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Loading... Locklands (2022)by Robert Jackson Bennett
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  Alexandra_book_life | Apr 23, 2024 |   I very much enjoyed Bennett’s previous Divine Cities trilogy; this is a different fantasy world, but one where magic and machinery intersect according to a series of complex rules. So often in books like this, worldbuilding stops at the point where the writer needs it to in order to drive the plot; I really don’t get that sense here, I feel that the writer is playing fair with us all the way through, and the barriers that the characters face because of how the world has been created don’t seem artificial. There’s also a good spectrum of emotional engagement, romance, parent-child dynamics, deep and committed friendships; and Bennett’s not afraid to kill off important characters as he goes. And the sense of place is very well realised, whether it’s a cityscape, a blasted heath or a vast natural fortress. (  ) nwhyte | Dec 17, 2023 |  ) decaturmamaof2 | Nov 22, 2023 | The reason this book and series only gets three stars from me is that there is very little character development from the opening page in book one to the closing page in book 3. Because of this, all the other wonderful work Bennett has done just falls flat. I'm not even a little emotionally invested in any of the characters and I know little to nothing about them. In fact, by the end of this book, the character I thought had the most depth and whose story I was a little invested in was Clef. Probably not the author's intent. That said, if you don't care about character depth and LOVE the story and magic and want a wildly entertaining read, this series is definitely for you! But if you're like me and you need to slip into your characters and feel all the things, you should probably pass. (  ) BreePye | Oct 6, 2023 | I received a digital review copy of this book from Del Rey and purchased a copy of the audiobook. (  ) Carolesrandomlife | Jan 5, 2023 | no reviews | add a review
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"A god wages war-using all of humanity as its pawns-in the unforgettable conclusion to the Founders trilogy. Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against plenty of long odds in the past. But the war they're fighting now is one even they can't win. This time, they're not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe-a ghost in the machine that uses the magic of scriving to possess and control not just objects, but human minds. To fight it, they've used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army-a society-that's like nothing humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they've freed a handful of their enemy's hosts from servitude, even brought down some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on-implacable. Unstoppable. Now, as their opponent closes in on its true prize-an ancient doorway, long buried, that leads to the chambers at the center of creation itself-Sancia and her friends glimpse a chance at reaching it first, and with it, a last desperate opportunity to stop this unbeatable foe. But to do so, they'll have to unlock the centuries-old mystery of scriving's origins, embark on a desperate mission into the heart of their enemy's power, and pull off the most daring heist they've ever attempted. And as if that weren't enough, their adversary might just have a spy in their ranks-and a last trick up its sleeve"-- No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.7)
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Anyway. I couldn’t quite remember what happened at the end of book 2 (a bad sign), but I got my bearings quickly (a good sign). Eight years have passed, the characters are still battling the new enemy from Shorefall. It was cool to see Berenice as a great general – but why on earth does her team keep addressing her as “Capo”? Yes, sure, the word might not mean the same thing in this universe as in ours, but I jumped every time it appeared on the page and I imagined Berenice as a mafia boss, lol. Sorry, I digress.
The mind magic is wondrous, I liked what RJB did here – a new kind of society and a different way of being human. The “cadences” are awesome, and I wish all these ideas had been explored deeper. They got lost in the action and dark places, though.
Naturally, we are on a mission to save the world.
“But there is no dancing through a monsoon, my love.”
Does it make sense when I say that the plot did not bore me, but the endless action did? The book is almost 550 pages long, and I felt like celebrating when I got to page 300. The characters run, hide, shoot at things, use magic, things go awry, things go awry again, someone has a new desperate plan. Repeat. There is lot of screaming as well, I lost count of “oh no no no oh god no no no’s”. I should have had a drinking game with this, really. Also, the dialogues and the characters’ reactions to events seemed very YA. I grew tired of them all.
Crasedes, the villain from book 2, makes things more exciting when he appears. (It’s “the enemy of my enemy” trope.) He is too entertaining at times, so that the I felt guilty about having fun, considering what happened in the previous book. A false note, I’d say.
Clef’s and Crasedes’ backstory, when it was completely revealed, was interesting and emotional. Yet this got lost in the action too, so it wasn’t interesting and emotional enough.
I liked the epilogue!
P.S. I am still looking forward to reading more books by Robert Jackson Bennett :) (