City of blades

When you thoroughly enjoy a book, it can be daunting to pick up the sequel. City of Stairs was a wonderful novel. I hoped City of Blades would live up to it. I can happily say that it does more than that. If anything, I think City of Blades may exceed its predecessor. Robert Jackson Bennett has once again given us a beautiful, challenging read. City of Blades is a novel that makes you think, makes you process.

Much like in the first novel, this one excels in each of the big three. The setting has depth and beauty to it. While some of the mystery that made the setting so fascinating in the first novel has worn off—or, rather, been fleshed out and therefore no longer mysterious—the world we experience is still extremely well-crafted. Voortyashtan is nothing like Bulikov, but the underlying mythos of the Continent continues to intrigue. Not only do we have a tremendous setting for the book, but the characters are possibly even more well drawn than in the first book. Mulaghesh, a side character in City of Stairs now takes center stage as our main viewpoint character. We learn a great deal more about her background, this makes her incredibly relatable. We understand her more and—for me, at least—we empathize in some very real ways with what she has been through, her sense of failure and loss. It’s powerful, emotional writing here. Likewise, the plot is engaging. Much like in the first novel, the plot has large elements of mystery and investigation to it. But I felt like there was less downtime here. The action started sooner and continued at a more even clip. I think Robert Jackson Bennett has definitely improved.

My largest criticism of City of Stairs was that it was written in the narrative present. City of Blades doesn’t deviate from this. I didn’t expect it to, but I continue to dislike the narrative present. Even though I began this book less than a week after finishing City of Stairs I was still thrown out of the story multiple times because of odd turns of phrase caused by trying to shoehorn a narrative entirely into the present tense. There were also one or two times when the action moved so quickly, or a reveal came from a little out of left field, that I was left having to read paragraphs again to try to catch up. This may have more to do with me than the book, but I think the prose could have been tightened up a little to avoid this. In the end, not major issues. If you can get past the narrative present this book is sure to please.

I think this book is great. It’s hard for a sequel to entirely live up to expectations, but City of Blades does so admirably. I look forward to finishing the trilogy in the near future—even if it does mean suffering through a third book written in the present tense. 4.2/5 stars.

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – I liked it, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing

I was wondering where this would go after the first book. An excellent adventure with some new and some old characters.