Locklands was a great conclusion to a fascinating and complex series! This last book in the series is about 8 years into the future after what goes down in Shorefall.

When I first started Locklands, it took some time to remember all the plot points, characters and occurrences that happened in the first and second book of the series.
I would have rated this a bit higher if I’d read it right after the second book in the series.
It took me some time to remember the world and the magic system of scriving.

If you decide to read this series, my advice is to read all three books right after the next!

The world building for The Founders Trilogy series is vast, complex and makes you feel a bit dumb. The art of scriving still blows me away with how it’s able to take a random object and turn its properties into something completely different.
I loved the whole concept of it and how this affects the main characters, the Hierophants or (Gods), and the world at large in this series.

The characters of Sancia, Berenice, Clef, Greeter, Design and others are all in depth and feel real.
I loved how Robert Jackson Bennett expands on the characters in this last book and keeps adding more interesting layers to the world and to the art of scriving.

The action in Locklands is nonstop and the conclusion was epic. I loved how the series ended, even if it did make me a bit sad.

Definitely check out this series if you love fantasy and sci-fi! This is a series that is blazing the trail on a new magical concept and it’s awesome!

ARC was provided by the publisher—Del Rey—in exchange for an honest review.

Locklands is a truly inventive, emotional, genre-blending, and reality-defying finish to The Founders Trilogy.

“We’re all the result of countless actions and choices made throughout the centuries, and the odds of those actions and choices going the exact same way again are basically nil.”


There is no dancing through a monsoon. The stakes and villains of the series have reached a gigantic proportion, and our main characters will have to unleash everything they have and beyond in this final fight. Robert Jackson Bennett has done it again. Just as a reminder, I’ve been a fan of Bennett’s books since I finished The Divine Cities trilogy a few years ago. And to this day, I think he’s still one of the most (relatively) underrated SFF authors. This isn’t to say that Bennett’s books are generally rated low or something like that, but in the grander scheme of things, I think both The Divine Cities and The Founders trilogy are both series that needs to be talked about more frequently in the SFF community. Even more so now with Locklands being published.

“It’s like old times again... You and me against the whole goddamned world. There’s just a few more people on our side this time.”


The story in Locklands begins eight years after the end of Shorefall. This is a big-time gap, and I'm sure it won't work for plenty of readers, but overall it's a storytelling decision that clicked with me. Our remaining main characters are engaged in a Scriving War with the most powerful enemy they've ever encountered. And I will first note that I wish there was a recap section of what happened at Foundryside and Shorefall at the beginning of the book. Or somewhere, really. It has been two years since I first read Shorefall, and other than seven important characters in the series, I have to admit that it took me a bit of reading to remember who's who. Thankfully, despite the huge time skip and no-refresher, Bennett did a great job in revolving the narrative centered around Sancia, Clef, and Berenice. If it weren't for that, I think I wouldn't have been able to enjoy Locklands as much as I wanted to without rereading the series from the beginning. As it turns out, I ended up loving this one. This was a thoroughly bonkers and epic finishing volume. I wouldn't have been able to predict the scale of the series would ever reach this level of insanity and destruction. And I am incredibly satisfied by the ending.

“There are people in this world who learned the lessons I never did, the lessons that our son has learned all too late— that you are right. There is no magic fix. That a better world can only be bought by what we give to one another, and nothing more.”


You know the saying, the act of giving is better than receiving? This phrase is about to be heavily tested in Locklands. The main characters, Sancia, Berenice, Clef, and more, will have to be willing to sacrifice things precious to them in the war against Tevanne and the deadlamps. I loved how despite the significant increase in stakes and world-building scale, Bennett never sacrificed the characterizations of the main characters in favor of them. New characters like Greeter and Design played a crucial role in the final installment, but it did not feel like Bennett ever needlessly added these characters to complicate things. Never once I feel like Locklands did not deserve its volume. The Founders Trilogy is such a satisfying series, and looking back, I feel rewarded to witness how far Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have come since Foundryside. This last installment also featured a lot of food for thought. I am super limited in what I can say on this review to avoid spoilers. I can, however, say that Bennett dived deep into what it really means to truly know and access another minds and feelings all the time. No separation. No privacy. And the result? It is not all beneficial and positive, even if the person is someone you love.

