This it the work of a master. It is a poignant, beautiful work. Every now and then you come across something that is remarkable because it is new. The world the RJB built is new. The world building and character development is so complete that I feel if I have lived with Sanica, Gregor, Berenice, and Orso. RJB is a story teller and I cannot wait to hear more from him.

I received a ARC from NetGalley. ( )

За съжаление, когато отлично измисленият ти свят вече е подробно описан в първата книга, като материал за втората ти остават само да развиваш клишетата, с които си запълвал празнините в него. ( )

This series is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. The character work(their likability, complexity of thought and variety of personalities as well as chemistry) and prose is excellent. The world building/magic is excellent and wonderfully tangible/ intractable. The plotting is delicious (the way it progresses and changes and graduates, the way it becomes increasingly thorny and difficult to resolve, the narrative twists/turns) on so many levels, with the antagonists being spectacularly threatening, intelligent, and visual/ominous. Just wonderful.
On a side note, this is so much good writing on display in this book (good writing on a technical level) thats it would be a good book to study for aspiring writers of an intermediary level (specifically those of the sci-fi/fantasy genres) concerning plot. ( )

Robert Jackson Bennett books are my new obsession. I don’t know how he does it. I’m so thoroughly entranced in every story that I don’t ever want it to end. Incredible storytelling and world building. If I could crawl through the pages to live in Tevanne I would. ( )

[b:Shorefall|45309582|Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1654469125l/45309582._SY75_.jpg|66070909] picks up a few months after [b:Foundryside|37173847|Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520460880l/37173847._SY75_.jpg|58951160] left up and plunges straight into perilous plot on the assumption that readers remember who everyone is. I mostly did, but would recommend less than two years between books. I intend to read the third in the trilogy pretty soon, before this slips out of my mind. The pace of events remains fast throughout. What I remembered clearly from the previous book was the fascinating magical system and ingenious world-building around it. This is developed further in [b:Shorefall|45309582|Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1654469125l/45309582._SY75_.jpg|66070909], with clever details of the magical technology's weaknesses (e.g. infrastructure centralisation) and flexibilities (e.g. innovations in copying).

Amid the heists, chases, and battles, there are some striking conversations about how technological developments are exploited by the powerful to oppress the powerless. The main villain argues that this is inevitable due to human nature, while the ragtag band of heroes remain hopeful that open source magic can reduce inequality and exploitation. I liked the treatment of this theme, although it was sometimes overtaken by exciting action sequences. It's always pleasing when fantasy worlds use magic as some sort of allegory; here, for computing. The campos are as aggressive about guarding their intellectual property as Google and Amazon. The reader also learns more about the hierophants, who have superpowers that are described as 'permissions' to alter reality. Scriving is an excellent concept and I really enjoyed exploring it further.

I didn't find [b:Shorefall|45309582|Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1654469125l/45309582._SY75_.jpg|66070909] quite as compelling as [b:Foundryside|37173847|Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520460880l/37173847._SY75_.jpg|58951160] because the plot intensity left limited time for quieter character moments. The world-building continued to be excellent and the stage is set for an exciting denouement in the final book of the trilogy, though. The appealing band of main characters all suffered quite lot, some getting tortured, mind-controlled, or nearly killed. The mind-sharing technology is a bright and fun moment amid a great deal of grimness. There is such a lot of human sacrifice - not only the murders but the horrifying revelation that Valeria is draining Sancia's life. I hope they all get a breather before making another attempt to fight godlike entities. [b:Shorefall|45309582|Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1654469125l/45309582._SY75_.jpg|66070909] is strong for the second book of a trilogy, while still having a bit of that middle-book feel. ( )