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A review by gw7
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- 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
4.0
This book simultaneously feels like a 4 and a 3 star, and yet if the parts that felt 3 (or 2) star were at the level of the rest of the book, it would be a 5 star.
To start off: it was fast, fun, and entertaining. The pages sped by a lot quicker than they tend to do for me, no matter the book. And I'll definitely be continuing the series.
The 3 (or 2) star parts...
Which basically come down to, we're told that 'this is the way things have to be done!' ... but... why...?? No reason, really. Other than, maybe... the characters are just really, really dumb? Which would be fine, apart from the fact that we're told that, at least some of them, are the top figures in their fields... and I don't see why that would be the case if they were as dumb as they... appear to be? (though of course they are only dumb in these areas to make the story work; this has to be the plan, there's no other way, we know this person... and the reader is given no evidence aside from what they say in that one sentence to think anything to the contrary other than good old, real world trust issues- but who are we to know any different?) This is their world, and they should know it better than us? And we're not told any different, so we have to go with it... which kinda makes the plot obvious...
...but the plot isn't weak. And there was one part where a character said the thing ('it had to be this way' (even though it didn't... like, at all)) and I was like, okay, here we go again, this is probably going to be relevant later, since that's the only reason for a line like that, right? Right???? Apparently not. So then that made me think that maybe this whole thing was just a quirk of his writing and all his plots don't solely rely on these weak connections? I haven't read any of his other work, so I don't know.
(Oh, and there was a little tiny bit of, okay, but would these people really win all these fights against all these trained, practiced- we're told how much they're trained and practiced and lethal- soldiers? so there's that)
(Also also, I wish that he would use 'woman' more liberally than 'girl', 1) because he used 'girl' constantly and it was incredibly annoying, and 2) because there were parts where I wasn't sure whether the use of 'girl' actually meant girl, or whether he meant woman and... like, those are two different types of disgusted, y'know?)
But, the 4 (and potentially 5) star bits??? Okay.
Maybe this comes down to the fact that it was somewhat very unexpected since this is written by an assumed cishet white man (and they don't typically have a great writing track record with... a lot of things)... but it was fine? Good? Enjoyable? Really quite good and not bigoted and 'holier than thou'? By which I mean strong female characters (and going back to the dumb thing for a second, I love that Sancia wasn't necessarily the smartest person but also that it wasn't a point of contention among these (apparently) really smart people, and she was kind just left to be and wasn't looked down on or anything? Like, it's okay for a person to not be insanely smart- it doesn't take anything away from them or make them less of a person. THANK YOU ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT), queerness (CASUAL QUEERNESS), and the only perverted men were the ones who were canonically evil? Like, no creepy 'love interest' who gives off creepy non-consensual vibes and is also definitely homophobic and fat phobic at a minimum. The PTSD/CPTSD rep was... in some places excellent, in one place questionable (but there was mention of something to do with the magic system going on there so not entirely sure), but the conversations surrounding it? Like, the characters talking about it???? Oh, man. One line especially... just incredible. And that leads me onto gushing about the theemeeessss in this thing... Man, Robert Jackson Bennett is just such an intelligent storyteller. The emotional and psychological through lines were similarly strong to that of The Broken Earth trilogy, though the characters didn't... discuss (I don't know if is the right word? It's difficult to explain) it as much in this book. I'm so incredibly excited to see where he takes these in the next book. Often in high fantasy (particularly written by cishet white men), these themes seem to get left behind, but I'm hopeful he'll take them forward as, again, he just comes across as such a thoughtful and capable storyteller.
FINALLY, though- PLOT TWIST- forget all you just read- the real reason this was not a 5 star was because 'arse' 'arseholes'... Robert, why? WHY, when you're American, would you choose to make your characters say 'arse'... ??? WHY? The rest of the time they were normal people but for those few sentences whenever they said 'those ARSEHOLES," they immediately became the poshest, farce-inhabiting people I could imagine and I couldn't take them seriously... arse... Or is this just a uk edition problem? I don't know but it was deeply offensive
To start off: it was fast, fun, and entertaining. The pages sped by a lot quicker than they tend to do for me, no matter the book. And I'll definitely be continuing the series.
