400 pages
Published Aug. 8, 2019 by Jo Fletcher Books.
A thief in a city controlled by industrialized magic joins forces with a rare honest police officer to stop an ancient evil ritual that endangers thousands of lives.
Main character becomes almost god-like through the narrative but somehow dwelled in obscurity for years before. Some set piece scenes were out of place and others abbreviated.
I mainly read this through the lens of a fan of "City of Stairs" and its sequels.
The magic system here didn't grab me as much as the one in Bennett's "Divine Cities" books. The book telegraphs that the series it starts may turn into political thriller closer to the City books, but this first installment is mainly about the adventures of a small band of extraordinary characters.
The main character Sancia is a heroic thief with a tragic past. There are several romantic-ish subplots, but no sex to speak of. The fact that Sancia can't touch other humans might have something to do with that
The beginning was a touch rocky and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this, but the characters are engaging and the magic system is fascinating. Has anyone else written a secondary world fantasy novel about the singularity?
By halfway in I was becoming increasingly upset that I can’t preorder the next book yet.
