City of Stairs

Years ago, the city of Bulikov wielded the powers of the Gods to conquer the world. But after its divine protectors were mysteriously killed, the city's proud history has been erased and censored, progress has left it behind, and it is just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power. Into this musty, backward city steps Shara Divani. Officially, she’s just another lowly diplomat; unofficially, Shara is one of her country's most accomplished spymasters — dispatched to investigate the brutal murder of a seemingly harmless historian. As Shara pursues the mystery through the ever-shifting physical and political geography of the city, she begins to suspect that the beings who once protected Bulikov may not be as dead show more as they seem.

I kept getting vibes of China Mieville’s City and the City while I was reading this for some reason -- probably the parallel worlds coexisting in one place. I have to admit, about 3/4s of the way through I started laughing out loud at some of the things being spouted -- it seemed like an indictment against those musty Old Testament rules that make no sense at all anymore, and I just couldn’t stop myself. 10/10, would read again, loved it. show less

As a novel of ideas, the novel is absolutely rich and fantastic.

But when it comes to the writing, I had to complain a bit about the choice of tropes. I'm wasn't certain that a mystery was the absolute best medium to propel the main tale, but when the book is said and done, I can't fault how it was wrapped up. Everything made perfect sense. I found that I was caught up in my own prejudices even as I was reading it, and the journey had changed me in the end, which is strange enough, because we're not talking about great human quirks that plague us. It was just the fact that I was reading a truly superior fantasy that thought it was a murder mystery.

It turned out to be a sneaky novel that paraded about like a police procedural in the show more beginning but wind up being a god-slaying action adventure and political coup. What the hell? Seriously, I was pretty ambivalent during most of the first third of the novel. I really enjoyed the brilliant worldbuilding, but the operative angle and murder mystery was just okay. If it's intent was to slow me down and take the view, it did, but I didn't need it. I was already completely hooked by the world.

And then something happened. At first it was Sigurd. And then it was Shara and the conspiracy, the hints of killed gods coming back.

One thing anyone ought to know before reading this book is that it has a really fantastic magic system. As a mystery and eventually a political novel, it turns out pretty awesome, but as an epic fantasy that masquerades as a modern land of industry after the assassination of all the gods that could bend reality to their will, the novel's pretty freaking fantastic. The fantasy compels and twists and delights.

When the action starts, it ranks up there as a heroic legend full of all the classic signatures, outperforming so many of my own favorite fantasy classics that I actually put the book down to cheer for a while.

The two main characters made this novel shine, heavy mashups of tons of tropes, and yet it wasn't a mess. I felt their personalities eventually blow across the pages like a storm.

Sigurd was a Queequeg. He was an unkillable tortured hero pirate and sidekick, and lost prince and a godkiller.

Shara was the transforming naive government functionary detective historian setting reluctant foot into national politics and fighting injustice while also happening to be a god-killing great-granddaughter of a tortured godkiller that brought about the technological supremacy of Saypur so many years ago.

Truly, I loved how complicated these two were. Their mashups were delightful.

But the question is: How does anyone transform such humble mystery beginnings into a nearly hopeless epic battle against truly reality-warping gods?

I'm at a loss to explain. (It's that good.) Read it for yourself to experience the journey. ;)

Mr. Bennett has successfully built a set of stairs into the sky, one step at a time, but unlike Bulikov, these stairs actually GO somewhere. Bravo!

Seriously, I am looking forward to the next in the series with something approaching insanity. :) show less

The ancient city of Bulikov was once the home of very real, very powerful gods. Now its gods are dead, the miracles that sustained it are shattered, and the people it once enslaved have become its oppressors. And the one man permitted to study its forbidden history has just been murdered, setting in motion a chain of events no one can predict.

I enjoyed the heck out of this one. It's got some really fascinating and original world-building, well-drawn characters, a subtle sense of humor, some fun action, and a good plot with lots of twists and turns. It's not perfect, I suppose. There is some "As you know, Bob"-style dialog that I can't help thinking should have bothered me more than it did, and maybe some slightly heavy-handed touches of show more religious satire. But I don't care. Overall it was just a great read, enough so that even before I finished it, I'd already ordered the sequel. show less

Entertaining and captivating while building a world that can make you think of the real world (north with navigator people, south former colonies, etc.) but it is also refreshingly different. The main plot is around a murder investigation but there are multiple stories intertwined: the high-born career spy that must deal with her personal questions, the nobility / business man that has to deal with his sexuality and allegiances, the local military commander that is tired of all craziness, the mysterious assassin and others. Each character seems alive, has its own struggles and some manage to find some peace or resolution. Occasionally gruesome and funny has a good balance of action and philosophy. Would definitely recommend.

This book is reminiscent in some ways of China Miéville’s The City and The City, also a fantasy/crime novel set in a city superimposed upon another city in fantastical ways. Bennett is perhaps more ambitious though, adding elements of a spy thriller, a political commentary, and an analysis of religion [especially with its anthropomorphism and (relatedly) emphasis on guilt and punishment] into the mix.

The story is set in Bulikov, the capital city of the Continent, governed not, however, by Continentals but by their conquerers 75 years previously, the Saypuris.

