City of Stairs

Holy. Shit.

Well crafted world even if a little confusing for the reader. It takes a long time to pick up steam and while the Miracles and Gods are well setup, there is just something missing from raising it to a good book. Not sure if I will read the trilogy at this point.

“[b:City of Stairs 20174424 City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) Robert Jackson Bennett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394545220l/20174424.SY75.jpg 28030792]” came highly recommended by many friends and I was so looking forward to a murder mystery, an espionage story, a post-war drama, a piece of fantasy, and alternative history. Yes, maybe the sheer breadth of this should have forewarned me but what can I say...The story was... mediocre: A lot of divinity-this, divinity-that, people who want to bring back the “golden days”, profiteers, evil brothers, evil aunts, and other relatives. In short: lots of bullshit.Also, the characters: Shara, the granddaughter of the Kaj, the saviour of his people, and the killer of gods, faultless master spy, genius, is our heroine and she's... boring. Absolutely, breathtakingly boring. She keeps being lucky and only in the end do we see her dealing with her evil scheming aunty. In between, she mostly lurches from one disaster to the next.Part of her luck is called Sigrud. An almost excessively inventive name for what amounts to a Viking. Huge, strong, pragmatic, silent, world-wise, a perfect companion and bodyguard who fights his way into and out of hell. Also: Steampunk. I hate steampunk; steampunk's illogical and impractical approach to technology is so annoying: They have cars but the term “battle-axe” is still present. They have “common firearms” but shoot bolts from crossbows. They have gunpowder and combustion, they work many kinds of metal and into huge projects to boot but they use traditional sailing ships.As so often, steampunk here, too, feels more like a superficial exercise in aesthetics than a thoughtful exploration of science fiction or social commentary. And yet there's a lot of heavy-handed kitchen philosophy to be found in this. Worst of all, though: This novel is so boring! Nobody is relatable and I didn't give a rat's ass about anybody. Despite featuring quite a few characters, most of them essentially “sound” and “feel” alike. For example, Shara and Mulaghesh sound exactly the same from what they say and do.The writing is nothing special either: There are absolutely no highlights but no crimes against language either. In its mediocrity, it feels very fitting.Since the ending was at least somewhat amusing, this garners it two stars instead of the one I originally intended. Blog Facebook Twitter Mastodon Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam

For the first few months of the year I have been wanting to dig into a fantasy ass fantasy book. I tried digging through TikTok, reading every fantasy list I could, and nothing quite struck my fancy. And the cover of this book didn't give me the vibes I was looking for. The premise sounded interested enough, a world where gods are real but the gods are gone.

What I wasn't expecting, besides it being the exact type of fantasy I was looking for, it would have elements of a fun detective story, this taught political landscape while laying the foundation of more to come, how religion functions even if it feels like it comes down to a 102 course the journey there is where the joy is.

There are other moments where the book turns to horror or action. Bennett dabbles into what he can within this world. Fully in love with this thing.

It stands above a sea of mediocre titles, but not by much. The writing is good, the protagonist sympathizable enough, most of the story is interesting, the plot is mostly well exposed.

Just to get this out of the way, I'll start with a thankfully very minor part of the story: the romance scenes.

Shara picked off his final piece. The students around them erupted in a cheer, but she barely heard them. Another of his mind games. “Before you ask, I'll play you again anytime.”
“Well, honestly,” he said cheerfully, “I'd much prefer a fuck.”

When Shara joined him and sat in his lap, as she often did, she felt a soft lump pressing into her lower back.

a homosexual. Still, he claims to love her, and to desire her in the carnal way, because love transcends gender. I don't know if the author meant to be woke, but he did not painted Voh as bisexual by any means. So that whole exchange felt unnecessarily awkward

developed super powers, and went on a god killing spree

Seipur's head of intelligence, Shara's aunt Vinia, decided to kill her agent, the one whose murder Shara is investigating, because he discovered something preposterous! Her bloodline was tainted by divine blood in her, many hundreds years ago. It was diluted by so many generations that it didn't manifest as anything at all. And if that somehow got public, the Continentals, who were ruled under Seipur's thumb, would revolt and... what? Overthrow them? They already hate them as much as it is possible. It was painted as both a national crisis and a personal one for aunt Vinia. I could barely accept the latter, but not at all the first one

O carte bine scrisă, dar care nu m-a prins pe mine 1. pentru că are o doză de policier și alta de spionaj, iar pe mine mă plictisesc ambele de fiecare dată (dacă vă plac, merită citită) si 2. nu am reușit să rezonez deloc cu protagonista. E mai potrivita publicului feminin. Pe mine cartea pur și simplu nu a reușit să mă captiveze, sorry.

