lightreads

A Drop of Corruption

4/5. Sequel in this fantasy biopunk Holmes & Watson universe.

One of the more successful sequels I’ve read in a long time, in the sense that this accomplishes the task of really blowing up and blowing out the world. I continue to be only middling interested in these characters (and also continue to be puzzled about why this series is first person, aside from the obvious stylistic nod). But the construction of this empire, whose people’s bodies and minds are modified in ways beyond our understanding by methods beyond their understanding, all while the leviathans come ever closer to breaking down the sea walls, is incredibly interesting to me.

I think this book is not as successful in its project of talking about kings and power structures by blood in general. It does that, but our protagonist is not really clocking the implications for his own life as an imperial subject, so it doesn’t quite come together the way intended. The first person gets in the way there, specifically, given our protagonist is not, shall we say, a political or philosophical thinker.

Still, I am way more interested in this now than I was after the first book.

Content notes: Body modification and body horror, threats of infection/contamination.

Locklands

3/5. Conclusion of this trilogy that basically goes okay but what if we did the computing revolution in a fantasy setting? Eight years on from the last book, they are at war, and desperation has spurred further developments in magical programming, such as networked groups of people.

Am I the only one who found this an entertaining story, but lacking largely the depth and complexity and bittersweetness of his prior trilogy? I did enjoy this, and yes of course the magic system is by turns clever and funny. There’s a particular bit which basically amounts to the villain filing a support ticket with God that made me laugh. I would recommend this to someone who wants something different out of a fantasy trilogy. But I wouldn’t recommend it to someone looking for, you know. All the things the Divine Cities books are.

Content notes: War, death, recollection of plague and crimes against humanity.

Foundryside

3/5. I am still pregnant, and Robert Jackson Bennett writes interesting, chewy fantasy. This one seemed, at first, to be slighter and more traditional then his Divine Cities trilogy, which I really enjoyed. The setup is that a young woman street thief with special talents that she doesn't particularly want steals the wrong thing and becomes embroiled in guild house politics. But this story complicates itself as it goes, and becomes more and more about subjects and objects, and rewriting the rules of the world around you, and how once you have been made a commodity by someone, it is very hard to refind yourself as a person. Also, the magic system is thoroughly entertaining – it essentially amounts to objects that can talk, and many of them are excellent and hilarious.