“You’d swooped into my life like some kind of adventuring hero from a silly play, the woman said, all smiles and swashbuckling. You seemed bigger than anything I’d ever known.”


What the characters have fought in Foundryside and Shorefall were insane already, but they're nothing compared to how crazy the new enemy is in Locklands. For the lack of better comparison, if you have read or watched Dragon Ball Z, the kind of actions and battles there is exactly the kind of over-the-top battles you can expect from Locklands. Giant creatures, immortalities, flying entities, or advanced innovation leading to instant erasure; the reality-bending devastation is reached an unprecedented level in the series. Or plenty of other fantasy series, to be honest. Bennett continuously blends fantasy, horror, and sci-fi in his books, and it is honestly one of the things that made me love his books. It's all absolutely insane, unpredictable, and filled with revelations. I loved how immense the action and world-building get, and I am impressed by how they never felt out of place. I certainly enjoyed reading all the revelations regarding scriving and Clef in this book, and more importantly, I had a blast reading every page in Locklands.

“Yes. We have invented a new way to be human— one could possibly say that, yes. But we are still human. And watching those we love support us in our suffering… That is a trial for anyone, augmented or otherwise.”


I highly highly recommend this series. Locklands is one of my favorite books of the year; it's a bittersweet and satisfying concluding volume to The Founders Trilogy. With stories that circled around hope, cooperation, empathy, sacrifice, love, and innovation, Bennett has once again proved why he's one of the most consistently great authors writing in SFF. Let me repeat this once again. The Divine Cities and The Founders Trilogy are now finished, and I'm inclined to state that both of them are included in my list of favorite trilogies. I will close this review with an excerpt from Bennett himself regarding Locklands and The Founders Trilogy:

“For if the Founders Trilogy is about anything, I suppose, it is that the innovations of our species do not yield dividends on their own. They only bring prosperity when they are paired with a society, a culture, or a people who can use them to their utmost. A road cannot bring travelers if people refuse to let it be built. A printing house cannot bring wisdom if its readers decide they mostly prefer lies. And there is no balm or medicine that can bring health and happiness if the sick refuse to take it. If we find ourselves unable to take advantage of the many gifts that our brilliance has bestowed upon us, then it is my suspicion that there is no tinkering that can make those gifts function as they ought. Rather, it is upon the people to change themselves: to reshape, reconfigure, and rearrange the architectures of our societies— perhaps in small ways, or large— to allow prosperity and abundance for all to flow through. This seems like pithy precept, but it is the natural tension of our species for there to be some gap between our brilliance and our wisdom. The question is how far we should allow them to diverge, and what works can close that gap, and how fast they can close it.”


Series review:
Foundryside: 4.5/5 stars
Shorefall: 5/5 stars
Locklands: 5/5 stars

The Founders Trilogy: 14.5/15 stars

You can order this book from: Blackwells (Free International shipping)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions | I also have a Booktube channel

I love Robert Jackson Bennett. His fantasy (sci-fi?) is unlike any other, as far from cookie-cutter as can be, and his characters are guaranteed to enslave my imagination, even if they don't fit my personal definition of a "perfect" character.

"Locklands" is the conclusion to Bennett’s "The Founders" trilogy, a world in which reality can be literally rewritten by those who posses the skill to "scrive," a wonderful synonym for "magical programming." I enjoyed the first two books of the series tremendously and was looking forward to the conclusion, knowing that, in true Bennett fashion, nothing would be predictable, nor straightforwardly happily-ever-after.