This is a really great read. An intricately developed world (really the highlight of the entire book) with a fun murder mystery. The concept is great and begs for a sequel (which I will start reading immediately)!

First things first: This is brilliant. If you like fantasy, you should read this!

RJB has crafted an intriguing world, where once one nation (Bulikov - a kind of Leninist Russia) had gods it could call upon that gave it a hegemony over others. One of its vassals (Saypur - an Indian influenced culture) created a god killing weapon and was able to overthrow the gods and the vassal became the conqueror. This is the starting position - the gods are dead with only small vestiges of them left in an oppressed conquered continent. We enter in a more modern society, kind of steampunk in its feel. Magic is left as mere echoes - reality bent into weird shapes by the vanished gods.

This world is beautiful, mysterious, strange and utterly beguiling. Easily one of the best and most original fantasy settings I have come across. The world building here is phenomenal!

The plot follows the investigation into the murder of a Saypurian academic who was studying the culture and magic of the dead gods. The politics, religion and secrets combine to give an epic rollercoaster of a ride as the city gradually gives up its secrets. The characters are well written and the plot and prose ride along at a very entertaining rate.

One of my top reads of the year and I look forward to delving into the rest of this series!

Loved the world building. It was original.

i read this for the @shelfspacebookclub january read - my first one of their book picks! it's hosted by @jessiemaebooks & @bookswithv, who i both sub to on booktube (you should too ❤️)! i had no idea what to expect, but i really enjoyed it. the beginning felt a bit difficult to get into, with so much being unknown and bennett not frontloading the history behind the continent, its divines, or saypur, but after eventually getting over those first few chapters, i found i quite liked the way he unravels their stories.

the characters were enjoyable - i loved sigrud and he and shara were an interesting dynamic. mulaghesh was hilarious (my favorite scene included her + sigrud) and vo was quite the intriguing tragic character.

the ending felt very satisfying, and i look forward to finishing the trilogy - not to mention checking out bennett's other books. i've also heard many good things about foundryside

איך התאכזבתי מהספר הזה, והוא היה כל כך מבטיח: סטינג לא ימי-ביניימי, עיר מתפוררת ומלאת סודות ומסתורין שהיא כמו דמות בעצמה, יחסים מורכבים בין הדמויות, ומיליון ביקורות מהללות בגודרידס. מה כבר יכול להשתבש? כשסיימתי אותו הרגשתי personally wronged, לא כי זה היה ספר נורא, אלא כי הוא יכול היה להיות כל כך הרבה יותר טוב.

הרעיון שלו ממש מעניין, והעולם עשיר בפוטנציאל לאימה ולתחושת פלא – נגיד יבשת, אולי אירופה, סגנון מזרח אירופה יותר, ויש לה אלים. רק האלים הם אמיתיים והולכים בין הבריות ובאופן כללי עושים את כל מה שהם רוצים. אז אנשי היבשת חיים להם חיים קסומים, מלאים בחפצים מכושפים ובנסים גדולים וקטנים, ומשעבדים למרותם את כל שאר תושבי העולם. עד שאחת הקולוניות, סאייפור, שנשמעת כמו מנה הודית שממש בא לי לאכול, מתמרדת ואיכשהו מצליחה לשחוט את האלים אחד אחד. פאסט פורוורד כמה עשרות שנים קדימה, והיבשת היא מקום אומלל, אפל, עני ומלא מחלות, והעיר בוליקוב, שהיתה הפנינה הזורחת של היבשת, באופן מילולי נשברה ונקרעה לגזרים יחד המציאות הפלאית של האלים. הכובשים החדשים אוסרים על המקומיים אפילו לדעת על ההיסטוריה שלהם, בחשש שאולי האלים יחזרו, ולכן אולי אין זה מפתיע כשהיסטוריון סאייפורי נרצח באכזריות במשרד של באוניברסיטת בוליקוב.

נשמע נהדר, נכון? לא רק שזה עולם מרתק שמלא באפשרויות, אלא שהעלילה מתחילה בתעלומת רצח, שזה אחד הז'אנרים האהובים עליי ואני תמיד חייבת לדעת מי הרוצח והאם הניחוש שלי נכון, לעזאזל!* אבל פה בערך מסתיים מה שאהבתי בספר.

