City of Stairs

איך התאכזבתי מהספר הזה, והוא היה כל כך מבטיח: סטינג לא ימי-ביניימי, עיר מתפוררת ומלאת סודות ומסתורין שהיא כמו דמות בעצמה, יחסים מורכבים בין הדמויות, ומיליון ביקורות מהללות בגודרידס. מה כבר יכול להשתבש? כשסיימתי אותו הרגשתי personally wronged, לא כי זה היה ספר נורא, אלא כי הוא יכול היה להיות כל כך הרבה יותר טוב.

הרעיון שלו ממש מעניין, והעולם עשיר בפוטנציאל לאימה ולתחושת פלא – נגיד יבשת, אולי אירופה, סגנון מזרח אירופה יותר, ויש לה אלים. רק האלים הם אמיתיים והולכים בין הבריות ובאופן כללי עושים את כל מה שהם רוצים. אז אנשי היבשת חיים להם חיים קסומים, מלאים בחפצים מכושפים ובנסים גדולים וקטנים, ומשעבדים למרותם את כל שאר תושבי העולם. עד שאחת הקולוניות, סאייפור, שנשמעת כמו מנה הודית שממש בא לי לאכול, מתמרדת ואיכשהו מצליחה לשחוט את האלים אחד אחד. פאסט פורוורד כמה עשרות שנים קדימה, והיבשת היא מקום אומלל, אפל, עני ומלא מחלות, והעיר בוליקוב, שהיתה הפנינה הזורחת של היבשת, באופן מילולי נשברה ונקרעה לגזרים יחד המציאות הפלאית של האלים. הכובשים החדשים אוסרים על המקומיים אפילו לדעת על ההיסטוריה שלהם, בחשש שאולי האלים יחזרו, ולכן אולי אין זה מפתיע כשהיסטוריון סאייפורי נרצח באכזריות במשרד של באוניברסיטת בוליקוב.

נשמע נהדר, נכון? לא רק שזה עולם מרתק שמלא באפשרויות, אלא שהעלילה מתחילה בתעלומת רצח, שזה אחד הז'אנרים האהובים עליי ואני תמיד חייבת לדעת מי הרוצח והאם הניחוש שלי נכון, לעזאזל!* אבל פה בערך מסתיים מה שאהבתי בספר.

