Foundryside (The Founders, #1)

by Robert Jackson Bennett

[abookishblether]

I found this book quite a mix of good and bad. When I reach around 2/3 of the way through any book I start thinking about how I'm going to rate it. In the case of Foundryside, I found it much harder than other books to determine how I would rate it.

The plot concerns Sancia and her unique ability to hear scrivings. Scrivings are the language that is engraved onto objects which can alter reality and change how these objects work. Sancia uses this skill to steal objects because she is desperate to change her life. It is definitely changed when she steals a talking key called Clef and discovers the job she was doing is so much more than it seemed.

I found the plot fairly fast paced and for the majority of the book it was really easy to read. I got fatigued with the plot in a way I've never experienced before and would end up skim reading every 40 pages or so. The world was fleshed out, but I found the set up quite info-dumpy. While this initially didn't bother me it did become repetitive throughout the book. I lowered the rating a star also in part due to fact that the book read partially like a young adult novel and partially adult.

My biggest issue concerns the rules of the city the story takes in. The city has four merchant houses with large compounds and the poor slum areas fill the gaps between the compounds. Early on in the book, Sancia mentions that there are no rules that govern the city and the individual merchant houses enforce their own rules within their compounds. It is mentioned at least twice later on, however, that certain things are illegal or prohibited in the city. I found this contradiction distracting, so I lowered the rating a star partially for this reason. It could have been my fault for misinterpreting or misreading the initial comment in the book, but I can't check now as my library comment has been returned now.

I would recommend Foundryside to readers of YA fantasy or any readers of fantasy in general. It was a quick, fun read and the characters were enjoyable. A few twists towards the end kept me engaged and interested and I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for the sequel.