As the story begins, a historian from Saypur, Dr. Efram Pangyui, has been murdered, and Saypur sends a "cultural diplomat" to Bulikov to investigate. Shara Thivani, a small, show more slight woman with thick glasses who guzzles tea and is given to expletives like “Oh, dear!” and “Oh boy!” isn’t who she purports to be however; she is the most experienced Saypuri spy, and she is also a descendent of the Kaj, the man who conquered the Continent by figuring out how to kill its Divinities. Upon the destruction of the six Divinities who protected The Continent, much of its civilization, which was built by them, was destroyed as well in devastation known thereafter as The Blink:

"Whole countries disappeared. Streets turned to chasms. Temples turned to ash. Stars vanished. The sky clouded over, marking the permanent change to the Continent’s climate… Buildings of Divine nature imploded into a single stone, taking all their occupants with them to what one can only assume was a terrible fate. And Bulikov, being the holiest of cities … contracted inward by miles in one brutal moment, disrupting the very nature of the city ….”

Here one thinks of The Communist Manifesto, in which the authors write about the continual revolutions of the bourgeoisie:

"All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind."

But there has been no revolution yet in Bulikov: Analogous to Frank Herbert’s "Dune" series, when people had everything done for them [in this case, by the Divines, prior to The Blink], they became vulnerable to, as Herbert wrote: …the terrible danger of a gliding, passionless mediocrity….” Now, with no more gods to do the creating, Bulikov is quite backward, mired in desperate poverty. The people blame their dire straits on the Saypuri, whom they despise. Admittedly, the Saypuri have not helped the Continentals; prior to The Blink, the Saypuri were repressed by the Continentals; as the Sapuri see it, they are now just returning the favor.

In Bulikov, however, the Continentals have a secret weapon, and it is the urbanscape itself, which still holds leftover magic in areas of “reality static” in which the “before” and “after” cities still exist, if only one has the knowledge to access its connective tissue and unlock its mysteries. (An analogous ongoing theme is the way history, too, is still a part of the present, even if most people are unaware of it.)

Thus, the gods may not still exist in corporeal form (although they certainly still do in the minds of the people), but their influence remains, to be used and abused by those who refuse to let go of the faith.

Shara and the female governor of Bulikov, Turin Mulaghesh, find themselves facing a possible revolution, and a religious recrudescence of intolerant orthodoxy. In addition, she has a time limit to identify who murdered Pangyui, or she will be recalled. A rather stunning dénouement brings all the forces to bear, both secular and divine, in a bittersweet resolution.

Discussion: There are many aspects of this story upon which I have not touched, including the power of a bureaucracy to inflict stagnation on a country; the perils of imperialism; racism; gender politics; a romance; the many varieties courage can take; and last but not least, Shara’s powerful “secretary” Sigrud. There are many layers indeed in this fantasy, and most of its kudos stem from the extensive and creative world-building. But perhaps the most stand-out aspect of it for me is the prominent roles - especially for a fantasy novel - given to women, who are moreover non-Caucasian women.

Evaluation: This is a well-written fantasy novel which should definitely appeal to fans of China Miéville as well as fans of “clockpunk” (which, as the Urban Dictionary puts it, is "a sub-genre of the speculative historical fiction genre called Steampunk characterized by modern technologies accomplished using clockwork mechanisms and generally excluding steam power, electricity, and the internal combustion engine").

Note: This is a standalone novel, but perhaps because of its popularity, a sequel or perhaps companion novel is in the works. show less

Three hundred years ago, the people of Saypur (alt-Indian subcontinent, seems like) managed to kill the gods of their colonizers on the Continent (alt-Russia/Central Europe), which was the only place that had gods. Now, Saypur is the colonizer, and the ravaged remnants of the Continent are deeply resentful. When intelligence operative Shara’s old friend/Saypurian historian of the Continent is murdered in the central city of Bulikov, Shara investigates. And finds out that perhaps the gods aren’t as dead as supposed, particularly the one who’s really, really into inflicting pain. It’s extremely inventive but also very much about the way that those who have evil done to them do evil in return. There’s a small moment where Shara show more has found an important clue—a path to a place where Divinity still might be—by tracking some Continentals, and tells her compatriot, “I have spent half my life reading about other realities. I’d never refuse the opportunity of being the first to enter one, even with my life at stake.” Cool story, but of course she’s not the first to enter, given the people she very well knows she followed. Although she’s relatively empathetic to at least some of the Continentals, and although she thinks her spymaster aunt is perhaps too focused on Saypur to the detriment of others’ wellbeing, she is still from what is for the moment the master race, and it shows. (From the other books I’ve since read by Bennett, I am wondering whether this moment was even intentional.) show less

It has been quite some time since I've given a five star rating to anything, but City of Stairs truly deserves it.

Every element of the story simply works. Let's start with the setting, the City of Bulikov, built by the Gods, only to fall into ruin after those Gods are destroyed and the citizens culture is suppressed by their new rulers. This would be an amazing setting for an Urban Fantasy, but that's not really what this book is, though there's still time to have some fun with monsters and miracles.

Author Robert Jackson Bennett is much more interested in exploring themes of post colonialism as he crafts a fine murder mystery and political thriller in this world of the conquered. I'm reminded a lot of the works of China Mieville, but show more while Mieville can sometimes let his imagination get the best of his stories, Bennett never lets the story out of his control. From start to finish this is an imaginative, masterfully told novel that I cannot recommend highly enough. show less