קודם כל, הדמויות. מהרגע הראשון לא התחברתי לשארה, הדמות הראשית, למרות הדמיון בשמות שלנו. ביליתי איתה כמעט ספר שלם ועדיין לא הבנתי בדיוק מי היא. האם שארה קרה וקלינית ושכלתנית? האם היא רגשנית, אידיאליסטית והמצפן המוסרי של כולם? האם היא תמימה, או אובססיבית בקשר לאלים הישנים? האם היא עייפה מהחיים ומהשירות הארוך וחסר התגמול למדינתה, ורק רוצה לחזור הביתה ולשתות תה? מי יודע. הדבר היחיד שאני יכולה להגיד עליה בוודאות זה שהיא יודעת להכין קארי חבל על הזמן.אבל דמות ראשית שמתאהבים בה זה לא מאסט אם יש דמויות אחרות ניתן להיקשר אליהן. העניינים השתפרו כששארה פגשה את ווהנס, אקס הנעורים שלה, שאולי הוא הומו ואולי לא, אבל הוא בטוח נוהג לצלוע באחוזה המפוארת שלו עם מעיל קטיפה לבן ולהתלונן על משפחתו האריסטוקרטית האיומה. זה מיד פרט על כל מיתרי לבי, והייתי בטוחה שעכשיו אני הולכת להצטרף לצוות קווירי עם יחסים משונים ומורכבים ולפתור תעלומות רצח! כי היה איזה פרופסור שמת, זוכרים. בלי הרבה ספוילרים, זה לא מה שקורה והיחס שוו מקבל הוא המקרה הכי גרוע של bury your gays שראיתי מזה זמן רב. הכתיבה. היא טכנית בסדר, אז לקח לי זמן להבין למה היא מפריעה לי. היא פשוט מרוחקת. נמסר לנו מידע על מה שהדמויות עושות, אבל אנחנו לא מורשים להיכנס אל תוך הראש שלהן, להרגיש יחד איתן בו-זמנית. ישנם תיאורים של המקום, אבל בשום שלב לא נבנה לי דימוי חזק וקוהרנטי של איך שהעיר נראה ומהי התחושה שמתעוררת כשפוסעים ברחובותיה, שזה ממש פשע בספר שבו העיר משחקת תפקיד כל כך חשוב. והכי גרוע – הכתיבה בזמן הווה. אני יודעת שהרבה קוראים שונאים זמן הווה, אבל בחיי שאני לא אחת מהם. אני אוהבת זמן הווה! זה מהיר ומיידי וקריא ומעביר תחושת דחיפות וקשר אוטומטי לדמויות. אני נהנית מזה! גם אני כותבת בזמן הווה! אבל פה זה פשוט לא עבד. הספר הזה צריך היה להיכתב בזמן עבר. נתקעתי על כל משפט שני כי המשפטים פשוט לא החליקו טוב במורד המוח, ואז גיליתי שאני מתרגמת אוטומטית בראש את הכל לזמן עבר. בקשר לעלילה. הספר מנסה להיות כל כך הרבה דברים שונים, שבערך במחצית שלו שכחתי בכלל שהייתה תעלומת רצח ו”הא כן, מה בעצם עם הפרופסור הזה”. זה מתח? אולי ספר ריגול? מחווה ללאבקראפט? ואולי סצנה ענקית ועמוסת ברקים ופיצוצים שכמו נלקחה מסדרת אנימה? בסופו של דבר פשוט לא היה לי אכפת. התעלומה בספר כן נקשרת היטב, הכל הגיוני ולרוב השאלות החשובות יש פתרון הולם, אבל התגליות והטוויסטים לא מתרחשים תוך כדי עלילה, וגם כשכן, אין לזה אימפקט. בשלב מסוים שארה מגיעה למקום שהיה אמור לגרום לה להעלות חום מרוב התרגשות, ולהציף את הקוראים בתחושת פלא אדירה, ושום דבר מזה לא עובר הלאה מהדפים. זה פשוט “כן, טוב, מה השלב הבא?”. הגילוי הכי עצום של הספר נאמר לשארה תוך כדי שיחה בסוף הספר. אני רק יכולה לדמיין איזה אפקט היה לזה אם דמויות (ואולי אפילו כאלו שאכפת לי מהן) היו חופרות ומגלות את הסודות האלו תוך כדי העלילה, ומראות תגובה רגשית ומאבק פנימי כתוצאה מהדברים האלו. פה? פשוט כלום. הכל שטוח, כמו אפיון הדמויות, כמו העלילה, כמו הכתיבה.אז ציפיתי להיסחף לעולם מלא אופל וקסם, ובסופו של דבר סיימתי את הקריאה רק עם מועקה בלב וקרייבינג אדיר לפניר טיקה.__ כפי שיסתבר, אני אצטרך לחכות ל'גדעון התשיעי' כדי לספק את התשוקה הזאת. וכן, הניחוש שלי היה נכון, לעזאזל!
** אבל עם הרבה בשר, אז גם זה לא פרט מועיל עבורי.
*** למישהו יש כיוון?

“The gods are cruel not because they make us work. They are cruel because they let us hope.”

– Anonymous Saypuri quote
City of Stairs is the definition of an amazing, fantastic, awesome, must read book. I can't believe that I had never heard of it until a week ago. What you have here is fantasy at its best – very original, high concept, superb world building involving lots of history and some extremely fascinating characters who will be remembered for a long time.

The world here is composed of two main regions – Continent and Saypur. Continent ruled and oppressed Saypur for centuries with the help of six Divinities ( Yes!!!! Actual Gods 😱) until seventy five years ago, Saypur rose up in rebellion, killed the Gods and became the new oppressor. Bulikov, the capital of the Continent was left almost ruined with poor and destitute people who are now forbidden from even acknowledging their Divine history. But as everyone knows, just because you don't want history to be remembered doesn't mean people have forgotten. Into this city simmering with discontent comes Shara Thivani aka Komayd – best spy of Saypur masquerading as a junior diplomat trying to solve the murder case of her friend/mentor. What starts off as a murder mystery transforms into so much more – an epic fantasy worth the genre.

This book has it all – geopolitics, faith, religious fanaticism, oppression, persecution, slavery, racism, patriotism turned cynicism but also ultimately hope. Shara starts off as a spy trying to find a murderer but stumbles into a much larger conspiracy. She struggles with the realization that most of the history she has studied may be based on lies.

“History, after all, is a story, one that is sometimes wonderful. But one must remember it in full – as things really were – and avoid selective amnesia.”
But what she does next defines her as a good person, compassionate, able to place the greater good of the people above her personal well being. Her giant of a man secretary cum security Sigrud seems like a nonstop killing machine until his transformation towards the end. Knowing his history in the meantime makes it all the more heartening. Mulagesh, the polis governor of Bulikov is an amazingly kick ass military colonel who is fed up with the disastrous policies she is forced to implement and just wants to retire to an island but ultimately makes a choice in the best interest of the people. The remaining characters though appear infrequently are still very important to the narrative and are developed so. On the whole, this is a brilliantly written book that has all the elements I could have asked for. The best part about it though is that in spite of being rich in world building and history, it's also a fast paced entertaining read which will fascinate and thrill any lover of books. All I need to do next is finish the series.

