Locklands

Robert Jackson Bennett may not be as prolific as some authors, but his writing is outstanding and worth the wait. Locklands is the last in his Founders trilogy, and boy, is it a doozy. It truly is a culmination of each previous book in that our heroes now fight on enemy turf instead of their own. We finally get the answers to Clef’s origins and the identity of the Hierophant. While that will not mean anything to anyone unfamiliar with the first two books, trust me when I say these are big reveals worthy of an ending. Told with the same care and wit as The Divine Cities trilogy, Locklands is clever, fascinating in its intricacies, and so well-written as to make the most complex situations easy to imagine. I will gladly read anything show more Mr. Bennett writes in the future. show less

The finale of the Founders trilogy is truly spectacular in scale. Eight years have passed since the last book and the reader is thrown straight into a relentless war with godlike posthumans and magical AIs. As in the preceding books, I loved the ingenious world-building around the magic system, scriving. I think of this trilogy as fantasy with the sensibility of sci-fi, as it explores how the development and availability of technology shapes society in a fantasy setting. [b:Locklands|55535618|Locklands (The Founders Trilogy, #3)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630713654l/55535618._SY75_.jpg|86603319] has a particular focus on use of scriving for voluntary mindsharing, which show more is shown in a very different light to other recent depictions of hiveminds. (Comparisons that spring to mind are [b:The This|58950899|The This|Adam Roberts|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1639950958l/58950899._SY75_.jpg|92907496], [b:Alexandria|52310896|Alexandria|Paul Kingsnorth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583267977l/52310896._SY75_.jpg|73035795], [b:Leviathan Falls|28335699|Leviathan Falls (The Expanse, #9)|James S.A. Corey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600283641l/28335699._SY75_.jpg|48382891], and [b:The Hidden Girl and Other Stories|52163147|The Hidden Girl and Other Stories|Ken Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565279404l/52163147._SX50_SY75_.jpg|71431737].) Greeter and Design are excellent characters, although the dangerous potential of the technology is shown too. The same technology can be used to oppress or to liberate, depending on how it is used, by whom, and with what aims.

The action scenes in which scriving is deployed for infiltration, fighting, and massive destruction are thrilling, however the preponderance of action also means that I find this trilogy a little too relentless. In more than five hundred pages of [b:Locklands|55535618|Locklands (The Founders Trilogy, #3)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630713654l/55535618._SY75_.jpg|86603319], the plot never allows the characters a breather. They are constantly fighting, fleeing, being tortured, plotting a heist, or otherwise trying desperately to survive. I really appreciated any brief flashbacks to calmer times past, while wishing for more along those lines. The characters are so lovely and they suffer so much! I was so pleased to find that Sancia and Berenice are now married - seeing the reference to 'her wife' on page 44 made me grin. A glimpse at their wedding was the only real moment of peace before the epilogue. Their reunion at the very end is a well-earned note of sweetness after so many grim happenings and a long separation (due to Sancia saving the universe). In fact, the story turned out to be more optimistic and hopeful than I expected at the beginning of the trilogy. Each book ramps up the stakes and inflicts new kinds of terrible suffering on the characters, yet ultimately it's about survival via collaboration, creativity, and open source magical technology. [b:Locklands|55535618|Locklands (The Founders Trilogy, #3)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630713654l/55535618._SY75_.jpg|86603319] is a very satisfying conclusion to an original and involving fantasy series. show less

I received an advance copy via Netgalley.

Locklands completes an ambitious fantasy trilogy set in a unique world where magic essentially means editing the programming of items and reality itself. I started reading and realized I'd forgotten a lot of the little details of the past books--I read the second one over two years ago now. The book keeps up a breathless pace from the very start and I only wish the beginning took a moment to rehash some things. That said, even though I felt a bit lost for a while, I was still engaged. This thing is intense, and the ending...! The stakes were so high, it would have been easy to blow it, but this feels emotionally resonant and satisfying.

When I requested this ARC, I realized that I had never read Shorefall, though it was on my to-read list since finishing Foundryside. Oops! And because my memories of Foundryside were fuzzy, I went and reread it, then read Shorefall, and then dove into Locklands. Which...whoa. I'm still kind of reeling from the intensity.

Locklands picks up 8 years after Shorefall, and so very very much has changed in the Founders' universe. There is a great deal of war, an incredible number of women combatants, and a societal arrangement that I did not see coming and is too good to risk spoiling.

It has been a long time since I read anything that encompassed as massive a change from the beginning of book 1 to the end of book 3 as this series does. People show more are going to call it "epic," but that's still too small. And I can't describe why without spoilers.

I do have some quibbles. There are some things, esp toward the end, that I don't really get. This is a problem with worlds where magic, technology, and magical technology all intermingle, and the narrator tries to describe something that doesn't really translate. There are also some relationship things that maybe ought to have gone deeper (in flashback, probably, since there was little time between racing plot points).

Anyway, I enjoyed this a lot, though I admit it was a lot of war to read on top of reading Ukraine War news. I would love to see this as a TV series. It could be like a wild mix of BSG 2004 and Game of Thrones, except a million percent less rapey and vastly more equitable in race and gender.

ARC show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-founders-trilogy-by-robert-jackson-bennett/

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 show more 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. show less

The third book in the Founders trilogy. And, man, this is a series that I feel like I should like much, much better than I actually do. The first book really interested me, in that I found the worldbuilding, and the magic system in particular, genuinely really cool and exciting. But the actual story itself, page-to-page, just didn't ever engage me nearly as much as I would have liked. The second book at least, was a lot better in that respect, which had me feeling a bit hyped up for the conclusion. But, alas, this third volume hit me exactly the same as the first one, only more so.

And I'm really not sure why. The only thing I can think is that, well, there's a time jump here of eight years since the previous installment, during which show more time a lot of things have changed. There's a war going on, for one, and in the beginning we're dropped right into it in a hit-the-ground-running kind of way. And, well, I don't necessarily do well with being plunged directly into action sequences without having had a chance to get my bearings. At one point I found myself thinking, "It's OK, once we get past the action-y stuff and I have a chance to catch my breath, it'll all click into place for me." But we more or less never did get past the action-y stuff.

The thing is, it's good action-y stuff! It's clearly written and not hard to follow. The stakes are high. There's still lots of that nifty world-building technomagical stuff. There's plenty of characterization in among it all. Even the bad guys have really interesting motivations! It's got good themes, too. And there are some genuinely touching moments towards the end. And yet, still, I just never felt able to truly immerse myself in the story. Is it the writing, somehow? Is it me? Have I just been reading these in completely the wrong mood? I loved the heck out of Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy, and this one seems very similar, so I genuinely can't figure out what my problem is with it. And I actually feel kind of bad about that. show less

Books 2 and 3 were more substantial than the first book by far, however the pacing is very Boy. Like, are these shonen novels starring gay women? Every chapter contained escalating crises with no reprieve.

There were so many interesting elements to explore that were just hand-waved as "happened before the book started," like 2 years of building a found family and small business with a co-op library, or 8 years of building an incredible nation with plural identities... I feel pretty confident that this gripe is the fault of the publisher ("you want to add 200 extra pages to your novel for vibes?! Who do you think you are, Brandon Sanderson?!"), but it's glaring to me nonetheless.