"Locklands" takes place 8 years after the events of "Shorefall" and is a much darker story than what we've read before. The world of "The Founders" has been changed is truly awful ways, Tevanne managing to enslave the majority of helpless humanity. The only ray of hope is the independent nation of Giva, founded by our tireless heroes, Sancia, Berenice, Clef, and some other familiar faces.

But even our heroes cannot hide from Tevanne forever, and have to face the evil it has wrought, and succeed or perish in the effort. The stakes cannot be higher - the fate of the entire world - even reality. Intriguingly, in their efforts they are assisted by the last "person" you could expect it from - the formidable Crasedes Magnus who has managed to defy Tevanne, solely on the strength of his extensive permissions.

Due to the stakes, I would no longer describe our heroes' efforts as a fun heist, although the mission definitely has the mechanics of one. Sneak in undetected... attain a thing (or person). The horror of what Tevanne is capable of (and does) takes the "fun" completely out of it. The urgency is there, the dread, the hope.

"Locklands" does not skimp on character development. This novel focuses mainly on Clef's and Berenice's stories. Clef's backstory is especially expanded on, in directions not necessarily predictable. The character that steals the show, however, is Crasedes Magnus. He was, in fact, my favorite character, and believe you me - these are words I NEVER thought I would utter.

The conclusion is satisfying, albeit bittersweet. But did you really expect anything else?

Foundryside was one of my immediate all time favorites. The beginning of this third book was different from the first two installments. I was a little thrown off in the beginning but as you read through, you see how RJB uses that to fill-in more gaps and make a broader story, I think. I really liked how RJB played with "who is the real villain?" theme that started in the second book. I think that kind of plot that has been done countless times, it's hard to write something that will catch readers off guard.

There were a few moments where the book slowed a little but that is out-competed by the rest of the book. This third book had a lot of questions to answer and I think for the most part, the author did so. Everything was tied together in the end and I really enjoyed the whole book. I had a couple of issues with the book but they were all minor and detract from my overall reading experience. First, the repetitive descriptions of how the deadlamps looked and worked and how they altered reality, the way they keep having to explain scrivings again and again; at some point, I think, you have to trust the readers that they remember details like that. Lastly, I would have liked a more hashed out explanation of how Clef built the door. I felt that was just dumped on me and even though it had enough details to make a cohesive story, it feels very forced and abrupt. Overall, I LOVED this ending, FIVE STARS!

This is the continuing story of Sancia, Clef, Berenice and their friends (and now rather a lot more of their friends than before). I won't spoil the previous books for you, so let's just say that there are considerable shenanigans going down in this one, and the story finds its conclusion.

I liked Locklands, but not as much as the two previous volumes in the series. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first of which being the 8-year time-jump at the beginning of this novel from where I last remember leaving Shorefall. I did eventually find my feet, so to speak, but it was a few chapters of feeling like I had forgotten something important before getting there. 

I still love love love Clef as a character, and so there will always be enjoyment in the series for me. He is still the same snarky key he's always been, even if Sancia and Berenice are older and thus a little different than they were in the previous two volumes. 

The best part of this series to me is the magic system. The art of scriving, or 'coding as magic' is fascinating, and the way that Robert Jackson Bennett uses it in some instances is absolutely fantastic and so interestingly thought out. I absolutely love to see Clef in action trying to convince a scrived object that its rules can actually be bent a little, and thus completely changing how that item works. It's absolutely brilliant. 

So, all told, while I didn't love this one as much as I loved the two before it, I definitely enjoyed myself. I thought Locklands was a little slow at times, but it was a ride all the same.

Book 3 of the Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett totally stuck the landing for me.

This world that started out with coding magic and hijinks evolved into so much more. The stakes couldn’t be higher, which is saying something considering I felt there was no going forward from the big bad in Shorefall. It makes for a truly bleak tone when our beloved characters are in the thick of the action.

