Foundryside (The Founders) Paperback – 23 Aug 2018

Whew! I don't know what I was expecting from this, but it wasn't the fantasy with a cyberpunk plot that I got. I recommend this very highly.The setting is a city run on industrialised magic, dominated by merchant houses that rule their own areas, leaving the poorest areas to lawless anarchy. The magic based on writing complex instructions to run arcane devices is really interesting (and RJB gives a good lesson in how to 'splain without being too 'splainy) but the characters are where it shines. Initially you meet Sancia, an escaped slave who is surviving in the lawless areas by putting a unique talent for thievery to use. She's not a chirpy urban thief with a heart of gold type though - she wants a big pile of cash to fix her problem and then get as far away from their as she can.When I say it's a cyberpunk plot, what I mean is that you have a urban environment controlled by big corps, with hardscrabble thieves and other operatives running around doing jobs for mysterious (probably corporate) benefactors, getting their hands on something they weren't supposed to and getting into Big Trouble as a result.Similarly to his previous Divine Cities trology this is all in service of exploring some big themes about power, how cities and economies work - with technology in particular - oh and the nature of his world and what gods there may be in it.While this is the start of a series it definitely stands together, leading up to a very satisfying high-octane ending.

It looks interesting, and from what I can read of it is well written too. Unfortunately this is wrecked by the fact that pages are missing all over the place when viewed on my phone. (Pixel XL, Android 9/Pie, latest version of Kindle App).Please sort out and update the eBook with formatting that is not corrupted and I'll correct the review to reflect the actual story.

It's frustrating that so many people think sci-fi and fantasy books are badly written, infantile rubbish consumed by undiscriminating shut-ins ... but then you read something like Foundryside and understand why.I was sucked in by all the gushing positive reviews, in and out of amazon, and the idea that it's a clever cyberpunk fantasy mash-up.It isn't any of those, at any level.It turns out that it's the second mainstream publishing fantasy of 2018 I've just read that basically files the serial numbers off The Matrix - which is good news for the original IP holders, since there's clearly an appetite, but not so much for anyone who bought either Jade City or Foundryside, which are both pretty shabbyIt's not just that Foundryside is badly written, although it is, pretty much all the way through. And that's not just because the writer often uses words that don't mean what he seems to think they do. Or that he uses technical concepts he doesn't understand and confuses. Like gravity - a LOT - and momentum. And lots of really poor stuff about coding.The problems aren't even consistent. There's a lot of hold-the-plot infodumping to mansplain the terrible cod-techie magic system ... and then, once he's painted himself into a corner, there's just a hand-wave.Usually, "because gravity".There's even one hysterical sequence when the main Point of View character nods in and out of sleep to escape a numbing sequence of "as you probably already know ..." between the rest of the cast.There's also a terrible cowardice over rude words, which I can't forgive. It can only be to jump a perceived explicit content issue for the unspoken target YA audience, because by no stretch of the most elastic imagination is this a book for adults. The writer obviously wants his young readers to relate to cool-cat characters who constantly eff and blind, and fair enough because I'm an incredibly sweary old soul myself, but either be honest about it or just don't do it.I'm being made circumspect by amazon's definite issues with the language in reviews. An invented word "scrum" is a cut and paste substitute for the f-word, which is used almost constantly in dialogue, but even more irritatingly also by the "author voice", which should know better. Other literal four letter words that obviously don't trip the wary school librarian alarm, like the sh-word and the English a-word slang for "bottom", are crow-bared into dialogue like there was a sale on.All of which you might be able to overlook if the characters weren't one dimensional and off the rack. But they really, really are. The protagonist is an odd looking racially marginalised teenage outsider exploring non-binary gender relationships. Most adults are barely one-dimensional, and beyond the outsider cohort not to be trusted. The male antagonist is a joyless, predatory deviant.The protagonist's best friend is a talking amulet, and it would be interesting is they started out talking in the exact same voice because somehow it turned out they were parts of the same personality. But it isn't because they aren't. Dialogue obviously just isn't a strength.I stuck with it to make sure I wasn't rushing to judgement. I haven't. It's terrible.

4.5 stars from me. It doesn't quite hit the highs of The Divine Cities trilogy for me but then that's a very high bar indeed as far as I am concerned.The industrial magic system is both intriguing and pivotal to the plot, and fascinating to watch as it develops for the main character. Foundryside is exciting, fast-paced, excellently written, and set in an exciting new world that I can't wait to find out more about. That said, I didn't warm to the characters quite as much as I'd have liked (not that they are bad of course), which is why it doesn't quite reach 5* for me

I was initially disappointed that Mr. Bennett had written a generic fantasy, thief, warrior, magician, etc. American Elsewhere showed what a novel talent he is. I needn't have worried, though. In his hands the genre is taken to a different level. He has simply used a solid base on which to build. The magic system he uses is more akin to science than sorcery. There's a lot of fascinating stuff going on here in a well told tale with the main characters vividly drawn. Clef is my favourite. I hope we haven't seen the last of him. Looking forward to the next one.

Rarely do I find a story that grabs my full interest in the latter half. But this one sure did. Terrific world building, charming, intricate characters that feel like they've had such a rich, sad, priveledged, scary lives is something I find quite hard to find of late. This was a brilliant story that I cannot WAIT to dive back into again. The world building is on par with every great novelist I've read in Fantasy Fiction and am so looking forward to seeing where this story goes. Please read this book if you have any interest in fantasy whatsoever. You won't regret it. It'll stay with you. It's that good.