“Humans are strange. The value punishment because they think it means their actions are important – that they are important. You don't get punished for doing something unimportant, after all. They think the whole world was set up to shame and humiliate and punish and tempt them.... It's all about them, them, them, them! The world is full of bad things, hurtful things, but it's still all about them.”

Oh, dear... I feel like the Grinch in Christmas...

I like to have variety in my readings so I picked up this book thinking that it'll make me put in a fantasy-mood... But unfortunately I felt really lost and I couldn't connect with the story.

So, reading everybody else's reviews makes me think that maybe I'm not the best to read high fantasy.

If I recommend this book? Of course I do! It's quite great but only if you are madly in love with the genre.

I received an ARC through BloggingForBooks but this fact did not influence the review.

First things first: This is brilliant. If you like fantasy, you should read this!

RJB has crafted an intriguing world, where once one nation (Bulikov - a kind of Leninist Russia) had gods it could call upon that gave it a hegemony over others. One of its vassals (Saypur - an Indian influenced culture) created a god killing weapon and was able to overthrow the gods and the vassal became the conqueror. This is the starting position - the gods are dead with only small vestiges of them left in an oppressed conquered continent. We enter in a more modern society, kind of steampunk in its feel. Magic is left as mere echoes - reality bent into weird shapes by the vanished gods.

This world is beautiful, mysterious, strange and utterly beguiling. Easily one of the best and most original fantasy settings I have come across. The world building here is phenomenal!

The plot follows the investigation into the murder of a Saypurian academic who was studying the culture and magic of the dead gods. The politics, religion and secrets combine to give an epic rollercoaster of a ride as the city gradually gives up its secrets. The characters are well written and the plot and prose ride along at a very entertaining rate.

One of my top reads of the year and I look forward to delving into the rest of this series!

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

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.

It stands above a sea of mediocre titles, but not by much. The writing is good, the protagonist sympathizable enough, most of the story is interesting, the plot is mostly well exposed.

Just to get this out of the way, I'll start with a thankfully very minor part of the story: the romance scenes.

Shara picked off his final piece. The students around them erupted in a cheer, but she barely heard them. Another of his mind games. “Before you ask, I'll play you again anytime.”
“Well, honestly,” he said cheerfully, “I'd much prefer a fuck.”

When Shara joined him and sat in his lap, as she often did, she felt a soft lump pressing into her lower back.

a homosexual. Still, he claims to love her, and to desire her in the carnal way, because love transcends gender. I don't know if the author meant to be woke, but he did not painted Voh as bisexual by any means. So that whole exchange felt unnecessarily awkward

developed super powers, and went on a god killing spree

Seipur's head of intelligence, Shara's aunt Vinia, decided to kill her agent, the one whose murder Shara is investigating, because he discovered something preposterous! Her bloodline was tainted by divine blood in her, many hundreds years ago. It was diluted by so many generations that it didn't manifest as anything at all. And if that somehow got public, the Continentals, who were ruled under Seipur's thumb, would revolt and... what? Overthrow them? They already hate them as much as it is possible. It was painted as both a national crisis and a personal one for aunt Vinia. I could barely accept the latter, but not at all the first one

DRAGGING, at first this was what I felt as the story started, and here I thought there were so many 5 stars from goodreads, so read along I did.......................................................................

Wow!!!!!!!! When you start the good parts it jumps at you (clap clap clap Mr. Bennett!!! Those five stars were not flukes), this is a story of the waning of Magic and the start of Science, at first those unknown tidbits(Blink, The Divinities, the Divine)were a drag because you kept hinting and hinting and nothing..........nothing happened, and your choice of protagonist Shara Thivani a Diplomat(?????)
and her secretary Sigurd(now him I like, violent let the fist do the talking type), and your antagonist was the uhhhhh..........dead gods or no, humans who love the dead gods or wait, the arrrggghhhhhh........well that was what I felt until the slow unraveling of the story, who the Divinities are, the Divine, the miracle.......all of these!!!!!! What a revelation(honestly never has a book bamboozled me so.................

I am now a certified Bennettic.......keep them coming!!!!! Ohhhhh I see the trilogy was done!!! Ok then Book two here I come!!!!

