City of Blades

“What fools we are to pretend that when we walk to war we do not bring our loved ones with us.”

Good sequels are usually hard to come by. Good sequels to great first books are rare. This is one such book. It's not as complicated and not as twisty as City of Stairs but that doesn't make this book any less fantastic. While the first book was more about world building, Bulikov and the Divines especially Kolkan, here the story shifts to Voortyashtan, ass-end of the universe, armpit of the world. This book is also about Mulagesh and her exploits.

It's been five years since the Battle of Bulikov and General Mulagesh has retired to the island of Javrat, away from humanity. She is forced out of her retirement by Shara, who is now the Saypuri Prime Minister, to go on a secret assignment to Voortyashtan. Another secret operative deployed there, investigating a recently mined ore which has unexplainable conduction properties, has gone missing. Mulagesh travels to Voortyashtan on the pretext of a final tour before retirement and tries to secretly gather information about the missing Choudary. She is helped a little by Signe, daughter of Sigrud, CTO of Southern Dreyling Company, a genius engineer trying to clear up the Solda river and build a harbor to better connect Saypur with the Continent. Mulagesh also meets General Biswal, her old commanding officer who is now the regional governor of Voortyashtan.

This book gives us a lot of history. The divinity we get to know more about is obviously Voortya, the Goddess of warfare and death. The truth about sentinels, the deadly soldiers of Voortya, and the atrocities they committed upon the Saypuri slaves is explained in such a horrid way that it disgusts you. The book goes into great detail about their armor, their strength, their methods, their motivations and their expectations from their Goddess and the afterlife.

“What wild promises we make in order to justify the worst of decisions.”

In this backdrop, we get to know a lot about Mulagesh's past; her military history, the killings that weigh on her mind even after decades, her relationship with Biswal and the horrors of war. Amidst the story, there is a lot of commentary about war and peace, killing, the toll it takes on the soldiers, the motivations and justifications behind war etc. But nowhere does the author come across as preachy. The narrative and commentary are very organic, forcing the reader to contemplate the consequences of war – in the book as well as the real world.

“The world may not go on forever. But that doesn't mean we cannot try to make tomorrow better.”

The strength of the series is definitely the world building and its rich history but the best part of this book is Mulagesh herself. Her struggles with the actions of her past, her PTSD, her evolution through the decades – it is all very gut wrenching – but what makes her amazing is what she comes to believe is the duty of a soldier and purpose of war, and how she uses this belief to destroy the enemy hell bent on annihilating humanity. The relationship between Sigrud and Signe is also explored well and I expect to know more of how the tragedies in his life will affect him.

“When the world grinds you down, you pick a handful of fires to hold close to your heart.”

Next task for me – find the last book and read it ASAP.

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

So when the Deity you worship perishes what do you do??? Continue worshipping or look for a new one, this series for me is really quite subtle, is it me or is the author asking you this question????

A superlative story telling, building up until well it makes you think, again I made some rather hazy guesses and supposition, the first book was about rediscovering faith even if the source died already (kind of like hmmmmmm C???) and those worshipper never stopped, still hoping for a resurrection .............the second book was about death “ABSOLUTE” and again even that does not stop the myriad worshippers in believing.............

Ummmmm I think the idea is making my mind spin.........ok so for the first book we have Shara and Sigurd playing a big roll with Mulaghesh playing in the sidelines, this time Mulaghesh is the star and both Shara and Sigurd are on the sidelines (actually Sigurd is not a role player, making me think the author has a higher goal for him).............

Ok enough of this metaphysical stuff on to Book Three!!!!!

I found Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs to be a compelling and entertaining story. This second book in the series is just as good and General Turyin Mulaghesh is a fearsome character! Part suspense novel, part military spec fiction; City of Blades is a page turner and interesting commentary on war and military service.

I read an Uncorrected Proof of this book from http://www.mybookishways.com/ and RandomPenguins.

4.5 out of 5 stars at Spike's Shelf Space

There is something about the flow of Robert Bennett Jackson's writing that makes it so enjoyable to read. He writes compelling dialogue and creates vivid worlds that are a joy to delve into. While expertly weaving plot elements, Jackson simultaneously gives each character a clear agency that gives purpose to their actions and goals.

In most ways, City of Blades is an excellent sequel. It's not just a retread of the first book. It builds and expands on themes we saw before, changes the setting, spotlights different characters, dials down the melodrama, and turns up the mystery. It did not really feel like the middle book of a trilogy, however. Each book is largely self-contained, with few hints towards a larger, trilogy-spanning story at play. In a sense, each book has been a character-study of strong female heroines who do battle against separate world-dooming forces. It's a structure that works and I am very much looking forward to the conclusion of the trilogy coming next year.

★★★★½ out of 5

This book hurts.

