Review: City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

Title: City of Blades
Author: Robert Jackson Bennett
Publication Date:  January 26th, 2016
Publisher: Broadway Books
Source: From BloggingForBooks
Where to find: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository

Summary: 

The city of Voortyashtan was once the domain of the goddess of death, war, and destruction, but now it’s little more than a ruin. General Turyin Mulaghesh is called out of retirement and sent to this hellish place to try to find a Saypuri secret agent who’s gone missing in the middle of a mission, but the city of war offers countless threats: not only have the ghosts of her own past battles followed her here, but she soon finds herself wondering what happened to all the souls that were trapped in the afterlife when the Divinities vanished. Do the dead sleep soundly in the land of death? Or do they have plans of their own?

While I did not love City of Stairs, the first book, in this series, I still really appreciated the world and everything it had to offer. This book however, was a let down. I felt like it was all over the place and the characters I had come to know did not live up to my expectations.

I do not know if this sequel was initially planned or only came about as a result of the success of the first book, but I was left with more questions than answers with this one.

Other people seem to absolutely love this book, but I'm not one of them. I do not know if I hyped it up too much for myself or what, it just was not a good read for me. I have been reading a lot of other fantasy books and this one just did not have the same world building I need in a great read.

Lastly, I did enjoy the characters in this book. It was definitely the saving aspect of the book. General Turyin Mulaghesh was definitely a strong female character with a lot of spunk. 

This was a hard review to write since I did not have many good thoughts about this book and in many places skimmed. I may have been in the wrong mind set when reading it. But overall it just was not the book for me.

*I received a copy of this book through BloggingForBooks in exchange for an honest review*

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

So first let me say gorgeous cover. As I’m sure you know by now, I’m a huge fan of awesome covers, they always lead me towards reading a book. This one is awesome with the city below the Divinity.
As for the book, we start off right away in the middle of a trial in a court room. I love how it started like this and introduced many of the characters through the court rather than other traditional ways. And then right away the purpose of the book is shown, a murder and the Divinities.

This is one of those books that I would never be able to talk about it out loud for fear of mispronouncing everything. The story itself takes place in Bulikov with characters like Mulaghesh and Jindash, Pangyui, etc. But regardless, the characters are still charming and intriguing. The story is a twist on the typical murder mystery genre since it also takes place in a fantasy world. The book is more than just a murder mystery, it involves many secret histories, a dystopian like aspect, plus magic (or miracles as they are called in the book).

There is a lot of world explaining and building that has to happen in this book since it is a fantasy setting, but Bennett does a good job of slowing explaining the setting and how everything came to be the way it is in Bulikov, especially the snippets at the beginning of every chapter. The world building in and of itself is a massive undertaking. There is the overarching government of Saypur and then the government within the cities like Bulikov. There is also the presence and then disappearance and killing of the Divinities. Plus the War that lead to the world being the way it is. There was a lot to build in this book, but it is done in a fantastic way that is not boring.
The ending of this book definitely leaves it open for future books, but at the same time closes this chapter in Bulikov’s history.

And while I have said this book is a fantasy, it is so much more than that. This book encompasses many different genres and is a great read. The imagery within the book is amazing, just the way everything is described is perfect. I would definitely recommend it to people looking for a unique take on a fantasy novel or people who enjoy mysteries since this has aspects of that as well.

I was given this book by BloggingForBooks in exchange for an honest review. 

4/5 Stars