Started: 01/07/20
Finished: 16/07/20
Spoilers: No
I got 18 pages in before deciding I had to get the audiobook, cause there was no way I could read this book without editing it in my head. Once I started listening, I didn't have the time to dwell on the writing so my enjoyment did improve.
I will say this though. I didn't enjoy the audio narration. I found the narrator's nasally American accent really grating. It was over theatrical and didn't feel natural. Wouldn't really recommend. If you can read a book without picking apart the prose (like me) then please read the book instead.
Characters
In general I'd class this book as New Adult, just from the way the characters are written and their dialogue. It doesn't quite feel YA, but also the characterisation doesn't feel mature enough to be Adult.
The 'voice' of the characters is distinctly YA, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a fan. If I want to read a YA voice, I'll read a YA book, thanks. These cross-over books aren't really doing it for me. I definitely prefer a more mature voice.
Sancia says "shit" way too often. Not mentioning this in protest of the swears, but in protest in the lack of variety in swears. I've read some books that are beautifully creative with its swears, and this constant recurrence of "shit" is just repetitive.
So let's address the elephant in the room. Clef. The talking key. Yep. One of the characters is actually a talking key, and I still can't decide if I found this really cool or really fucking lame.
I struggled to connect to any of the characters, and it wasn't until I had about 100 pages left that I relaised why. I didn't know what any of them looked like. The most I ever had to go on was Sancia having dark skin and being eighteen...she was eighteen, wasn't she?
Orso. He was intersting but I might have liked him more if I knew more about him, like his age and appearance. I spent the whole book visualising him as Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty, cause who else am I 'sposed to picture when you give me a 'mad scientist' character.
And how old was Gregor supposed to be? He's been in all these wars but he has the voice of a teenage girl. Couldn't tell what he looked like either. Tbh, all around, he felt pretty pointless.
Though a f/f romance is appreciated, this one felt totally forced. In this case, the book didn't need any romance at all.
My main problem with the characters is all their voices sounded the same. Even though I listened on audiobook, I still followed along with the physical book. The narrator had different voices for the characters, but the characters themselves didn't have different voices. I could never tell how old any of them were because they all spoke in the same way. Nothing differentiated their speech. Nothing made them unquie from each other.
Plot
Don't be fooled by the fact that this story begins in the middle of an action sequence. This book is slow.
Granted the plot doest quicken up about half way through and starts to get really good, but it does feel like it takes a while to get there. But stick with it, things do start to get pretty good.
The exposition in the beginning almost killed this book for me. It completely muddied up the narrative. The author spends too much time explaining the magic system. (after it's already been explained in detail, and doesn't need yet another full, two page explanation of how it works)
It was frustratingly boring, and at times I zoned out whilst listening cause guess what? I already know how it works! I've been paying attention so far, but now I'm not.
It strikes me as a case of the author being love with the sound of his own voice, so to speak. All this exposition feels too much like the author is saying "but wait, let me tell you again how innovative and clever I am."
*Eye roll.*
Yeah, yeah, we get it already. You made a cool magic system that actually has rules. You're not reinventing the wheel here, pal. Fancy backing it up with some storytelling sometime?
That being said, after about the half way point onwards, I genuinely started to enjoy this book. The characters were still a bit flat for me, but the things they were doing interested me and had me invested enough to keep going.
And the ending was left open enough to have me intrigued to want to read the squeal. But I won't be rushing out to buy it.
Setting
This is probably the one area that backs up the books postion on the Adult shelves. The intense world-building and exposition that comes with Adult Fantasy is strong in this book. You simply don't get this amount of exposition in YA. (Not that exposition is ever a good thing, but its more widely accepted in Adult.)
The world is very interesting and the social system of Tevanne is well explained. It's detailed very clearly what's what in this world and I never felt confused. Especially important, considering there isn't a map.
The magic system was incredibly detailed and I took a genuine interest in learning how scriving worked. It's a very technical hard magic system with a specific set of rules regarding how the magic works. We're shown the status quo of this magic system and told about the rules in detail before being shown what happens when the rules are broken. Chaos.
The only thing I struggled with was taking talking inanimate objects seriously. When the talking key started having an argument with the door lock, it was a stretch too far for my credulity. I couldn't decide if it was meant to be serious or done for laughs. Even now I can't decide how I feel about it.
The scriving side of the magic system I loved. The talking objects side...not so much. It got a little irritating after a while.
However, when it comes to the setting of this book, I can't help but draw massive comparisons to Camorr from The Lies of Locke Lamora. A Venetian inspired city ruled by merchant houses. A master thief from the slums. This is basically Locke Lamora all over again.
And as Locke Lamora is my favourite book, I really can't see anything reassemble it this closly without being a little bit peeved by the lack of originality.
Another issue I had with the setting is I wish the world-building wasn't explained through info-dumps. There was a massive page-long info-dump detailing the hierarchy that could have easily been a conversation instead, and would have been much more natural.
Writing Style
Not my flavour at all. Honestly didn't like the writing in this book. It wasn't particularly bad, but the prose is nonexistent.
Not saying I need all books to have flowery purple prose, but a little bit of style and flare would be nice.
The prose in this book is so basic that it drains the story of voice.
Once you learn the signs of weak writing, it's very hard to unsee them, even in published books. I almost find myself editing books as I read them now.
Generic descriptions, passive voice and exposition, show vs tell, repetition. It's hard not to see these things in books nowadays, and Foundryside is packed full of them.
To back up my point, I have examples.
"The space within the chimney was quite small."
So not only is quite is an unnecessary adverb, but small is a weak descriptor. Don't tell me the chimney space is quite small, tell me it's narrow. Or better yet, show me her shoulders brushing against the sides as she squirms to fit inside. Show me the soot and grime transferring to her clothes.
"The scar on the side of her head started getting painfully warm."
Again, we're dealing with weak descriptors, adverbs, and even a dash of passive voice. Started is passive. It removes the reader from the action. Painfully is an adverb. Warm is weak. Partnering the two together however is a contradiction in itself. Warm isn't painful. Warm is mild, tepid, comfortable. Burning hot, however, would be painful. Don't tell me it started getting painfully warm, explore the sensation instead. Tell me the scar on the side of her head prickled with an unbearable heat. That it burnt like a brand against her skin. This example at least backs up the notion with some Showing as she winces, but the damage is unready done, I'm afraid.
These are just two examples (out of many) that I couldn't help but edit in my head. And, bugger me, I'm just a reader, and even I can see these faults.
However, this is where the audiobook came in very handy. Once i started listening to it, even as I followed along, I didnt notice the weak writing. I didn't have time to stop and mentally edit, and I was able to actually start enjoying the story.
On a different note, I hate made-up swearing. It really grates on me. Isn't this meant to be an adult book? So why swap out Fucking for Scrumming? Other swear words are used, so Scrumming feels almost out of place.
Sure, I liked the explanation of where Scrumming came from and what it means, that was a nice bit of world-building, but still, why?
Final Impression
So on the whole I enjoyed the book, despite all the issues I had with it. But ultimately I'm disappointed cause I wanted to love it. I wanted SO much more.
I think I'll read the sequel, but I'm in no rush. It can wait until my tbr pile is through.
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