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adragoninspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder
stick2theplan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Once I forced myself not to think too hard about it, I did enjoy Foundryside for what it is: a heist novel. The plot itself was solid and the pacing was good, though the ending felt a little abrupt. The book was laden with twists and reveals, some of which were very well executed. I also found the lore interesting. Because none of the POV characters understood the lore, it didn’t suffer from the over-explaining that hindered the magic/technology of the present.
As for the characters, they were mostly likable but satisfyingly complex. There was appreciable, earned growth from all the secondary characters. I think I was most underwhelmed with the main character’s arc. I’d like to have seen more of her development manifest throughout the novel; it was sort of spelled out for her by a literal deus ex machina. So much telling, not enough showing in this book. Still, the characters did feel fleshed out. The tropey stock characters were few and far between. That said, Bennet uses the antagonist-to-ally bait and switch one time too many for the eventual antagonist reveal to have much shock value.
At the end of the day, this is still a novel I’ll recommend to my friends.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Vomit, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, and Car accident
esknight89's review against another edition
One thing I couldn't get out of my head was the concept of the formerly enslaved heroine knowing how to read. Did someone teach her how to read inbetween a mad-scientist's experimentation and doing contractual theiving?
I tried to give it a chance, but it started to feel like a slog at 58%.
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury
vickie0326's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Medical trauma, and War
idkimoutofideas's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, and Alcohol
capgambit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Excrement
brep23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Sexual violence
Minor: Child death, Dementia, and Car accident
sersi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual violence
hybridhavoc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
My largest issue with the book is that the author seems very taken with their magic system and everything else seems to mostly be in service to that. Most of the characters seem flat and inconsistent; knowledge of the world is info-dumped on us very abruptly; dialogue is often to-the-point in a way that feels incredibly unnatural and isn't even necessary. Sometimes the book just skips over what should be important dialogue. Need to convince this character to betray their own family? "He told her only what she needed to hear." That's not a conversation, that's a cop-out.
I know that the trend for modern fantasy is all about hard magic systems, and it seems like that is maybe where the love for this book comes from. After all, it does have what seems to be a clever magic system. I hesitate to call it a hard magic system though, as there are almost no actual details provided, and very little in the way of hard boundaries set. That makes sense, given that the magic system is basically programming, and when you're programming reality there aren't many boundaries beyond your knowledge and imagination. But by its very nature, then, I can't view this as a hard magic system. There is no point at which the author can't simply say "Sure they're in a pickle right now, but what's this? They just got cleverer and came up with a new bit of programming."
I think the part of the book that had me eye-rolling the hardest has to be the villains. They are absolute caricatures, the flattest of flat characters. I suspect that this, at least, gets better in future books in the series. But I honestly can't know for certain because almost none of the characters are consistent in this book.
There is more positive than negative in Foundryside, but I don't think there's enough positive for me to keep going with the series.
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, and Medical trauma
Moderate: War and Classism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery
raneyak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual content, Vomit, and War