City of Stairs is a beautiful, cerebral fantasy that tackles questions of war, hatred, power, and the nature of divinity. These questions play out amidst the backdrop of Bulikov, the titular City of Stairs. This setting is incredibly well developed, evoking eastern European or perhaps Anatolian analogs. All of these elements swirl together to create something truly unique.

If we consider the big three of fantasy fiction to be setting, characters, and plot then City of Stairs excels in all three. The setting is interesting, unique, and evocative. Bulikov is a city that is literally broken in addition to being occupied and metaphorically broken. Reality itself behaves oddly. There is a certain ache to what the city has lost. There is plenty of world building beyond Bulikov as well. The relations between Saypur and the Continent are believable and well-drawn. There are moments where you clearly feel the hatred between the two. This is all to say nothing of the magic system in this novel, which manages to be unique and mysterious all at once. The setting isn’t the only thing that shines. The characters are amazingly engaging. Shara and Sigrud are probably going to go down as two of my favorite fantasy characters. I am particularly impressed by Shara’s character arch and the way that she grows through her experiences in this novel. The setting and characters are tied together incredibly well by a plot that keeps the suspense high until the end. It’s true that the plot gets off to a slow start, but after the half way point things really began to click for me. The ending was second to none.

Obviously, I enjoyed City of Stairs immensely. This will be shocking to those who know me because City of Stairs is written in the so-called narrative present. I hate—no, not strong enough, I loathe—the narrative present. I find it to be an affront to good story telling and linguistic convention. Add on top of this that it makes your novel sound like it was written for a six-year-old learning to read Dr. Seuess and…well…frankly I’m surprised that I kept reading. Obviously, plenty of people disagree with my take on using present tense. This is absolutely a personal preference issue. For me, while the plot was ramping up during the first third of the book, I was getting kicked out of the story often. This was frustrating. There were also one or two spots when I felt like Shara didn’t quite act in character. One instance, in particular, leads to her making a fairly naïve/stupid decision that is very useful for moving the plot along but didn’t quite feel natural to me.

Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs is a wonderful and engaging read. If I can say that even though it’s written in the present tense then it really must be exceptional. Not only is it a great story, but like so many truly great stories, it forces us to think. 4/5 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