. There are some big, bombastic action sequences in this (in perhaps almost direct contrast to City of Stairs which only, to my memory, sports a great dramatic ending), but there are also large parts where everything seems to drag. I found some of the middle parts to be especially... boring almost feels like too harsh of a term to use when speaking about Bennett, one that is perhaps a little bit unfair, but I didn't find myself under the same compulsion to keep reading as I had with his previous works. Don't get me wrong, I found the overarching plot interesting, but there were sections where it felt like Bennett couldn't quite decide how to get from one big action scene to the next; so we're treated to "planning sessions" where characters just seem to, well, chat and exposit. I didn't feel like there was much in the way of growth here (which is annoying, as I really wanted to 100% buy into the romance), which is a real shame, because Foundryside relies as much on its characters as it does its plot and action sequences to keep the whole thing chugging along.

There is a lot of groundwork being laid here. There are indications of things grander than at first glance. There are some genuinely nail-biting moments (particularly in the last 100 or so pages). Sancia is a brilliant character and I really liked how Bennett treated themes like PTSD, slavery, the impact of war and the dangers of hubris, because he made them all feel visceral and real. But it doesn't quite reach the heights that City of Stairs did, at least for me. Will I keep reading the sequels? I think I will. I am sufficiently intrigued that I really do want to see what happens next and I will hope that Bennett is able to once again strike the note that he did with his Divine Cities trilogy.

A thief with uncanny abilities, a military captain, a thaumaturge, and a group of disenfranchised makers.

The story's main character is Sancia, who has skills that make her very valuable to others and therefore she needs to hide them for her own safety. A small group of people do know she has skills, but don't know the full extent of them. But then neither does Sancia really.

Gregor Dandolo is known as the revenant of Dantua, a captain of an army that was massacred following a seige. He has high level links to one of the houses, yet he becomes involved with Sancia.

Sancia's 'friends', the makers of items with skills, make the things that perform 'magical' actions. They imbue things with 'effects' that can be applied when Sancia needs them. The effects are not necessary quite what was intended though! And Sancia can find herself with problems when they don't quite do what she expects.

And then Sancia gets involved with others which means that she must work with those 'friends' and also others who she thought were her enemies to outwit some who would enslave the world to evil.

What a really engaging and original story, it is written in such a way that the story isn't guessable and it keeps you engaged right to the end. And there is sadness in the end, but I won't spoil it by going into details.

Since I really enjoyed this author's previous series (The Divine Cities, which starts with City of Stairs), I was keen to get hold of Foundryside even though the thought of starting another trilogy really didn't appeal.

This book is set in a different world from the previous series, one where all of the action takes place in an area dominated by four great merchant houses - there's a clear demarcation between the areas they control and where the rest of the population scrape a living, with the mechanisms they employ (a kind of writing called scriving that works like computer code for reality) keeping everyone in their place. It's in this very ordered world that we initially meet two of our protagonists - a thief (Sancia) who is hyper-sensitive to everything and a son of one of the merchant houses (Gregor) who's returned from war with a different perspective on how things ought to be.

Sancia is hired to steal something and that something turns out to be an artefact created by the people who first invented scriving. Except they went one better and started messing with reality, using items just like the one Sancia now has in her possession. When one of the merchant houses is looking to stockpile these artefacts and start to mess with the system, corrupt as it is, Sancia and Gregor reluctantly join forces to steal those artefacts, with the help of a few other folks they pick up along the way. Yes, it's a heist movie!

As they discover along the way, the enemy is not necessarily who it seems to be and both Sancia and Gregor are going to get unpleasant surprises about who they are and what they have lived through. They're not the only one with unpleasant experiences, as two people literally explode at one point and another implodes, so while I wouldn't necessarily categorise this book as 'grimdark' there are probably going to be people it won't work for as a result.

I've happily given Foundryside 4 stars because I enjoyed it, look forward to seeing what happens as a result of the decisions made here and expect I'll re-read it when the next book comes out. It still didn't quite blow my socks off and that was partly because of the flatness of some of the supporting characters. Sancia and, to a lesser extent, Gregor are pretty convincing - though I'd have liked more from Gregor's point of view following a pretty big reveal towards the end - but the other characters are a bit less real to me. Still, assuming they all survive the trilogy, there's still time to sort that out...

This is the first book in a new series from the author: The Founders. The series is set in a world which is very difficult to describe! But I'll try. There is one huge city: Tevanne. Everything in the city is ruled by four rich merchant houses; everyone not belonging to one of these houses is very poor and lives in shanty towns. The protagonist, Sancia, is a thief living in Foundryside, in a bare room and surrounded by danger and poverty.

This world is full of special object - "scrived" objects - which have strange writings on them, allowing them to defy certain rules and produce special effects. Sancia is also special - she can sense everything she touches, and is helps her to be a very good thief indeed. When she agrees to take on a very big, and very dangerous job, her life changes forever.

I really enjoyed this book. It is exciting and well written, the pace is fast with short breaks of thoughfulness for the characters and little pockets of emotion. It's a great combination for a fantasy novel of new ideas, action and humanity. Although the book is quite long it is never dull. The world is quite complicated but explained very well, and I never felt confused about what things were or what was happening, which can all to easily happen when a new world is not perfectly written.

This is a great story in of itself, but it is also the start of something much bigger and more exciting, both for the characters and the reader. I will definitely be on the lookout for the next instalment in the series, and also previous books from this author. I'm not familiar with his work but he has written other fantasy series and standalone novels, and I'd like to read them all!

I'd definitely recommend this book to any fantasy fans. It's something a little bit different, it's gritty and exciting, and also introduces a potentially great new world with lots of possibility.

Wow. What an immense, imaginative, incredible piece of world building and characterisation here from Robert Jackson Bennett. An epic of a novel, addictively brilliant and oh so clever.

It’s hard to describe without spoilers so I’ll just say you should read it – a mythical feel bringing together magic and technology in a complete dream of a read means I can almost guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Descriptively this is beautifully written and the plotting is intelligent and utterly compelling. It completely engaged me and I read it in two wonderfully immersive sittings.

Epic fantasy at it’s magical,  action fuelled best.

Highly Recommended

Very enjoyable fantasy novel – highly recommended

I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed this fantasy novel, particularly the first half in which the original premise is established. Sancia is a gifted thief sent on a mission which has important consequences for her and for all the characters involved. The fantasy element of the novel centers around the ability to use sigils to "program" objects with individual powers. All the action takes place in one city dominated by merchant families (a bit like Renaissance Venice).

This is an exciting novel, well thought-out and developed with interesting characters and an engaging plot. The author has established the beginning of a trilogy, leaving several issues unresolved.. Highly recommended. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.