O carte bine scrisă, dar care nu m-a prins pe mine 1. pentru că are o doză de policier și alta de spionaj, iar pe mine mă plictisesc ambele de fiecare dată (dacă vă plac, merită citită) si 2. nu am reușit să rezonez deloc cu protagonista. E mai potrivita publicului feminin. Pe mine cartea pur și simplu nu a reușit să mă captiveze, sorry.

This book is excellent. Really excellent. It is very hard to explain the nature of the story, mainly because it manages to avoid the simplistic target audience/genre boxes that we are used to. It's fun. It is funny. It is deeply thought provoking while at the same time managing to be a thoroughly enjoyable story with a three dimensional and very human primary character. The plot is driven by a murder investigation not unlike an Agatha Christie novel, though the setting is a complex one borrowing elements from both fantasy and the more familiar 1920s. Every element is used carefully and with purpose. This is not a simple detective novel, fantasy adventure, or philosophical text – but at the conclusion I felt as if I'd enjoyed the greatest Hollywood blockbuster while seriously considering the meaning of life and my place in the universe...oh, and you'll have to read the book to find out “whodunit” (clue: not the butler).

4.5 out of 5 – see this review and others here.

Summary: Bulikov once housed six divinities who enacted miracles upon the city and who were revered by the Continentals, the local populace. The Saypuri, the enslaved and oppressed minority group, were able to topple the gods and shift the balance of power in Bulikov. Now, hundreds of years later, certain Continentals seek to restore things to the way they once were through any means necessary.
Reminiscent of: Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere; the setting of Elantris, the history and class struggle of the Mistborn novels, the industrial elements of The Alloy of Law, politics and plot elements of The Traitor Baru Cormorant.

Review: I strongly considered giving up on this novel at several points in the early going. I was thrown off by the mix of modern and ancient elements and also put off by the lack of nuance in the discussion of one character's forbidden sexuality. Thankfully, I pushed on after reading numerous glowing reviews that promised big payoffs for all the loose threads presented in the beginning chapters.

Many of the reviews I had read complained about the heavy emphasis on history in this novel, but every motivation of each group of characters was rooted in the rich history of Bulikov. Without it, you're left with no context for the conflicts that occur amongst the warring factions. There was enough action blended with the politics and history to be engaging to me as a reader.

Overall, I really enjoyed Bennett's writing style. It was not flowery and there was nary an “SAT word” to be found, but everything was smoothly written and flowed very nicely. The story was intricately plotted, featured likable characters, and had an ending that felt complete and satisfying. I look forward to picking up the sequel, City of Blades, in the near future.

This book was a bit of a slow starter, but it is well worth getting through the first couple of chapters for the brilliant exploration of race, religion, culture, and SPOONS!

I feel like shouting “Spoons! You're spoons!” at people randomly on the street though.

I should start by talking about the story, I suppose. The premise of the world is one of my favorites, “What if God not only existed, but walked among us as undisputed fact?” Except in this case it's “Gods” and by the way their dead now and everything they ever built which this society depended on for day to day life disappeared along with them. This is a society not only built around the worship of its deities but on regular, dependable, deity-powered miracles, deity-constructed buildings, and deity-provided sustenance.

That, however, is half the story. Because this society also had deity-approved slavery, and that just never ends well. This novel tells the story of Shara Komayd, a member of the formerly enslaved Saypuri, now an independent nation occupying the Continent. Shara and her Viking manservant, Sigrud, are investigating the death of a professor of continental studies when everything around her goes to hell and she ends up investigating deeper into the dead, (or in some cases missing) divinities than she ever expected.

It's a good story, and well worth the read just for a the mystical intrigue Bennett creates.

Step back a bit, though, and let's appreciate the world for the unique diversity represented.
1. A culture occupied by former slaves, both of whom now exist as morally questionable entities.
2. A sincere, honest, and utterly platonic friendship between a woman and a man.
3. Women in just about every position of power, and this is accepted among pretty much everyone except one set of old school devouts.
4. A bisexual male character honest about his own inclinations and vocal about what growing up in oppressive cultures does to a person.
5. 6 different religions plus Saypur's lack thereof, each of which has distinct benefits and flaws for believers and non-believers alike. Religion is certainly not given the best rap in this story, but nor is it completely vilified. In the end, I found the central message to be one in near perfect complement to my own philosophy. I won't spoil that for anyone here, but I think it's an important perspective in our world today. Certainly someone with extremely devout religious beliefs might be offended by this book, especially if they feel their own system present in Kolkashtani (which I believe draws some of the less palatable elements from a variety of sources), but I hope most of them could also see how Bennett uses this to explore the idea of belief and religion rather than condemn either of these things.

