The Founders Trilogy
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted July 17, 2018
Edits & Addenda on April 9, 2020 & June 27, 2022
Book 1: Foundryside / 2. Shorefall / 3. Locklands
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I received a free e-book of Foundryside from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. It will be released in a little over a month, August 21, 2018. In the beginning, I had some reservations about the plot, particularly the magic system introduced. I was thinking I would give this page the title of this book only, and not worry about the sequels. By the end, I was hoping the second book was ready to read right away. What sold me were the characters and many exciting action sequences. I am very anxious to read the sequels.
UPDATE: Foundryside was a finalist for British Fantasy, Locus, and Dragon awards.
The majority of the action takes place in the city of Tevanne, in the country of Durazzo. The city is comprised of various districts, including Foundryside, the Commons, Old Ditch, and the Greens, as well as four different campos, the walled enclaves of the merchant houses. Each of the houses produces goods utilizing proprietary sigillums, sigils engraved or painted on devices (rigs), which embues them with specific properties of action. These sigils are based on discoveries from the ancient Occidentals, believed to have achieved god-like status from their use of the sigils, which supposedly derive from the basic laws of physics. The 'scriving' on a rig convinces the object it has properties not inherent in its physical form, such as inducing motion in carriages. Each scriving gets its power from 'lexicons' maintained by the merchant house that produced it. Visualize it like a computer's hard-drive, or maybe more like a remote server, without which its systems won't operate. Lexicons contain multiple sigillums, to power multiple scrived devices, and each lexicon has a limited range of effect. Lexicons used by the military are smaller and portable, those that power city systems have to be larger, or else multiple lexicons in various locations are used. One particular effect, apparently abandoned by mutual agreement between the houses, is that of manipulating gravity, although it becomes clear later that at least one house continued their experiments, possibly based on secret discoveries of unique sigillums. Another (supposedly) abandoned avenue of research was that of scriving people. All of this might sound like too much information, but I felt it necessary to make a point. Magic in fantasy can do anything, it is not limited by logic, only limited by the author's (and reader's) imagination. You do need to undertand the 'magic' here, but all of that would be for nought if it wasn't for the interesting characters and what they do within this cultural system.
The main character is Sancia Grado, a former plantation slave who escaped and came to Tevanne some three years prior to the main action. She is a master thief, capable of surreptitious movement and infiltration, enabled by her own scrived rig...herself. She is a product of experimentation done on the plantation, their only successful attempt to scrive a human being, by implanting a scrived metal plate in her head. She has to refrain from touching anyone else, and normally is fully clothed, head to foot, in heavy garments and gloves. Whenever she touches an object, a floor, door, or wall, she can sense its entire composition, including any other object it touches. It enables her to sense any weakness in the structure, the easiest path of ingress or egress. She also has the ability to sense when she is near a scrived rig, and can actually 'hear' the sigillums, although only murmurs, not their specific instructions to the device. Even that changes with her latest acquisition, a golden key she was paid to steal from a safe in the waterfront dock office. She got her instructions from her fence, Sark, but she doesn't know who his client is. She hopes the payment for the job will enable her to pay a physiquére to remove the plate from her head, to become 'normal' again. But her fence is killed, and she is on the run from unknown people, who exhibit powers and devices she doesn't understand. Along the way she acquires several allies, including some she would have previously avoided at all costs. The mystery is which of the merchant houses is involved, or whether it may be a conspiracy between two or more of them, who to suspect, who to trust. Sancia is out of her element within the campos, but her unique abilities, and her inherent intelligence, may enable her to outwit them all. That, and of course the golden key that talks to her. 'He' says his name is Clef, and for a time she thinks of him as the only friend she's ever had.
One merchant house falls, but Foundryside Limited hopes to take its place. The series derives its collective title from those who have created a merchant house. The Founder of Foundryside Limited is Orso Ignacio, former chief scriver for Dandalo Chartered, and before that with House Candiano, so he knows all their sigillums as well as some he created on his own. As accomplished as he is, he may eventually be overshadowed by his assistant Berenice, who was able to recreate the anti-gravity sigillums Sancia had witnessed, enabling her to attack their opponents to win the day. But only the day, the future is still uncertain. Some foes are vanquished, others are poised to rise, including one who may be an ancient Occidental hierophant ressurrected. Instead of being rid of her curse, Sancia's abilities are enhanced even more, but I won't detail that, except to say the book's tagline says a lot. "The world's a machine. She's the wrench."