Mind you, while this is the most action packed of the trilogy, there’s still moments for reflection. This is a perfect display of how to fully realize your fantasy world. If you give your characters a newfound power to play around with, it shouldn’t just be set dressing — it would have greater ramifications, for good and bad. And Locklands illustrates that beautifully, the full extent of this new way of life and how society as a whole would evolve with it.

I loved being back with our characters - Sancia, Berenice, Clef and their found family - even as I feared for them. Seeing how the world has shaped them as they went from young heist planners to middle aged world saviors is quite remarkable. It’s with them you feel the bittersweet elements amid the bleak: Sancia and Berenice dreaming of growing old in peace together, Clef reckoning with a forgotten past, as a world-ending doom plots against them. Not to mention dreading the sacrifices they’ll have to make to stop it.

For sake of preventing spoilers I end with this: What a way to end a series 🌟

I still stand that this is one of the most interesting magic systems I have read. I enjoyed how the magic of “scriving” evolved and became more science-based in Locklands. However, I found scrivings became overdone/overworked in the main story line with plot conflicts being “fixed” with a new scriving technique or device. This lead to the story arc and characters feeling like they weren’t in any real danger and that the stakes were low. Also, the novel is told from a different perspective than Foundryside and Shorefall giving it a softer quality and less the snarky, angry, I’ll do what I want vibes (Sancia you are my girl!). Overall, the characters are where I feel the author had the most success. Each character is well developed, thoughtful, and really added complexity to the overall story. The ending was very well done and managed to provide me with a surprise or two and some lasting emotions. Overall, Locklands was a great conclusion to the Foundryside Trilogy. My biggest struggle with the trilogy and specifically with Locklands, is the pacing. Except for a few chapters at the beginning and end, the main plot is a single quest arc. Over 400 pages are devoted to getting from point A to point B, with some challenges the characters must face along the way. Bring back my earlier point that scrivings can fix almost anything and you see my problem.

Overall, I really felt connected to the characters, the magic, and the world. It’s just the pacing that keeps this book a 3-star read for me. If you didn’t mind the pacing in Foundryside or Shorefall, I think you will find this conclusion to be very satisfying and enjoyable.

Overall thoughts:

Characters Main: 5⭐️
Characters Supporting: 5⭐️
Magic System: 4⭐️
Plot: 3⭐️
World Building: 3⭐️
Pacing: 2⭐️

Who this book is for:
*Readers who like a unique magic system with snarky, sometimes morally grey characters.
*Readers who love when an author slowly develops the plot and always wishes there was more time with the characters/world.
*Readers who enjoyed the plot and pacing of Foundryside and Shorefall.

Who should maybe skip:
*Readers who get bored with drawn out quests and dislike magic of convenience.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Firstly, I would like to thank Random House for providing a complementary copy of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Locklands is the conclusion to the Founders Trilogy. This final novel is action packed from the beginning. At the novel's start, we find our protagonists at war with Tevane. This series did a great job of developing the foes, and setting them up as greater and greater challenges for our protagonists. What I enjoyed about this series is that the villains were not just thrown in. Their stories were equally important to the story. Also, the rest of Clef's story is revealed and it was satisfying to read those details. The scribing details are at their most complex, which is apropos since the author has developed this magic system well over three books. There were some great moments when our protagonists figure out how to solve some very complex, pertinent problems. The ending did the story justice and really capped off well what was an incredible story. I enjoyed the way technology, with its benefits and drawbacks, was explored over three books.

This final installment wasn't what I was expecting. Others may like it, but it just wasn't for me.

The main thing that didn't work for me was that Locklands felt significantly less "fun" than the previous two books. To be fair, Shorefall was a bit more serious and grim than Foundryside. So it makes sense that after the trouble our heroes ended up in at the end of Shorefall, the tone of Locklands would continue to be more serious and grim. But I just found it less enjoyable. I missed the banter and whimsy of the first two books a lot in this installment.

I also wasn't a fan of the massive time jump. The world and characters have changed SO MUCH that I almost felt like I missed a book in between Shorefall and Locklands!