At first, I was disappointed that the main character shifts from Shara (whom I adored) to Turyin Mulaghesh (who was fine but not Shara). Then I realized exactly how few books are written from the perspective of an over fifty, black, female, one-armed war general, and I got over it. Mulaghesh's perspective is not like anything I've ever read before, and that alone makes this book a great one.

City of Stairs was a book about Diplomacy, about secret wars and manipulation and cultural absorption. It was about how conquerors and conquered moved on after the wars had been one. City of Blades is about war in a much more raw and primal sense. It does not sugar-coat, it does not pull punches, and it does not hide the horrific acts humans commit under the conditions of war. It's about soldiers as human beings instead of pawns. It's about living with yourself after doing wrong things for what seemed like right reasons at the time but who can be sure. It's about how society treats its veterans when they are of no more use to us. In short, it's an extremely timely book that a lot of people would benefit to read before they cast more stones.

At times, it actually gets too bloody for me, which is unusual because generally I can self-censor the gore down to an acceptable level for my stomach. Maybe I've just been watching too much Game of Thrones, but I had difficulty not imagining a lot of the more vivid descriptions in here. Bennett has a visceral tone in this book that I don't remember from Stairs. Maybe it has to do with Mulaghesh being so much more raw a character than Shara.

I read an article the other day about non-gender roled societies in fantasy and how few of them there actually are. The cultures in this series all value people on their merits rather than their gender. There are major female characters and throwaway female characters, female guards and soldiers, and a female engineering head (who happens to be Sigrud's daughter and amazing). A lot of bit parts that would normally be painted as stereotypically male are given to women which adds a normalcy to the idea that so much fantasy literature lacks. There are also at least three distinct races in the books and numerous nationalities. Culture clash was a theme in Stairs and it is continued here through the violent, death-obsessed culture of Voortyashtan.

The themes are not as much about religion in this book (though Voortya and her followers provide an epic backdrop to the events) but more about the humans and the reasons and ways we wage war. It's a remarkable book, and it hurt me page after page in a way few books do. That's a good thing, I think.

Executive Summary: The sequel I wasn't sure I wanted turned out to be the best read of the year so far.Full ReviewBefore my book club did a read of [b:City of Stairs 20174424 City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) Robert Jackson Bennett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394545220s/20174424.jpg 28030792] a year and a half ago, I had not heard of [a:Robert Jackson Bennett 2916869 Robert Jackson Bennett https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1328633063p2/2916869.jpg]. It ended up being one of my favorite reads of 2014.Not only was it well written and engrossing, but it was a stand alone! Who does that? No one anymore it seems like. While the world Mr. Bennett built was fascinating and large enough to accommodate many stories, I didn't feel I needed another one.So when I found out he was going to be writing a sequel to it after all, I was apprehensive. Would riding the popularity of the first book lessen it? If an author writes a book as a stand alone, would a sequel he never intended to write be any good? In this case, the answer is it turns out to be even better. At least for me.I found Mulaghesh to be an excellent supporting character in the first book. I was intrigued by the idea of her being the protagonist. Of course it didn't hurt that the rumor was we'd get more of Sigurd as well. The change of protagonist and location made this book feel mostly like another stand alone story set in the same world. However, unlike the first book, I don't think you can just pick this up on it's own. It still builds on the foundation of the first book, while largely being it's own thing. Also, unlike the first book, it does a lot more to set up another book which looks to be on the way sometime next year.I found the city Voortyashtan just as fascinating as Bulikov, while being completely different. [b:City of Stairs 20174424 City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) Robert Jackson Bennett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394545220s/20174424.jpg 28030792] hints at a larger world of fallen cities built by vanquished deities, and this book shows us just another small part of that.I really enjoyed most of the new characters, but I especially liked Signe. She was a good compliment and contrast to Mulaghesh. Both are smart, capable and determined, but Signe is much more an intellectual. It helped (though not enough) to offset the lack of Shara.This was one of those books I had a hard time putting down, and would have read it far faster if “real life” hadn't kept conspiring to take up my reading time. It's for that reason I ended up giving it a very rare 5 stars. My typical criteria for 5 star books are those I can't put down and stay with me when I do. This book definitely fit that. It's the sequel I didn't know I wanted. Now I just hope that Mr. Bennett can pull it off again with a third novel, because after this book, I definitely want another.

Yess! The main character is a bitter and angry middle-aged woman. I want more of those in fantasy.

City Of Blades follow General Mulaghesh who's been pulled out of retirement for one final mission. I love Bennett's writing. I love his characters. (I love/hate that Bennett broke my heart terribly with this one.)

I love this book almost as much as City Of Stairs. (Maybe it's a 4.5*).