Recommended. I gave this 4 stars on Goodreads. While some elements might warrant a slightly higher score, others would knock it down a notch. There are a few minor inconsistencies in the way the scrived devices are described. For instance, experiments into gravity manipulation had been proscribed, and yet what enabled the floating lights to work? Too soon to say if this will equal or surpass Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy, but it is encouraging that the conclusion of that series was the best.
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Posted April 9, 2020
Once again I was lucky in getting an advance e-book from Net Galley. Shorefall will be published in about two weeks, April 21. It took longer to read than it should, mainly because with so many other things on my mind these days it's hard for me to focus. I had also intended to re-read the first book, but I'm way behind in other reading. I'm convinced I missed, or misinterpreted, several clues and revelations, as well as having vague memories of the conclusion of Foundryside. I had expected the action to pick up almost immediately after that, instead it has been three years. Sancia continues her association with Orso and Berenice, their work benefiting from her advanced abilities. In addition to being able to sense a scrived rig, she can also 'talk' to the rig, convince it to change its properties and rules, usually by confusing it as to the notions of time and space. Berenice's eidetic memory allows her to aid Sancia in reproducing previously unknown sigils. The three year gap gave them enough time to develop their latest venture, that of 'twinning' multiple lexicons so that whatever sigils one contains, they now all contain. Oddly enough, Orso does not want to use the process for profit, he wants to give it away, to give the people of the Commons the means to be free of the merchant houses. They are also able to use the twinning technique in a way not originally intended, a way that might lead to victory.
There are multiple characters and situations I didn't address in the previous review, and I must endeavor to be vague about them here. Another ally of Sancia's is Gregor Dandalo, son of the founder of Dandalo Chartered. New things are learned about his condition, which had previously set him on a course to oppose his mother. Ofelia Dandalo has gone even further in her search for power, one action bringing Gregor back into her sphere of influence, but that is short-lived. The cover image shows Crasedes Magnus, the ancient hierophant resurrected by Ofelia. A lot of my confusion regarding the tale's mythologies, and the scriving technologies, resides with him. Some exposition says he was a human who discovered the Occidentals secrets, applied them to himself to become as a god. Sancia and others frequently refer to him as the first hierophant, he claims he's not, but without specifying who was, or how many others preceded him. Was one of them Valeria, who refers to Crasedes as the Maker, but who seems to possess powers equal to his, maybe even greater? There is so much action, small victories for the Foundrysiders, followed by setbacks. Incredible feats by Crasedes, yet he also has his limitations, some of them placed on him by Valeria, some she has placed on Sancia to protect her. So much action I almost thought I had been wrong about the series, that it would be only a duology. But no, a major twist at the end to move the plot in yet another direction. Both books start slow, but end very strong, and both get an enthusiastic recommendation.
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Posted on June 27, 2022
This time I didn't have to request an ARC. Since I've reviewed six previous books by Bennett, the publisher offered it directly in an email. Locklands will be published tomorrow, June 28. I was able to re-read a few of the last chapters of Shorefall, but wish it had been more. I have to be vague about several plot points. Since I didn't re-read all of the previous book, and it's been over two years, with at least 150 others read since then, I was confused as to why a certain character reversed their actions and began working against Sancia and Berenice, in fact against everyone else. That person aligned with, actually merged with, one of the hierophants mentioned above. There is a lot of misdirection and deception throughout the book, along with multiple climaxes. I'm not sure I'd call them anti-climaxes; perhaps semi-climaxes? Each leads to new information, and a new direction for the plot. Whereas a former ally is now the major enemy, a former enemy becomes an ally. Maybe. But it is easy to believe he will eventually turn on them again, and there are mulitple times I was sure certain events had been manipulations to get Sancia and Berenice to do things and be in places in order to further the enemy's strategies.
I was both pleased with parts of the resolution, but disappointed by others. I was leaning toward believing there would be a major reset, an elimination of certain characters, or at least a revision in the way they acted. Instead, a few just fade away to no longer affect anyone or anything else in the 'real' world. One character was (somewhat) redeemed, which I don't think he deserved. The fact he had been manipulated by another should not negate all the death and misery he caused. And the 'magic' became even more outlandish and incomprehensible, whatever the plot required. None of that is to say the story isn't immensely entertaining, and I do recommend the trilogy as a whole, but as with several other series I've read the past few years, it could have been told in fewer pages, with certain parts of the plot eliminated or condensed. However, I will now counter that statement to say the conclusion could have been extended to let us know what Sancia had been up to when everyone else thought she was lost, and/or dead. I'm sure she later told that story to Berenice, but not to us. So, slightly disappointed, but also satisfied, and I look forward to whatever Bennett writes next.
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