I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett Series: Founders #2
Published by Del Rey on April 21 2020
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 512
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
The nitty-gritty: Bennett’s complicated magic system dampened some of my enjoyment of this sequel, but the emotional connections between characters and exciting action sequences made up for it.
If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that Robert Jackson Bennett always delivers a complex, entertaining and emotional story, and I’m happy to say that Shorefall has all of those elements in spades. It was also quite slow in spots, strangely enough. I blew through Foundryside a couple of years ago without any issues at all, so I was slightly disappointed that it took me over a week to read this book. I suppose you can blame our current situation on some of that—the fact that my focus isn’t that great these days certainly played a part in my reading speed—but I also found this story to be overly complex at times, maybe unnecessarily so. But despite a few rough spots, there was a lot to love about this book. And for those readers who have not yet read Foundryside, please note there may be some minor spoilers ahead.
The story begins three years after the events of the last book. Sancia, Berenice, Gregor, Orso and their friends have gathered together a bunch of like-minded scrivers who are now working outside of the large merchant houses to create their own plates. They even go so far as to share their creations with each other, something that would never happen in a large merchant house, where scrivings are obsessively guarded. When the story opens, Sancia and her friends are about to pull off a huge but dangerous heist: they’ve figured out a way to steal all of the scrivings of the Michiel merchant complex, and if everything goes as planned, they’ll be able to do it right under the Michiel’s noses.
The heist is a success, but their elation is short-lived when they discover a powerful enemy, a hierophant named Crasedes Magnus, is attempting to be reborn. His appearance in this realm would surely destroy everything Sancia has come to love, and so they set out to prevent him from coming back. Crasedes proves to be nearly unstoppable, but Sancia and her friends have tricks up their sleeves and even more important, they are fiercely determined to protect their way of life at all costs.
Shorefall is packed with heart-stopping action sequences, and our main characters find themselves in a lot of danger. And because of this, the story was a very emotional one. Some of the characters have mysterious pasts, and Bennett reveals a few of those secrets in this book. A lot of the drama occurs within families, and for this reason Shorefall almost had the quality of a Shakespearean tragedy.
I fell in love with the characters in the first book, and Shorefall made me love them even more. We got a glimpse into the relationship between Sancia and Berenice in Foundryside, and in this book that relationship grows even deeper and more complex. Something happens between them later in the story that I can’t reveal, but let’s just say that it was a brilliant idea that will certainly affect their relationship in the next book. The other character who stood out for me was Gregor, who is living with a tragic past that he doesn’t fully understand. Gregor is the most vulnerable of all the characters, and I thought his story line was extremely emotional. We learn much more about his past and parts of it are heartbreaking! The fierce sense of friendship and loyalty these characters feel towards one another is one of the things I love the most about this series, which is evident in the way Sancia and her friends will do anything to save Gregor from his demons.
Bennett has created a unique method of magic in which everyday objects can be “convinced” to behave differently than their intended purpose. Sancia, Berenice, Gregor and the rest are scrivers and create small metal plates with a series of sigils carved into the surface. When the plate is mounted on an object, these combined sigils force the object to act a certain way. For example, the wheels on a carriage can be told that they are actually going down a hill, which convinces the wheels to move on their own. It’s sort of an industrialized way of thinking about computer code, I suppose. I was fascinated with scriving in the first book, but in Shorefall Bennett takes his idea to new levels of complexity, and here is where the story lost me at times. A large part of this book is taken up with talking about scriving and all the miraculous, impossible things it can do, described in excruciating detail, and at times I felt like I was sitting in a college lecture hall, trying to take notes for an upcoming exam.
The biggest disappointment for me, however, was the absence of my favorite character from Foundryside: Clef, a sentient key, who “disappeared” at the end of the book. Some of the best moments of that book were the interactions and snarky dialog between Sancia and Clef, and even though Clef eventually makes an appearance, it was too little too late for me. We do get some humorous moments in this book, but they were few and far between. Shorefall is a much darker story, with higher stakes and some truly terrifying antagonists, and I have to admit I missed the lighter, funnier moments from the first book.