All in all, this book just didn't do it for me. But I appreciate the ARC and this honest review is voluntarily given. If you like books with epic scopes and exciting magic systems, and don't mind a tone shift from fun and whimsical to serious and grim, then you would probably love this!

Locklands is the thrilling conclusion to the Founders Trilogy. An evil being is trying to control the world in this excellent computer programming-based fantasy tale. Just as Lord of the Rings depicted the menacing pre-WWII world at the time of its publishing, so this series depicts our QAnon blockchained world of today. Let me explain.

Berenice, Sancia and Clef are back and fighting evil rather than planning a big heist. Their world is controlled by scribing or instructions causing inanimate objects to carry out commands (like a programming language). Tevanne, an evil being, has discovered how to use scribing to make people bend to his will too. Twinning is used to link people’s minds together, which is how blockchain works on data. Through twinning an enemy can be a spy within a person seeing what they see and controlling the person’s actions.

I admire the creativity of the Founders’ world. It dreams of a world in the future that harkens back to the castles and keeps of the Middle Ages. It envisions a new programming methodology that doesn’t use a computer to control objects but controls the objects directly. I already miss this world and definitely see myself reading the entire series again every few years. 5 stars and a favorite!

While you can read Locklands as a standalone, don’t because you will miss the extensive world and character building of the first two books. By the way, the books can be read simply as a fantasy tale without the analogies with today’s world and it’s still an imaginative, exhilarating read.

Thanks to Del Rey Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

The four star rating is being generous. Several times through I felt things were padded with needless exposition and repetitive action. That action is exciting, I like many of the characters, and I still recommend the series as a whole. But while some of the conclusion was satisfying, other parts were frustrating.

Following the events in Foundryside and Shorefall, things have gone very, very badly for our protagonists, who are now trying to keep one step ahead from a force that threatens to enslave and consume everyone in the world. In the eight years since the events of Shorefall, the hivemind construct Tevanne has been expanding itself by shooting magically scrived plates at its enemies, which take over the victim's mind and give Tevanne an additional set of eyes and hands through which it can engage in espionage and sabotage before it launches its main assault. When Sancia and Clef get an unexpected glimpse into Tevanne's plans, they plan one final mission to turn the tide of their losing battle and end things once and for all.

This book was darker in tone than the first two, full of despair at trying to fight an implacable, overwhelming force. Our protagonists are tired from fighting a war that they've been slowly losing for the past eight years. They've experienced profound loss. Even though it's not a pandemic book per se, one can definitely tell that it was written during the pandemic, because even as our protagonists experience a very different reality from our own, the emotional core echoes so much of what people have been feeling for the past couple of years. Despite that bleakness, though, there's a deep sense of care running throughout the novel for characters wrestling with complicated feelings, both in terms of how Bennett allows these characters to explore those feelings as well as in how those characters belong to communities that work hard to care for each other.

With each book in the series, Bennett explores the social consequences of significant technological change, as that technology enables new ways of relating to each other and shapes interaction. Locklands takes that to extreme new ends, both in terms of the technological leap between Shorefall and the beginning of Locklands, as well as changes over the course of this novel. I like that Bennett takes the time to explore certain forms of magical technology and how they change society through a lens that allows the technology to be both good and uncomfortable at the same time. It's a thoughtful kind of messiness that I think captures a lot of the reality around how people respond to significant changes that they aren't prepared to fully embrace.

I love this series very, very much. I love the world building, with its unique take on magic-as-technology. I love the thoughtful plotting and the way it grapples with themes of technological and social revolution. I love the characters and the complex ways they and their relationships with each other have evolved throughout the series. And even as the series does so many smart, thoughtful things with how it explores the world and the characters' place in it, it's still an action-packed adventure full of clever heists and explosive battles. This is easily one of my favorite series to come out in recent years, and it absolutely nails the landing with its finale.

