The Divine Cities Trilogy: City of Stairs, City of Blades, and City of Miracles, with an excerpt from Foundryside Kindle Edition

"If you're going to make a one-joke movie, make sure it's a good joke."This is a series of novels based on a singular premise, and it's a terrific one. The premise leads to some very creative and mostly plausible world-building, inhabited by some quite memorable characters. My favorite is mostly out by the end of the first novel, but I still read all three books in sequence, with no breaks in between. This is almost unprecedented for me, so you can get an idea of how much I enjoyed the first two books! And the third, though I felt I had to slog a bit at the end, was a worthy conclusion, leaving the reader with both possibility and closure.

I admit to a weakness for science fiction and fantasy stories. I also admit to impatience over stories that are too long, poorly edited, or just wander. The Divine Cities Trilogy did not suffer from any of those flaws. Each of the three books was a complete story in its own right. At the same time, all three of them presented an interesting and clever arc of a story, with strong writing, compelling characters, interesting plot twists that kept me interested, and a powerful ending that brought a powerful emotional and human impact to a science fiction/fantasy tale. My only quibble is that the author seemed to spend too much detail describing really bloody and gory events. Yes, those events were part of the story line, but it seemed to me that he went a little overboard on the details.I also read Foundryside, which also was an excellent book, well worth reading.

I read a great deal of science fiction and fantasy. Most of it is pulp fiction and rates about a three or four. This series was exceptional. Spies intrigue love and loss and of course gods and miracles. My next read will be a Robert Jackson Bennett novel. He has become one of my favorite authors.

I am so impressed by the history that Robert Jackson Bennett constructed and the mythical dead gods that are at the center of this amazing Dark Fantasy trilogy. And boy is it ever dark! But it is also a series that stands out in my opinion and is so engrossing that you need to keep turning the pages feverishly. The fact that this is Bennett's debut series is all the more impressive because I believe it to be one of the best Dark Fantasy series of the past 25 years and definitely ranks in my top 10 all-time. I feel like more people should read it and I hope it eventually gets the proper accolades that it deserves. And now you can get it in this handy-dandy omnibus digital edition, which is fantastic!

Like any story this long, it had some down moments but I found that the world described was fascinating up to the end. World building was well blended with a brisk story line. Readers are immersed in a world where the time of divinities is past and the world must deal with the lingering presence of their worshippers and their persistent miracles. He characters are flawed and believable and you find yourself being truly interested in their stories. A very good read and highly recommended.

The first book had me hooked. Some amazing world-building, using cultural influences from Central Asia that I've not seen done much before. Characters develop really well through the series, and it really has an emotional impact when bad things happen to them (no spoilers). There's a shift in perspectives between the first and second book, but it doesn't hurt the story telling at all. I haven't been this engrossed in a novel in a long time.

Enjoyed it from beginning to the end. Extremely original world building, fantastic characters with in depth traits. Going from one volume to the other worked seamlessly and I enjoyed the fact that each volume had its own yet different main character. The plot spans several decades which makes it even more interesting in my opinion. I definitely would recommend getting your hands on all three volumes!

Excellent plot, each book diverging from and building on the foundation of, the previous book. In each book a different character takes center stage and the plot itself makes perfect sense from start to finish.Loved these books. I find them as good as Joe Abercrombie's works and that's a big compliment.

City of Stairs is definitely at the outer edge of my tolerance for dark, gritty, violent story-telling. In fact, it was probably past my comfort level, but the writing, clever premise, and intricate world-building helped me through the gore and grit.There is no denying that Bennett does a masterful job creating a new and believable world filled with characters that feel real. I definitely recommend this book...but only to those of you who can stomach a fair amount of swearing and gore. I can't call those darker elements "tastefully done", but they do feel appropriate to the story and characters.I prepared myself for City of Blades to be more of the same: brilliant writing, nuanced characters, and a knock-out plot generously sprinkled with gore. I wasn't wrong, but I had not prepared myself for enough gore and violence and darkness. I made it through, but only because I hate leaving books unfinished. I'm just too sensitive for this style of writing.It's too bad because Bennett is otherwise masterful.

I read through these books, I had read the first one ages ago but then got busy with life and didn't know there were more, this came up for a good deal and I wanted to read them. And then read through all of them very quickly. Lost track of time occasionally reading through it, and loved the way the magic system works in these books.

Really enjoyed this series that highlights how well the author does world building. Each book is quite different. Each story is separated by many years so could be enjoyed independently.