Pros: brilliant world-building, fascinating characters, intricate plot, thought provoking

Cons:

Prime Minister Shara Komayd calls General Mulaghesh out of retirement to ostensibly do a ‘vacation tour' in order to keep her pension. In reality, she's being sent to check out a mysterious metal discovered in Voortyashtan that has potentially Divine qualities, and the disappearance of the last operative who was sent to investigate it. Voortayshtan's harbour is currently being cleared out by a company from the United Dreyling States, who need this contract to keep their struggling economy afloat. Meanwhile, the commander of the military base there, a man Mulaghesh served under during the Summer of Black Rivers, has to navigate through local tribal politics. Then a grisly murder takes place.

This novel is set several years after The City of Stairs, but while some characters overlap, you don't have to have read the first book to understand and enjoy this one (though the first book was absolutely brilliant, so you really should read it). You're told in broad strokes what Shara's been up to in the intervening years, but this is really Mulaghesh's story. Sigrud becomes a big player later in the book, but again, nothing from the first book is required to understand this story or the characters.

A LOT happens in this book. There are numerous plots interwoven, and they're all fascinating. The world itself is wonderfully real. The politics are complex - in every nation - the characters are products of their lands, cultures, families, and pasts - especially their regrets.

Mulaghesh is a wonderful protagonist, and not one seen very often. She's an older woman, one who's had a hard life and who understand the difficult choices made in war. She curses, she drinks, she smokes cigarillos and she's forthright and honest. She's also quite clever, figuring out several difficult mysteries. And she has nightmares about the time she served and the things she did during her years of service.

Signe, in command of the harbour reconstruction, is also a great character, dedicated to her job and helping her nation rise above its recent past of piracy. She's another hard and clever woman, but very different from Mulaghesh. She's also had a difficult life, but has chosen to use her time to make a better future for everyone.

It's great seeing non-European based fantasy. This book is engrossing and will make you think about war, soldiers, politics and more.

After reading the excellent Foundryside, the start of a new trilogy the author has started, I decided I needed to read more by this author. I had read the first book in the Divine Cities, City of Stairs back in 2015, and it was good, so I decided to continue with that one first.

This one begins with the one-handed semi-retired General Turyin Mulaghesh. She's a tough one and an interesting character to follow. Shara Komayd (the main character from the first book) sends her to the city of Voortyashtan to investigate the disappearance of a ministry operative. Let's just say she finds out some exceedingly strange things. And we'll eventually reconnect with Sigrud, a Dreyling northerner who played a big part in the first book. He is also a very fun character, i.e. exceedingly dangerous. This well-written story held my interest during the set-up and then starts ramping up big developments about halfway through. I'm moving book three up a bit in my TBR pile.

In the normal course of things, I go into a book knowing whether or not it is part of a series. It???s rather like ensuring I know what I get into before I embark on a relationship (platonic or otherwise): I am, after all, about to invest a significant amount of time and emotion into something, and I want to make sure the investment is worth the trouble. And most of the time, this works: I know whether or not a book is part of a series, and I can prepare myself to either drop the whole thing if the first book does not satisfy me, or commit to the long haul if it does.

However, this does not always work. Sometimes a book will start out as a standalone, and then I find out later that the author, for some reason, has decided to expand it into a series. Decisions like these tend to unnerve me, especially if the original work ends tidily enough. I ask myself: how else is the author going to expand this story? What other threads were left untied? How could the author possibly improve on perfection?

As it turns out, it all depends on the author. Some authors fail miserably, while others succeed immensely. Fortunately, Robert Jackson Bennett belongs to the latter group, as he shows in City of Blades, the sequel to City of Stairs.

City of Blades takes place several months after the conclusion of City of Stairs. The political landscape of Saypur has changed immensely since Ashara Komayd returned to Ghaladesh, but General Turyin Mulaghesh wants nothing of it. Now retired, she lives on the island of Javrat, as far away from Saypuri politics as possible. However, when a Saypuri secret agent goes missing in the Continental city of Voortyashtan, Shara pulls Mulaghesh out of retirement to track the missing agent down. When Mulaghesh arrives in Voortyashtan, however, she finds out that there are more - and possibly bigger - problems than just tracking down a missing secret agent: problems that lie buried in the city???s past, when it was the home and domain of Voortya, Divinity of war, destruction, and death.

One of the things I enjoy the most about City of Blades is how Bennett is able to take some very large themes and build an engaging and thrilling story around them - something that also occurs in City of Stairs. City of Stairs asks questions about the nature of history, history-making, and truth. City of Blades, on the other hand, asks questions about war: what it means, why it happens, and what happens to those on either side of the conflict.

