Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

41 reviews

aseel_reads's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• 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

Super fun fantasy novel, big fan of the Italian inspired setting! I liked the characters a lot and I'm excited to see the magic system unfold here 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, War, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

turrean's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The world and its system of magic are vividly imagined. Watching the internal "rules" of the techno-magic unfold as the story develops was one of the best parts of this novel. The parallels to AI, and to troubleshooting and debugging one's magical software, were delightful. 

Less pleasant was the scene where a girl is threatened with sexual assault. Since the author repeatedly describes her as young, small, and slight (other characters call her "kid," or "young lady," as you would a child or preteen you're scolding) the scene had some revolting overtones.

The in-world term for "f~@king" was used constantly, sometimes multiple times a page. Whenever a character wants to insult or threaten another, it's always about some in-world euphemism for the male genitalia. It got old really fast. It honestly would have been less jarring to use real-world language.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Trafficking

st156's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Torture

bakezori's review

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Torture

Minor: Domestic abuse

oldladysadie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

5.0

I am floored by how much I enjoyed this book. The worldbuilding sucked me in immediately, I love how the magic of scriving works, the action continually surprised me and kept me on the edge of my seat, and Clef is just so funny. And mixing in

Spoiler

a sapphic romance for Sancia and Berenice

?? Say less. 

10/10, no notes, RIP my bank account picking up the rest of this series because my local libraries only have Book 1 🫠

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Body horror, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, Sexism, War, and Misogyny

trips's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Foundryside is a fantasy novel with a dense, rich magic system and a lot of sassy characters. The world is extremely nuanced and well thought out, and there is a talking magical key, who I loved. The characters have depth and feel like fully-fleshed out beings in this intensely magical world. And there are heists! I love heists! 

Unfortunately, the writing style just didn't work for me, which severely impacted my enjoyment of the story. Bennett slowly introduces the plot to the reader and I mean like really slowly, preferring to world build and write witty banter between characters for the majority of the first 50% of the book. Which will work for some people, just not me. In fact, I almost dropped the book, but there is a really good hook at around 50% mark that made me want to see the story through to the end. The plot does get quite interesting after that point, but it felt like a slog to get there. So, mixed feelings! I liked some parts, really didn't like others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Toxic relationship

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Excrement, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Torture, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Slavery, Stalking, Suicide, Trafficking, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Rape

wysperias's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Confinement, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, and Slavery

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, and Cannibalism

laguerrelewis's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• 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

4.75

I came across this book thanks to its mention in an essay about creative commentary through sci-fi/fantasy systems, in which it was lauded in the same breath as N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season. I am happy to report that it lives up to this comparison. The “magic” system of this book is incredibly unique and inspired, and Robert Jackson Bennett skillfully increases how complexly it is applied in a very rewarding way. His style is similar to Brandon Sanderson, with a nice balance of humor, despair, and optimism. And the best part is this book is basically a series of heists with ever increasing stakes and reality-warping magic! This would be a 5 star review if not for some politics regarding policing that feel outdated from a 2023 perspective and the handling of a certain characters’ trauma. I think that element could’ve been handled more tactfully. Ultimately, though,  this book was quite the enjoyable read, and I’m excited to read the next installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Alcohol, Slavery, Torture, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Violence, Vomit, War, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Classism, Death, Medical content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Cannibalism and Death of parent

w33nr's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Classism, Gore, and Sexual assault