A review by rinku
Die Diebin by Robert Jackson Bennett

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 Foundryside was my first five-star read this year because it was such a fun and amazing experience. First, I was not sure if I would enjoy the novel or not. The beginning felt so typical for a high fantasy with a young female protagonist – this doesn’t make it a YA book! – and I wondered if I became tired of the genre. But just a few chapters later, I was highly invested into the story and the characters. 

I don’t want to say too much about the plot because it was so full of surprises, twists and made me feel so many different emotions. It begins with the main character Sancia following an order to steal a little box. Instead of returning it to her client, she opens it and finds Cleff, the talking key able to open every keylock. This sets off some unexpecting events spiralling into our protagonists being caught between different fronts of a bigger conflict then they would’ve expected. It should be mentioned that it's quite brutal at some point and has some body horror in it, so please keep this in mind if you want to read it. 

The best thing about this novel was the world building and here especially the magic system and the setting. The magic system is one of the greatest I’ve read in a while. In the world of Foundryside, objects are alive and can be commanded through inscribing instructions and properties onto them. It’s furthermore heavily based on physical principles and there are some references to artificial learning. I’m bad at explaining it but Bennett makes it look and work really natural. At many points, it’s integrated so cleverly into the story. I also loved the setting of the story with the different merchant families in an early capitalist era. This is honestly so much better than a fantasy world inspired by the Middle Ages because I’m definitely tired of those. Luckily, this capitalistic world was viewed critically and showed the uneven distribution of wealth vividly – I wonder where the author got the inspiration for this lmao. 

As it is usual for high fantasy, we have a main squad made up of different characters and I loved all of them. It was easy to bound with them, especially Sancia, but surprisingly also with characters like Cleff, the key, as well. They all have a great backstories and diverse backgrounds which is nice to see in high fantasy. 

All in all, Foundryside was one of my favorite fantasy experiences in a while and I hope that this will continue with its sequels. 
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