Anyone who wants to write fantasy really should read this book. Study this book. This is how you capture a reader’s attention, and hold on to it by building a dynamic story.
Sancia Grado is a young, tough, very talented thief. She is on a job to steal a scribed device. ‘Scribing’ is a cross of magic and science. It essentially convinces the properties of an object to be other than what they are. Sancia is particularly skilled as a thief because she can communicate, on a primitive level, with scribed devices. Touching a wooden floor and she might learn about a recent murder because of the blood that has pooled in the cracks. Touching a brick wall and the bricks may tell her which ones are loose enough to pull out.
Sancia doesn’t know anything about the object that she steals, and in order to create enough of a distraction to make her escape, she brings about utter destruction of an entire warehouse district. This doesn’t sit well with the son of one of the Merchant House leaders, and this son, a celebrated war hero isn’t likely to stop searching for the thief until she’s dead.
While she regularly faces dangers due to her line of work, Sancia doesn’t have any idea of the value of the object she’s stolen – it looks like an ordinary key – …until it speaks to her. But the key seems more surprised that Sancia speaks back.
Unlikely partnerships will be forged as Sancia and others discover that the very forces of nature may be changed if the key falls into the wrong hands. But how do you fight an enemy that can change the properties of any and every item around you?
This book is utterly fantastic. I was drawn in with the very opening sentences and I was hooked the entire way. Author Robert Jackson Bennett is an absolute master at storytelling. Every page is filled with either heart-racing action, important character development, or story revelations. This sounds like it should be obvious in any book, but it’s not, and when you read this, you will notice what you’re missing in other books.
While over 500 pages in length, this book moves along so well and I was so absorbed in the story that it was over too quickly. I really wanted to stay in Tevanne with Sancia and Key. Fortunately, the next volume in the series is out and I’m really looking forward to it.
Looking for a good book? Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett is an outstanding fantasy and should be required reading for anyone who wants to write fantasy.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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Foundryside
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
series: Founders #2
publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1524760366
hardcover, 505 pages
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