City of Stairs
As hard as it tried to push me away, I sensed there was something more to this book than what the cover was offering. It looks like a romantic fantasy where roses bloom in the cracks of sidewalks while tough yet insecure heroines hump fallen angels.
'City of Stairs' is good though. I promise. Bennett creates a world where there had been a chosen people, those on the Continent backed by present gods, who conquered the world and lived in miracles. Then there was an uprising and the gods were slain. A century or so later the Continent is an occupied state and its citizens, now seen as backward and superstitious, are forbidden to even mention the gods' existence. In the former capitol of Bulikov a foreign historian is murdered after delving into the continent's past and a government agent starts investigating with motives of her own.
Fantasy tropes are present, some are subverted, some are (refreshingly?) left alone, and the story itself is a mixture of urban fantasy, supernatural horror and noir detective mysteries. I'll be keeping an eye out for the sequel. 'City of Stairs' covers a lot of ground with only the most interesting exposition, in a short amount of pages and establishes a fantasy world with interesting parallels to our own.
Seriously though, terrible cover design.
The Divine Cities
Next: 'City of Blades'