This is a book that I really wish I could of re-read the rest of the series. It took a bit to get back into the story, even if it is a good one. Sancia, Clef and Bernice are fighting to keep the world from being completely controlled by an immoral being. They’ve created a society unlike anything seen before. But they are still losing. They find one more chance that could turn the tide. This is a dark and kind of sad book, but written so well. Plus the end wraps it up nicely. His is a fantastic series and would recommend it to anyone.

Robert Jackson Bennett’s Locklands, the concluding book of the Founders Trilogy, gives the Fast and Furious movie franchise a run for its money. The high-speed chase scenes, (though in this case the chase involves the editing and rewriting of reality), the jury-rigged turns on a heartbeat maneuvers, the impossible stunts that impossibly succeed, and the shifting agendas of major characters, all recall a self-contained universe of relentless thrills and sudden shifts of position, power, and circumstance.

Foundryside, the first book in the series displayed particularly fresh and ingenious world building in Tevanne, a land with an uncomfortably familiar history of exploitation, slave owning, and greedy merchant houses built on the blood and toil of those in bondage or in slums, aka “campos.” But the similar history spirals off in a different direction when it intersects with the practice of scriving, which is a way of swaying reality by convincing objects that the laws governing their physical space can be manipulated, such as the rules governing density, light, and gravity. Scriving can only be used on inanimate objects, such as lamps, buildings, weapons; attempts on living creatures have been fatal, with the one exception of Sancia, a foul-mouthed, living by her wits, daredevil thief, and former slave who can communicate with scrived things. She stumbles on an ancient key in a botched heist, which turns out to be the key to everything. And the equally profane key, Clef, can understand and talk to Sancia-in one of the best dark comedy “have your back” friendship hacks of recent sci-fi lit.

Of course if there is a key, there is a door or doors and those who will waste lives and futures to possess it, which Sancia learns the hard way. But along that way she also discovers and joins an odd entourage: Orso, an impatient cynical virtuoso former merchant house scriver and innovator; Gregor, a highly principled, highly placed warrior who always seems to defy death; and Berenice, Orso’s reclusive, brilliant assistant who becomes the beacon and love of Sancia’s life. This unlikely indie group, with its vision for a more equitable future, pits itself against the merchant houses and their mysterious millennial-old mysteries and strange mythological entities. The risks and stakes get higher and the game gets larger and darker in fast-paced book 2, Shorefall, which brings the original godlike heirophant and destroyer of nations, Cresedes out from the shadows of legends and into Tevanne. But along for the ride, in another restored ancient artifact, is Cresedes’enigmatic archenemy and creation, Valeria, and they begin to face off in battle for control of not just the scriving empire, or possession of Clef, but of the future of humankind itself.

Bennett deftly alternates between the terror and unknown of the divergent agendas of Cresedes and Valeria and the deepening buddy bond of the indie four forged through their scriving discoveries, exploits, and shifting alliances, as they are pitted against the failing merchant houses and the competing deities. Ultimately though the breathtaking love story of Sancia and Berenice, pumps as much power into the storyline as any magical rewriting of events. And Sancia, who allies with Valeria, finds that she got quite a bit more than bargained for as Tevanne explodes into chaos. Throughout the series, Bennett conjures up eerie, detailed and brutal landscapes of Tevanne from the interiors of the nauseatingly lavish merchant houses, to the grimy campos surrounding Foundryside to flashbacks and ruins of the ancient heirophant world, also built on human conquest. The war and landscape broadens in Locklands, the concluding book, which takes place 8 years after Shorefall, where we are introduced to Givens, an island city entirely composed of ships populated by refugees escaping from Tevanne and other territories as Valeria, now known as Tevanne, marches through and repurposes the inhabitants and lands in a most ghoulish manner and/or edits them out of existence.