קודם כל, הדמויות. מהרגע הראשון לא התחברתי לשארה, הדמות הראשית, למרות הדמיון בשמות שלנו. ביליתי איתה כמעט ספר שלם ועדיין לא הבנתי בדיוק מי היא. האם שארה קרה וקלינית ושכלתנית? האם היא רגשנית, אידיאליסטית והמצפן המוסרי של כולם? האם היא תמימה, או אובססיבית בקשר לאלים הישנים? האם היא עייפה מהחיים ומהשירות הארוך וחסר התגמול למדינתה, ורק רוצה לחזור הביתה ולשתות תה? מי יודע. הדבר היחיד שאני יכולה להגיד עליה בוודאות זה שהיא יודעת להכין קארי חבל על הזמן.אבל דמות ראשית שמתאהבים בה זה לא מאסט אם יש דמויות אחרות ניתן להיקשר אליהן. העניינים השתפרו כששארה פגשה את ווהנס, אקס הנעורים שלה, שאולי הוא הומו ואולי לא, אבל הוא בטוח נוהג לצלוע באחוזה המפוארת שלו עם מעיל קטיפה לבן ולהתלונן על משפחתו האריסטוקרטית האיומה. זה מיד פרט על כל מיתרי לבי, והייתי בטוחה שעכשיו אני הולכת להצטרף לצוות קווירי עם יחסים משונים ומורכבים ולפתור תעלומות רצח! כי היה איזה פרופסור שמת, זוכרים. בלי הרבה ספוילרים, זה לא מה שקורה והיחס שוו מקבל הוא המקרה הכי גרוע של bury your gays שראיתי מזה זמן רב. הכתיבה. היא טכנית בסדר, אז לקח לי זמן להבין למה היא מפריעה לי. היא פשוט מרוחקת. נמסר לנו מידע על מה שהדמויות עושות, אבל אנחנו לא מורשים להיכנס אל תוך הראש שלהן, להרגיש יחד איתן בו-זמנית. ישנם תיאורים של המקום, אבל בשום שלב לא נבנה לי דימוי חזק וקוהרנטי של איך שהעיר נראה ומהי התחושה שמתעוררת כשפוסעים ברחובותיה, שזה ממש פשע בספר שבו העיר משחקת תפקיד כל כך חשוב. והכי גרוע – הכתיבה בזמן הווה. אני יודעת שהרבה קוראים שונאים זמן הווה, אבל בחיי שאני לא אחת מהם. אני אוהבת זמן הווה! זה מהיר ומיידי וקריא ומעביר תחושת דחיפות וקשר אוטומטי לדמויות. אני נהנית מזה! גם אני כותבת בזמן הווה! אבל פה זה פשוט לא עבד. הספר הזה צריך היה להיכתב בזמן עבר. נתקעתי על כל משפט שני כי המשפטים פשוט לא החליקו טוב במורד המוח, ואז גיליתי שאני מתרגמת אוטומטית בראש את הכל לזמן עבר. בקשר לעלילה. הספר מנסה להיות כל כך הרבה דברים שונים, שבערך במחצית שלו שכחתי בכלל שהייתה תעלומת רצח ו”הא כן, מה בעצם עם הפרופסור הזה”. זה מתח? אולי ספר ריגול? מחווה ללאבקראפט? ואולי סצנה ענקית ועמוסת ברקים ופיצוצים שכמו נלקחה מסדרת אנימה? בסופו של דבר פשוט לא היה לי אכפת. התעלומה בספר כן נקשרת היטב, הכל הגיוני ולרוב השאלות החשובות יש פתרון הולם, אבל התגליות והטוויסטים לא מתרחשים תוך כדי עלילה, וגם כשכן, אין לזה אימפקט. בשלב מסוים שארה מגיעה למקום שהיה אמור לגרום לה להעלות חום מרוב התרגשות, ולהציף את הקוראים בתחושת פלא אדירה, ושום דבר מזה לא עובר הלאה מהדפים. זה פשוט “כן, טוב, מה השלב הבא?”. הגילוי הכי עצום של הספר נאמר לשארה תוך כדי שיחה בסוף הספר. אני רק יכולה לדמיין איזה אפקט היה לזה אם דמויות (ואולי אפילו כאלו שאכפת לי מהן) היו חופרות ומגלות את הסודות האלו תוך כדי העלילה, ומראות תגובה רגשית ומאבק פנימי כתוצאה מהדברים האלו. פה? פשוט כלום. הכל שטוח, כמו אפיון הדמויות, כמו העלילה, כמו הכתיבה.אז ציפיתי להיסחף לעולם מלא אופל וקסם, ובסופו של דבר סיימתי את הקריאה רק עם מועקה בלב וקרייבינג אדיר לפניר טיקה.__ כפי שיסתבר, אני אצטרך לחכות ל'גדעון התשיעי' כדי לספק את התשוקה הזאת. וכן, הניחוש שלי היה נכון, לעזאזל!
** אבל עם הרבה בשר, אז גם זה לא פרט מועיל עבורי.
*** למישהו יש כיוון?