City of Stairs is not a light read (except the bit about the spoons which I admit is still my favorite moment), but it is definitely a worthwhile one.

For the first few months of the year I have been wanting to dig into a fantasy ass fantasy book. I tried digging through TikTok, reading every fantasy list I could, and nothing quite struck my fancy. And the cover of this book didn't give me the vibes I was looking for. The premise sounded interested enough, a world where gods are real but the gods are gone.

What I wasn't expecting, besides it being the exact type of fantasy I was looking for, it would have elements of a fun detective story, this taught political landscape while laying the foundation of more to come, how religion functions even if it feels like it comes down to a 102 course the journey there is where the joy is.

There are other moments where the book turns to horror or action. Bennett dabbles into what he can within this world. Fully in love with this thing.

This came up on my radar as being something to fill in the interminable gap between Stormlight Archive installations. Then a Goodreads friend read it and enjoyed it. And the clincher was the book being picked as the June 2015 Sword and Laser pick (which have been mostly miss-and-miss for me the past twelve months, either I've read them or I've been entirely uninterested.)Turns out, aside from the main story (and kind of the point of the main story, no spoilers), this book is full of both history and religion and I've realised that I love that in a fantasy novel (I love that in real life, so it's hardly a surprise).It was a fun and enjoyable read, but I doubt I'll pick up [b:City of Blades 23909755 City of Blades (City of Stairs, #2) Robert Jackson Bennett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1426255519s/23909755.jpg 43516764]. This works quite nicely as a stand-alone.

This is a damn good book.

If you've ever thought, “I'm not really into ___ books”, pick this up anyway and let it change your mind about what kind of books you love. You will be introduced to people you want to know well - many of them - and you will come to deeply care for each one.

Oh! And the action! During moments of exceptional tension, I heard music of the “perfect fifth” variety. Run, run and get this book now!

This is top notch stuff!!!
The worldbuilding is spectacular. The characters are so well done, beautifully broken and complex.

I don't know how Bennett does it, but I found myself very invested in the political intrigue of City of Stairs. That is quite the feat.

I will let this simmer for a while before diving into the sequel.

Dropped at 17%, because it was just so goddamn annoying. Seriously, every character in this fucking book is just so unpleasant, everything drags, it's just... not a pleasant read to me. People seem to adore it, which is nice, but there is no way I'm wasting time on a book that makes me not want to read. City of Stairs is not worth me going into yet another slump.

I took the stairs to fuck right off from this city.

I received a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads. This book started off slow for me, but I am so glad I stuck with it! It was a great book. Shara Thivani is sent to Bulikov to investigate the death of her friend and colleague. She finds so much more than the reason behind his death. The world-building is amazing. After I got used to the different names and started to get into the story, I couldn't put it down. Shara and Mulaghesh are great characters, but I have to say that Sigrud is my favorite! I would recommend this book to everyone. I hope their is more to come.

Executive Summary: Looks like I'll be adding to all the hype. This is definitely one of the better books I've read this year. Only a few minor issues. 4.5 stars.Full ReviewThe two most hyped books this fall (at least among my circle of friends) was this book and [b:The Mirror Empire 20646731 The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, #1) Kameron Hurley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1399920947s/20646731.jpg 39939919]. After being a bit let down by Mirror Empire, I was wary of this one. I almost didn't read it. I'm glad that I did.Rob gets on the bandwagonI don't know where to start. This book is well written. Part mystery, part fantasy, with some pretty good humor. More “urban” fantasy than traditional fantasy, or maybe this could be considered “flintlock”. The subgenre doesn't really matter too much though. It's more important to get across that this book feels very fresh and pretty light on fantasy tropes.Mr. Bennett paints a rich and deep world, especially for a stand alone book of only 450 pages. The little bits of text from various fictional books really helped to flush things out in a short amount of text. And unlike Malazan these were cryptic entries that really only make sense to a rereader, but were at worst something to file away for later in the book, but usually for later in that chapter.And if world building doesn't do much for you, then there are the characters. The main character, Shara, is a 30 something intelligent women who uses his brains rather than a weapon to do most of her fighting. However when violence is called for her “secretary”, Sigrud is there to handle it. In many ways Sigrud almost steals the show, but that's really just because he like a few of the other supporting characters are so strong.And if characters and cool world building aren't enough, there is a pretty interesting “magic” system, that's tied in well with the aforementioned world building.The last thing I want these days is another series to read. This book is definitely stand alone, but I would totally read another book set in this world, and it sounds like I may get that. I had never heard of Mr. Bennett before this book, but I'll definitely be looking into some of his work. Highly recommended.