But Givens is more than an shelter outpost for those on the run; it has created a pathway for residents to voluntarily join minds and merge personalities in vocational “cadences,” such as design, and empathy. There is something gained, something lost in Locklands for along with the narrative advantage of a mutually telepathic village, some major characters that provided the brio and especially enlivened the action of the previous books are now MIA, and rather summarily dismissed in service of the plot. I missed them and their hilarious and droll camaraderie, and spent much of Locklands waiting for their return. Still, there are other new characters to explore and new explorations for some of those previously on the periphery. The self-contained scholarly master scriver Berenice, emerges as a military captain and major badass in one of Bennett’s clever storyline twists, as Sancia’s accelerated aging takes its heavy toll on the talents of agility and strength, which have defined her. Her attempts to come to terms with this and its effect on her wife Berenice, is nuanced, bittersweet and unforgettably poignant.

What is also highly developed and eventually explained is the great mystery of Clef aka Clavides, his son, Cresedes, and the puzzle of Valeria/Tevanne, which together deliver some big whopping revelations. But before this happens, and for the bulk of the book, Cresedes takes center stage with his battles with Tevanne, enlisting the help of Sancia, Berenice, Claudia, and other members of the Givens community, such as the cadences. The battle scenes for the future of the world and for free will (and flawed but hopeful human nature), are written in epic language: cinematic in detail and action, with outcomes are at the top of the thematic thriller roller coaster. They are dazzling and very exciting but also abundant, sometimes at the expense of deepening the narratives of both major and minor characters and the world that Bennett has so splendidly created.

At various times, particularly near the end of the book, I began to worry that there was not enough time to resolve all the conflicts and questions. There is a resolution, though not at all expected; those who delight in the unexpected will be satisfied here.
Oddly one of the most satisfying and moving parts of the book was in the Acknowledgments, as the author described his mental process of writing and unfolding the tale during the pandemic and the effect it had on the narrative. I kind of wish this was included at the beginning because of the deep resonance it cast on the story. I am still thinking about the book, and though it is a nonstop buzz ride, it is also one of the finest love stories I’ve recently read.

Sancia, Clef, and Berenice are up against an enemy that can not only scrive objects but human minds as well. Gathering an army that the country has never seen before isn't enough, and the enemy is looking for the doorway to the center of creation itself. To stop their foe, the trio must understand the origins of scriving and make the ultimate sacrifice.

Locklands is the third book of the Foundryside Trilogy. The amazing worldbuilding in this series continues, now pushing into creation itself.

We open in the midst of war, eight years after Shorefall ends. Trevanne hunts Sancia, Berenice, and their allies, with devastating weapons and terrible scrivings to do their work. The scrivings on Sancia have stolen years from her, and Trevanne has similarly stolen years and lives from the people they use to power their weapons. Sancia and her allies have done their best to free those people, to create a new society of people that aid each other. They share thoughts and information with scrivings, rather than try to make things to isolate or dominate. It's fascinating, how different collectives were created, how the constituents function in unison and apart, and how the people communicate with each other so effortlessly.

In trying to understand Trevanne, Clef soon gets memories of his life before he was a key, why he created Clevades, and the misery that led to creating him and Clef itself. Trevanne is searching for the door leading to the world behind the world, hoping to reset reality and start over. Of course, it's frightening and every action taken is to fight them off. The anguish the characters go through, particularly at the end, had my heart in my throat right along with them. It's an amazing conclusion to a fascinating trilogy, one that I'm glad for the opportunity to read. I feel like I've learned important lessons along with the characters and come out better for it.

4.5 stars. This was such a stunning conclusion to the end of this trilogy. I am a sucker for found family and for anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist sci-fi settings. I found the drastic time jump to be a good choice for this book. The world is very different from where we last left off in Shorefall and all of the characters had grown so much since we saw them. I loved that Sancia and Berenice were already married and had been married for quite some time so their relationship had already blossomed and we just got to see them working together. I of course loved Clef and his snarky remarks. And boy do I love a good villain redemption arc. Some of the technical aspects of the story were a bit lost on me. I definitely didn’t understand half of the descriptions of what the characters were doing or building, but that’s okay! I was just along for the ride and boy what a ride it was. The ending also made me ugly cry.