I mostly liked this. It was a bit of a slow start, and the writing is fine but not great, but it's got a really solid conceit at the center of it. Nicely self-contained — there's a clear thread leading to the next book, but you don't feel that the story in this one is unfinished.

DRAGGING, at first this was what I felt as the story started, and here I thought there were so many 5 stars from goodreads, so read along I did.......................................................................

Wow!!!!!!!! When you start the good parts it jumps at you (clap clap clap Mr. Bennett!!! Those five stars were not flukes), this is a story of the waning of Magic and the start of Science, at first those unknown tidbits(Blink, The Divinities, the Divine)were a drag because you kept hinting and hinting and nothing..........nothing happened, and your choice of protagonist Shara Thivani a Diplomat(?????)
and her secretary Sigurd(now him I like, violent let the fist do the talking type), and your antagonist was the uhhhhh..........dead gods or no, humans who love the dead gods or wait, the arrrggghhhhhh........well that was what I felt until the slow unraveling of the story, who the Divinities are, the Divine, the miracle.......all of these!!!!!! What a revelation(honestly never has a book bamboozled me so.................

I am now a certified Bennettic.......keep them coming!!!!! Ohhhhh I see the trilogy was done!!! Ok then Book two here I come!!!!

I find it hard to believe this book is not talked about more. It was a great surprise. I look forward to book two.

Dropped at 17%, because it was just so goddamn annoying. Seriously, every character in this fucking book is just so unpleasant, everything drags, it's just... not a pleasant read to me. People seem to adore it, which is nice, but there is no way I'm wasting time on a book that makes me not want to read. City of Stairs is not worth me going into yet another slump.

I took the stairs to fuck right off from this city.

“The gods are cruel not because they make us work. They are cruel because they let us hope.”

– Anonymous Saypuri quote
City of Stairs is the definition of an amazing, fantastic, awesome, must read book. I can't believe that I had never heard of it until a week ago. What you have here is fantasy at its best – very original, high concept, superb world building involving lots of history and some extremely fascinating characters who will be remembered for a long time.

The world here is composed of two main regions – Continent and Saypur. Continent ruled and oppressed Saypur for centuries with the help of six Divinities ( Yes!!!! Actual Gods 😱) until seventy five years ago, Saypur rose up in rebellion, killed the Gods and became the new oppressor. Bulikov, the capital of the Continent was left almost ruined with poor and destitute people who are now forbidden from even acknowledging their Divine history. But as everyone knows, just because you don't want history to be remembered doesn't mean people have forgotten. Into this city simmering with discontent comes Shara Thivani aka Komayd – best spy of Saypur masquerading as a junior diplomat trying to solve the murder case of her friend/mentor. What starts off as a murder mystery transforms into so much more – an epic fantasy worth the genre.

This book has it all – geopolitics, faith, religious fanaticism, oppression, persecution, slavery, racism, patriotism turned cynicism but also ultimately hope. Shara starts off as a spy trying to find a murderer but stumbles into a much larger conspiracy. She struggles with the realization that most of the history she has studied may be based on lies.

“History, after all, is a story, one that is sometimes wonderful. But one must remember it in full – as things really were – and avoid selective amnesia.”
But what she does next defines her as a good person, compassionate, able to place the greater good of the people above her personal well being. Her giant of a man secretary cum security Sigrud seems like a nonstop killing machine until his transformation towards the end. Knowing his history in the meantime makes it all the more heartening. Mulagesh, the polis governor of Bulikov is an amazingly kick ass military colonel who is fed up with the disastrous policies she is forced to implement and just wants to retire to an island but ultimately makes a choice in the best interest of the people. The remaining characters though appear infrequently are still very important to the narrative and are developed so. On the whole, this is a brilliantly written book that has all the elements I could have asked for. The best part about it though is that in spite of being rich in world building and history, it's also a fast paced entertaining read which will fascinate and thrill any lover of books. All I need to do next is finish the series.