The 3 (or 2) star parts...
Which basically come down to, we're told that 'this is the way things have to be done!' ... but... why...?? No reason, really. Other than, maybe... the characters are just really, really dumb? Which would be fine, apart from the fact that we're told that, at least some of them, are the top figures in their fields... and I don't see why that would be the case if they were as dumb as they... appear to be? (though of course they are only dumb in these areas to make the story work; this has to be the plan, there's no other way, we know this person... and the reader is given no evidence aside from what they say in that one sentence to think anything to the contrary other than good old, real world trust issues- but who are we to know any different?) This is their world, and they should know it better than us? And we're not told any different, so we have to go with it... which kinda makes the plot obvious...
...but the plot isn't weak. And there was one part where a character said the thing ('it had to be this way' (even though it didn't... like, at all)) and I was like, okay, here we go again, this is probably going to be relevant later, since that's the only reason for a line like that, right? Right???? Apparently not. So then that made me think that maybe this whole thing was just a quirk of his writing and all his plots don't solely rely on these weak connections? I haven't read any of his other work, so I don't know.
(Oh, and there was a little tiny bit of, okay, but would these people really win all these fights against all these trained, practiced- we're told how much they're trained and practiced and lethal- soldiers? so there's that)
(Also also, I wish that he would use 'woman' more liberally than 'girl', 1) because he used 'girl' constantly and it was incredibly annoying, and 2) because there were parts where I wasn't sure whether the use of 'girl' actually meant girl, or whether he meant woman and... like, those are two different types of disgusted, y'know?)
But, the 4 (and potentially 5) star bits??? Okay.
Maybe this comes down to the fact that it was somewhat very unexpected since this is written by an assumed cishet white man (and they don't typically have a great writing track record with... a lot of things)... but it was fine? Good? Enjoyable? Really quite good and not bigoted and 'holier than thou'? By which I mean strong female characters (and going back to the dumb thing for a second, I love that Sancia wasn't necessarily the smartest person but also that it wasn't a point of contention among these (apparently) really smart people, and she was kind just left to be and wasn't looked down on or anything? Like, it's okay for a person to not be insanely smart- it doesn't take anything away from them or make them less of a person. THANK YOU ROBERT JACKSON BENNETT), queerness (CASUAL QUEERNESS), and the only perverted men were the ones who were canonically evil? Like, no creepy 'love interest' who gives off creepy non-consensual vibes and is also definitely homophobic and fat phobic at a minimum. The PTSD/CPTSD rep was... in some places excellent, in one place questionable (but there was mention of something to do with the magic system going on there so not entirely sure), but the conversations surrounding it? Like, the characters talking about it???? Oh, man. One line especially... just incredible. And that leads me onto gushing about the theemeeessss in this thing... Man, Robert Jackson Bennett is just such an intelligent storyteller. The emotional and psychological through lines were similarly strong to that of The Broken Earth trilogy, though the characters didn't... discuss (I don't know if is the right word? It's difficult to explain) it as much in this book. I'm so incredibly excited to see where he takes these in the next book. Often in high fantasy (particularly written by cishet white men), these themes seem to get left behind, but I'm hopeful he'll take them forward as, again, he just comes across as such a thoughtful and capable storyteller.
FINALLY, though- PLOT TWIST- forget all you just read- the real reason this was not a 5 star was because 'arse' 'arseholes'... Robert, why? WHY, when you're American, would you choose to make your characters say 'arse'... ??? WHY? The rest of the time they were normal people but for those few sentences whenever they said 'those ARSEHOLES," they immediately became the poshest, farce-inhabiting people I could imagine and I couldn't take them seriously... arse... Or is this just a uk edition problem? I don't know but it was deeply offensive
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse and Slavery
Moderate: Sexual violence and Torture