I know you’re thinking, “But Tammy, you gave this four stars! What’s so bad about that?” Well, I fully expected this to be a five-star read and when it didn’t end up that way, I was a little disappointed. But honestly, this is a standout fantasy series, so don’t let a four star review scare you away. Robert Jackson Bennett is one of the most creative and smart writers in the field today, and you simply cannot go wrong by picking up any of his books. Shorefall ends with a wonderful lead-in to book three, and I’m eager to see how Bennett is going to finish up this series.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
I am so dying to start this series!! I think May would be the month for it and I am excited!!
May would be perfect to start this!
Damn that cover is eye-catching! Too bad you were a little disappointed but four stars is still really great. ♥
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Release Promotion: Third a Kiss by Pepper Winters — Review, Excerpt and Giveaway! (INTL)
The cover is wonderful, I agree!
I had to just skim through most of the review (sorry) as I’ve not yet read the first book. But I’m glad to see, even though it might not have worked for you quite the way the first did, that you still enjoyed it. It’s a series I’m looking forward to. I don’t know how the magic system will hit me. I’m finding I’ve read enough magic systems that I sometimes get tired of the constant onslaught of new, complicated systems that require so much explanation intermixed with the narrative and I long for the old days when things were simpler. 🙂 But I also sometimes find myself engrossed by these new systems, so we’ll see.
Yes, I miss simple magic too, lol. Not that I don’t want to learn and work some when I read, but it is nice to simply sink into a good story without having to use your brain all the time;-)
I enjoyed this was as well. It was definitely different than book one. I’m really looking forward to the finale.
Me too, he’s got a lot of elements to resolve and pull together, so it will be interesting to see how that works out:-)
The “excruciating detail” about scriving did rather annoy me in Foundryside, so I’m not exactly happy to learn that here it’s even more invasive, but what you say about the buildup in characterization will certainly balance that out many times over, especially when you mention the darkness hanging over Gregor: the revelation about his past I read in Foundryside was a huge shock and I can’t wait to see how the story progresses.
Thank you so much for a great review!!!! 🙂
maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…THE DOORS OF EDEN, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The sections that involve Gregor and his past were some of my favorites:-) I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
I loved Shorefall with my whole heart, even as I fully acknowledge I didn’t ALWAYS follow what was happening with the magic system. It’s definitely darker than Foundryside, but because I was so in love with the characters from the first time I was just ready to go on that high stakes journey with them. And oh my god Gregor!! My heart!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!
Caitlin G. recently posted…Wyrd and Wonder TBR 2020: Tides of Chaos
Oh I know! Gregor is such a wonderful character, I almost like him more than Sancia, and I LOVE her.
This is a great review, Tammy. I am fascinated to discover the highlights for you of this interesting follow-up to Foundryside:). I preferred this offering as I felt the information about the magic was better handled in this instalment and I LOVED the bit scary antagonist. While I also missed Clef, I enjoyed the plot twist around him and look forward to seeing how this all pans out in the final book!
I agree, lots of twists for him to resolve in the next book, I can’t wait!
Agreed, no Clef = less humor, and that resulted in a slightly less enjoyable book for me, to be honest. I still enjoyed the book a lot, but I also thought he got carried away with the world building here.
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum recently posted…Bookshelf Roundup 04/25/20: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
I’m still very excited for the last book!
What you mentioned between Sancia is Berenice that is impossible to talk about without spoiling was one of my favorite parts too. I thought it was a fantastic idea and very well executed. I enjoyed this one more than you did, but I did take off half a star because I had to wait so long for Clef, lol.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Weekly Recap #152: Week of 4/19 – 4/25
Ha ha, yeah Clef just isn’t the same in this book, even when he makes an appearance.
I do understand your complaint about the magic system getting complicated. There were a few moments I had to reread or gloss over because it was confusing.
Foundryside is one of those books that is just so damn good, the sequel had no chance of living up to it.
Fantastic review!
I agree, I loved everything about Foundryside!
Such a great review, Tammy. I’m getting curious about this series.
Laura Thomas recently posted…What’s New On My Book Shelf #359 and The Sunday Post
It’s really good, Laura:-)
What Mogsy said.I liked this but I didn’t love it as much as the first. I can’t decide whether it’s the absence of Clef, the slowing of the pace by adding too much info or simply that my head is pickled atm. A combination of all three probably. It’s still a great set up for what’s yet to come.
Lynn 😀
Going to skip this one because I haven’t read book 1 but I’m glad you enjoyed it!