“Humans are strange. The value punishment because they think it means their actions are important – that they are important. You don't get punished for doing something unimportant, after all. They think the whole world was set up to shame and humiliate and punish and tempt them.... It's all about them, them, them, them! The world is full of bad things, hurtful things, but it's still all about them.”

4.5 out of 5 – see this review and others here.

Summary: Bulikov once housed six divinities who enacted miracles upon the city and who were revered by the Continentals, the local populace. The Saypuri, the enslaved and oppressed minority group, were able to topple the gods and shift the balance of power in Bulikov. Now, hundreds of years later, certain Continentals seek to restore things to the way they once were through any means necessary.
Reminiscent of: Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere; the setting of Elantris, the history and class struggle of the Mistborn novels, the industrial elements of The Alloy of Law, politics and plot elements of The Traitor Baru Cormorant.

Review: I strongly considered giving up on this novel at several points in the early going. I was thrown off by the mix of modern and ancient elements and also put off by the lack of nuance in the discussion of one character's forbidden sexuality. Thankfully, I pushed on after reading numerous glowing reviews that promised big payoffs for all the loose threads presented in the beginning chapters.

Many of the reviews I had read complained about the heavy emphasis on history in this novel, but every motivation of each group of characters was rooted in the rich history of Bulikov. Without it, you're left with no context for the conflicts that occur amongst the warring factions. There was enough action blended with the politics and history to be engaging to me as a reader.

Overall, I really enjoyed Bennett's writing style. It was not flowery and there was nary an “SAT word” to be found, but everything was smoothly written and flowed very nicely. The story was intricately plotted, featured likable characters, and had an ending that felt complete and satisfying. I look forward to picking up the sequel, City of Blades, in the near future.

Absolutely wonderful. I don't know how it is that is never heard of this author before, because he does it right. The characters are fantastic, the world is a treat, the plot is clever, and the way it all lies together... Bennett knows what he's doing. Very recommended.

Good, strong story with a nicely moving plot that makes sense. The action scenes work together with moving the story forward rather than just being there like in some books I've recently read. There are surprises and unexpected deaths. Overall a nice way to spend my time in a different world.

Convoluted, Russian-influenced fake histories and religions full of spies and unhinged people. I'm there.

I liked this book. The world was well built with good explanations, including why some things can't be explained. I liked the subtle foreshadowing that gave hints, but id didn't feel like the author was beating you over the head with it. The characters were fun if slightly under-developed.

Very interesting, a great alternative fantasy story with excellent characters.

This is a damn good book.

If you've ever thought, “I'm not really into ___ books”, pick this up anyway and let it change your mind about what kind of books you love. You will be introduced to people you want to know well - many of them - and you will come to deeply care for each one.

Oh! And the action! During moments of exceptional tension, I heard music of the “perfect fifth” variety. Run, run and get this book now!

This book is excellent. Really excellent. It is very hard to explain the nature of the story, mainly because it manages to avoid the simplistic target audience/genre boxes that we are used to. It's fun. It is funny. It is deeply thought provoking while at the same time managing to be a thoroughly enjoyable story with a three dimensional and very human primary character. The plot is driven by a murder investigation not unlike an Agatha Christie novel, though the setting is a complex one borrowing elements from both fantasy and the more familiar 1920s. Every element is used carefully and with purpose. This is not a simple detective novel, fantasy adventure, or philosophical text – but at the conclusion I felt as if I'd enjoyed the greatest Hollywood blockbuster while seriously considering the meaning of life and my place in the universe...oh, and you'll have to read the book to find out “whodunit” (clue: not the butler).

This came up on my radar as being something to fill in the interminable gap between Stormlight Archive installations. Then a Goodreads friend read it and enjoyed it. And the clincher was the book being picked as the June 2015 Sword and Laser pick (which have been mostly miss-and-miss for me the past twelve months, either I've read them or I've been entirely uninterested.)Turns out, aside from the main story (and kind of the point of the main story, no spoilers), this book is full of both history and religion and I've realised that I love that in a fantasy novel (I love that in real life, so it's hardly a surprise).It was a fun and enjoyable read, but I doubt I'll pick up [b:City of Blades 23909755 City of Blades (City of Stairs, #2) Robert Jackson Bennett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1426255519s/23909755.jpg 43516764]. This works quite nicely as a stand-alone.