In choosing to tackle war, however, Bennett avoids glorifying it, and instead depicts its very worst aspects: the blood and the pain and the brutal conditions, yes, but above all the psychological trauma that it causes to those who participate in it, both combatant and civilian. He does his best to tear down the idea that war is noble, instead choosing to call it what it is: murder on a mass scale. The idea is best summarised in the following excerpt:

???Your rulers and their propaganda have sold you this watered-down conceit of war, of a warrior yoked to the whims of civilisation. Yet for all their self-professed civility, your rulers will gladly spend a soldier???s life to aid their posturing, to keep the cost of a crude good low. They will send the children of others off to die and only think upon it later to grandly and loudly memorialise them, lauding their great sacrifices. Civilisation is but the adoption of this cowardly method of murder.???

It is this take on war that makes this book rather difficult to read - not conceptually, but emotionally and psychologically, particularly for readers who have actually been caught up in war, whether as combatants or as victims of conflict. Indeed, the excerpt above has resonance in the here and now, with wars of ideology being waged all around the world: not just in the battlefields of the Middle East and the smoking ruins left behind by both Daesh (i.e. ISIS) and Western military forces, but also within supposedly ???peaceful??? countries. Consider the reports of racially-driven police violence, or the hate crimes committed against women and members of the LGBTQIA community. Consider how poverty and corruption work hand-in-hand to prevent communities from improving, instead miring them in an endless cycle of crime and violence. When one really thinks about it, we are all at war, and it is wearing us down - not necessarily physically, perhaps, but psychologically and emotionally.

Of course, the above would not mean anything without a firm grounding in the story itself, and Bennett anchors his grand theme in both his plot and his characters - especially his characters. The best example of this is Mulaghesh, who has, more than any other character in the novel, been shaped by the wars that she fought in and survived. In fact, it is those memories that form the core of her characterisation, as shown in this quote:

?????? Killing echoes inside you. It never goes away. Maybe some who have killed don???t know that they???ve lost something, but they have.???

In City of Stairs it is hinted that Mulaghesh has terrible memories of the Summer of Black Rivers, a war so bad that in the novel, Shara uses the name of the war as a metaphor for a worst-case, near-apocalyptic scenario. Mulaghesh???s particular role in that war is revealed in City of Blades, and it is not pretty. I will not describe it, because to do so would give away a significant portion of the novel, but suffice to say that it describes, in a manner clear to the meanest understanding, that war destroys not only the victims, but also (or perhaps more so) the victors.

Another theme that Bennett includes in the novel is that of parenthood. It might seem odd to talk about parenthood in a novel that is very explicitly about war, but in truth, it is not very odd at all. War propaganda has tended to frame a soldier???s homeland as the ???Motherland??? or ???Fatherland??? in need of protection, and images of parents sending their children off to war, and subsequently celebrating or grieving their return, are equally prevalent. In wartime, mothers are frequently lionised as heroes who give up their own children, their own flesh and blood, for the sake of the nation. It might be said, therefore, that not only is the concept of parenthood closely linked to the concept of war, but is a vital component.

Bennett makes use of this intimate connection throughout City of Blades, again grounding it not just in the plot, but in the characters - and again, specifically, in Mulaghesh. There are moments throughout the novel, but especially in the latter third, when Mulaghesh uses the terms ???kids??? and ???children??? to refer to members of the Saypuri military who are lower-ranked than her. She constantly feels, and expresses, a sense of parental responsibility towards those under her direct command, or even those who are not under her direct command but are lower than her in the hierarchy. Incidentally, this theme is echoed in the Divinity Voortya herself, who is called the ???Great Mother??? at various points throughout the novel.

But again, it must be stated that none of this would work if Bennett was a lesser writer. Through the characters??? internal conflicts, and in their handling of external conflicts, he is able to elaborate upon his themes in a manner that is entertaining without sounding preachy. The reader might laugh at Mulaghesh???s sarcastic comments and foul language, but that laughter is quickly tempered by knowledge of why she is so foul-mouthed, why she is sarcastic. Mulaghesh is Mulaghesh for a reason - for many reasons, and most of them are not merely unpleasant, but utterly heartbreaking.

Overall, City of Blades is an unexpected, but very welcome, sequel. It is still connected to the world and some of the underlying themes elaborated upon in City of Stairs, but it stands very well on its own. It is a brutal book, tackling some very difficult concepts about war, service, sacrifice, and parenthood, but that is why it is a worthy sequel to City of Stairs, a book which itself asks hard questions about faith and truth. I only hope that, if Bennett decides to expand the series, he will continue to address similarly difficult and complex themes.

Overall I enjoyed the book, however I think the first books pacing and story building was a bit better than this one. I feel that the story didn't go as deeply into the plot as it could have and it felt like the discovery + resolution was rushed near the end.

The character building was good and seeing the relationships bloom between characters was rewarding, however again I think this could have been a little more in depth as I didn't feel that any of the relationships really built up to that much depth or changed much.