Foundryside

"Fantasy world building was well done and for the most part an easy to follow plot. However, these characters feelings felt forced and I didn’t think the love interest was relevant or necessary. I did enjoy the ending, but not enough to get me to read the next book. 3/5"

"It's rare when you can tell from the first chapters of the story your going to enjoy it. The author was very clever and made learning about the world fun. You got to do this through another character Clef. He is curious and asking questions as you follow along. <br/><br/>The world had an air of menace to it. It's not often that a story is real with you and shows the bad along with the good. Always, always there are people suffering and its refreshing that the story doesn't skip the details even if they are gruesome. To me it adds a touch of realism.<br/><br/>The magic system was very complex as well. It reminded me of The Name of the Wind but was uniquely different in it's on way. The story some how made me attached to scribed objects as if they were people. Very clever how they talked to each other and also entertaining. Clef's way to manipulate speech and the scribed object way of thinking was brilliant. Just an all around clever but mind boggling system.<br/><br/>There were many connections made between the characters but they didn't go anywhere. Sancia and Clef became friends but beyond that the character arcs didn't change. I also felt that Gregor was a big part of the story though you don't learn much about him. Maybe he was a little too uptight to open up I guess. It felt to me a group of people got together went through a lot and didn't come out the better for it. Maybe a little more trust between them I just felt like it should have been a bigger leap.<br/><br/>"What's that?" asked Sancia loudly. She pointer at a rig on the far table. Orso looked over his shoulder. "Oh that, we'll get to that in a minute." "It looks like a air sailing rig." said Sancia. "We'll get to that." "And you haven't mentioned an air sailing rig yet." "I SAID WE'LL GET TO THAT." <br/><br/>Recommend if you like serpent and dove."

"The dialogue was very juvenile. And the romantic interest seemed random and contrived. The fantasy concept of scriving was similar to Babel, but Babel was a much better book. I don’t think I will read the next in the series. "

"Steampunk adventure with likable characters "

"Fun magic system, enjoyable characters."

"Enjoyable characters, decent pacing, and good humor."

"512 pages "

"Neat magic system/world, but forgettable characters and a slow plot. Finished the book, but no intrest in reading the rest of the series "

"This book immediately pulled me in and I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it. I love how we learned about the world through the characters interactions within it. Rather than info dumping. (There was a small moment of that, but it worked within the context of the story). The magic system is so interesting and complex and the characters were all like-able in their own ways. Wow wow wow"

"Lots of adventure and quippiness, with a great deal of using metaphor to critique unfettered capitalism"