**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for gifting me an advanced copy of this novel. Below you'll find my honest review.

Clef is such an interesting character and I'm glad we got to know more of his backstory, and the history of how this world got to the point it is at in the novels.

This was a pretty satisfying ending to the trilogy, but boy was it hard to read that last bit. You always know in war that not everyone will make it out alive, but sometimes you just hope that the plot armor kicks in!

I deducted a star because, for me, the first quarter of the book was really hard to get into.

All in all, a really good trilogy that I highly recommend, but please start with Foundryside and not this one.

This was the perfect ending to a perfect trilogy—so amazed it took me this long to discover Jackson Bennett—wishing him all the best in his career and hoping readers find this trilogy!

We’ve been waiting two years for this final book, and it does not disappoint! This book takes place eight years after the previous one, which was a little jarring, but in the grand scheme it makes sense. I was a little thrown off by the role that Berenice and Sancia play in this book, but I loved seeing how they have grown even closer in the years that I’ve gone by. The world and magic are well explained, like they always are from this author, and the introduction of the Cadences was really interesting. But my favorite part by far of this book (and I don’t think this is too much of a spoiler) is the greatly expanded role of Clef. We see a lot of things from his perspective, from his voice and his memories, and it was just wonderful to read!

Something I didn’t expect going into this one was the added humanity, for lack of a better term, that brought up so much emotion for me. I cried pretty much nonstop while reading the epilogue, and I had to stop a couple times to try to calm down and catch my breath. I tear up on occasion while reading books, but it’s a rare occasion for outright sobbing. The ending was just so well done and broke my heart to read.

Please do yourself a favor & read this trilogy, it’s just *chef’s kiss*

Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

June was *the* month for anticipated fantasy sequels and rounding out my reading selection was Locklands, the finale of the Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. I fell in love with Foundryside and the unique magical coding that was used to power all sorts of things from the mundane to the exquisite. Shorefall was an upping of the stakes and I rated it at 4.5 stars thanks to the amazing characters and worldbuilding. Unfortunately, as you can see by my rating of Locklands, I found the grand finale to be somewhat of a disappointment and here’s why.
First of all, while I don’t mind a timeskip when more of the same ol’ thing is going on, I DO mind one when it leaves me feeling like I’ve started a whole new series. Locklands has an eight year time skip and dumps you right in the action, surrounded by new characters, loads of new technology, and one hell of crisis. It was jarring and it got info-dumpy when it came to so many of the new terms, technology, characters, and even the new “country” Gizeh. So, right from the start I was put off, but the war against Tevanne (Gregor/Valeria combo) was interesting and it was easy to chug along despite my annoyance.
I found I didn’t connect with the new characters well - Delia was given the bare bones of a backstory and Greeter and Design, the hivemind characters, were fascinating in concept but I never acquired that emotional connection. It’s hard not to love Sancia, Berenice, and Clef though so that certainly redeemed things. Clef in particular was given his chance to shine in this installment and we get a great deal of his ancient past, long before he became the key. Long before there were hierophants, there were Namers who saw the sigils that make up the world and the dwelt in an ancient city. Clef, or Claviedes as he was known then, was one such Namer though the tale that led him to his current state is one of tragic proportions. I did get a little teary eyed during the latter portion of the book thanks to some rather touching/heartbreaking moments.
I ended up being satisfied with the conclusion of the trilogy, but found myself disappointed overall by Locklands. It was a jarring change of pace and I’m of the opinion a short novella (Founders Trilogy 2.5, if you will) would have been the perfect transitional piece to ease readers into the harsh new world in Locklands. For those interested in picking this up, please don’t let me scare you away from the series or this book in particular - I seem to be in the minority, as many other reviews are quite positive and it’s sitting at 4.12 stars on Goodreads!