Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.
Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.
To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.
Review:
My favorite thing about Foundryside is that it manages to feel like both a sci-fi/steam punk and fantasy story at the same time. I absolutely love that it feels both like machinery and magic. The system for the "magic" is quite technical and almost mathematical, relying heavily on physics science, while also feeling like an ancient and complex language with a dark history from a dead civilization. Books that capture that feeling of learning about a culture that no longer exists are my absolute favorite kinds, and this one did that quite well. One of my least favorite things is made up curse words that are then used a million times. This one did that as well, but it's not that big of a deal and "scrumming" is now a part of my daily speech. Another thing that is done well in this book are the action scenes. Honestly, it's mind blowing how intense and choreographed they are in this one. I could see every step and dodge, every leap and felt every injury. (Maybe not to the extent that the characters felt them, luckily for me.) I think it can be a tricky thing to balance heavy world building and character development, and possibly doubly so when creating both a dead culture and a living one simultaneously. That being said, I didn't get the feeling that either of those was damaged. All of the characters are fully fleshed out and I'm quite attached to Sancia. Basically, this was such an amazing read and it's one that I became fully immersed into. I loved that some of the characters which I initially thought would be villains had more sides to them, and some that I anticipated being powerful allies were...well, definitely not. Four out of five stars and absolutely a book I would (and have) recommend.
