Review: “City of Blades” by Robert Jackson Bennett

When I found out that I was reviewing a new novel by Robert Jackson Bennett, I was thrilled beyond belief. A few years ago, that name was new to me when I discovered his novel Mr. Shivers. That book was awesome and is on my list of favorite novels I’ve read this decade. I even went so far as to make my wife and my mother-in-law and my niece read it, and they loved it, too. The books I read come and go, always in transition, but Mr. Shivers is a book to keep, one that will stay on my shelf.

Although City of Blades was meant as a standalone (according to Robert Jackson Bennett’s website) I realized that I had to read the first book to understand this world better. Yes, I can see how it would work as a standalone from masterful world building, but it soon becomes obvious why you should read the City of Stairs first. It simply fills in a lot of gaps which made City of Blades that much more enjoyable.

In this review I will reiterate that this was devoid of all fantasy clichés; I didn’t know if this was dystopian or good old fashioned fantasy. Although I’m not knowledgeable about steampunk, I am familiar with primitive instrumentation and cars and it took me a while to realize this was a fictional Earth. I must say I did love the rough edges and primitive cameras and recording equipment and communication devices.

The reader is given the suggestive hint of wars and gods destroyed on an island of Saypur. Should I take the story as fantasy? Is it dystopian? Is it in the future the world as we know is gone. Is this Earth based on old Saypurian calendar system? And as I’m reading other parts of my brain are putting pieces of this puzzle together, looking for parts of the story not being told… and somehow it all comes to fruition by the time you come to the ending. The vagueness and subtleties of mixing genres caused a lack of concreteness of story. But what kept me in the game was because the story was again devoid of clichés.

It helped me to accept the story better. And then there is this back story that dealt with this war with Gods when you get down to the wire what intrigued me and this investigative story how it slowly evolved. I would imagine either there could a prequel or Robert Jackson Bennet just might just leave it at that. All I’m saying there is a lot of avenues this could go, and I would be interested in what the war with the gods would in tale. Was the world lush and gleaming? Was it sprawling with futuristic monorails? I wonder if he’ll go back and write what purpose did the gods have did they provide a service or are they like volcano gods that require virginal sacrifices?

It is a very war-torn environment and expertly executed; to me it had a Warsaw ghetto vibe that was a welcome change. I may sound stupid here, but I don’t know if I could take another trope-filled fantasy world focused on with epic family squabbles over which bastard heir was born to whom and so on. This isn’t Middle Earth so I apologize that I looked at it from another perspective. I’m really going to emphasize that you drop any notions of any fast-paced reading on a commute, or something to browse in the john. No, this is a story where you have to pay attention.

What I feel I don’t see in many novels are good stories with realistic strong female characters. It’s just that sometimes I feel a lot of writers fall into paint-by-numbers stereotypes from TV and movies instead of creating real women, so that’s a fail in the idealism. After all we have women in the military and the police, and those are not glamourous jobs, but somehow in TV and movies and books it boils down to a tired story about balancing job, and sometimes children, while being torn between two men and still keeping it together… and it gets old.

Thankfully we don’t get that in City of Blades. What we get instead is a middle aged woman who’s a grizzled veteran with a wooden prosthetic hand. General Turyin Mulaghesh, is being called out of retirement. This is a surprise to her, since she is not only not retired anymore, but is also being demoted, all just to run One More Investigation before they will call her career truly over. Not a happy camper.

Probably the most stand out character in the entire book for me is Sigrud, I love his berserker moments and would like to see a novel just about him. I’m sure that’s where it’s going and if what happened in the story is an indication of what the title of the third could be called, I can’t tell you why he goes berserk that would spoil the highlight of the book.

Reading both novels was a challenge because of where my head has been at lately. I’ve been in an apocalyptic world of zombies or I’m living in Westeros in the past five years, and the challenge for me was to get out of these places for a while and tread new territory. If you feel the same, I promise you will love the world-building in both novels… and also Sigrud.

Final analysis. I have read a great many books and very rarely do I read a book calmly and then after, talk like it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever read. This is the third book from Robert Jackson Bennett and I remember the amazing summer treat that was Mr. Shivers. It was also a joy to come to this book — one which I had been meaning to read earlier — and if you’re patient and you like a pot boiler, then you’ll like this one too.

Do yourself a favor and read City of Stairs first and then read City of Blades. But take your time, breathe it all in as you sit pool side. After reading this book I felt that the way the world is, we need a Sigrud in every town to protect us from other worldly dangers lurking in coastal areas. H.P. Lovecraft would be proud and perhaps has passed the proverbial torch. But then again maybe I’m being melodramatic.

Website: robertjacksonbennett.com
Twitter: @RobertjBennett

A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions.

Now, the city’s god is dead. The city itself lies in ruins. And to its new military occupiers, the once-powerful capital is a wasteland of sectarian violence and bloody uprisings.

So it makes perfect sense that General Turyin Mulaghesh— foul-mouthed hero of the battle of Bulikov, rumored war criminal, ally of an embattled Prime Minister—has been exiled there to count down the days until she can draw her pension and be forgotten.

At least, it makes the perfect cover story.

The truth is that the general has been pressed into service one last time, dispatched to investigate a discovery with the potential to change the world–or destroy it.

The trouble is that this old soldier isn’t sure she’s still got what it takes to be the hero.

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
Series: The Divine Cities (Book 2)
Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Broadway Books (January 26, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553419714
ISBN-13: 978-0553419719