Author: Robert Jackson Bennett
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery
Length: 464 Pages
Release: January 2016
My Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
I received a copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Review
I've heard so many great things about this series that I had to pick them up. Fantasy is my favorite genre and I love exploring new worlds with fun characters and high stakes. But this series just hasn't done for me what it has for others.
Mulaghesh is now the main character, not Shara, and is called out of retirement when Shara believes that there are divine forces at work in a continental city. The premise was interesting enough, but similar to the previous installment, I couldn't connect to the characters. The reading was really slow for me because I was never truly invested in what was happening. Sigrud did show up, but he didn't live up to my expectations from book one. The characters that I enjoyed most didn't get much time in the book. Character wise this just didn't cut it for me.
The idea of these ancient gods continuing to influence life years after their deaths (if they really are dead), was fascinating, but the mystery was lacking. Many of the revelations made near the end were glaringly obvious to me from near the beginning. At least in some way. I can't go into much detail on this, as I don't want to give out a ton of spoilers, but it just wasn't a wow type of mystery for me.
This installment lacked the cohesiveness of the previous novel. The connections were not as strong between the characters, so much was already known, and the flashbacks to the past didn't do much to fill in the gaps. The main thing they helped with was in better understanding Mulaghesh, but didn't add a lot to the story.
Had I been able to connect more with the characters perhaps I would have enjoyed this more, despite the issues I had with the mystery and story. But alas, even the characters I thought I would love I didn't. If you loved City of Stairs, then I'm sure you will enjoy this novel.
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