Stuart's Reviews > City of Miracles

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett
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it was amazing
bookshelves: alternate-history, dark-fantasy-gothic, fantastic-weird, strong-female-characters, favorites

This series just gets better with each installment. I gave City of Stairs and City of Blades 4 stars each,
but I think having listened to all three, the trilogy as a whole deserves 5 stars for incredible world-building, complex mystery plots, and above all its damaged and conflicted characters.

City of Miracles is centered on fan-favorite Sigrid, the Nordic berserker assassin and all-around badass, but much of the plot revolves around the secret machinations of Prime Minister Shara Komayd, who starts off the book in explosive fashion. It's a very cinematic opening sequence worthy of Luc Besson or Michael Mann, and its alternative Eastern European urban flavor is perfectly evoked. Though Bennett adopts the same structure of a murder mystery that unfolds into a much more complex tapestry of dead gods who never fully stay dead, diabolical plots to harness divine powers for various political ends, and in this book the numerous offspring of the gods, carefully hidden away in society as mortals, often with the children themselves unaware of their heritage.

What Bennett does best though is refuse to let his characters stay the same. They undergo traumatic adventures that leave physical and psychological scars that DO NOT GO AWAY. It's a direct refutation of the usual pattern of indomitable heroes who decimate their enemies, feel a twinge of remorse, and then move on to the next adventure with a jaunty swagger. Not so in THE DIVINE CITIES - Shara, Turiyan, and especially Sigrud carry the baggage of all the killings and schemes they have been involved in throughout their lives, and all the loved ones they were unable to protect from harm. Not only that, but their harrowing life journeys age them, so that we see characters that not so much grow in stature as get worn down, like weathered stones being battered by the sea, shaped by events into fantastically contorted patterns, yet still recognizable.

The themes of colonialism and its legacy remain front and center, and this time the theme of children and how they are often exploited for the purposes of adults is a key plot element, particularly as it pertains to the children of the gods and one particularly damaged godling that uses his own abusive past and takes a terrible revenge on his brethren and the world, seeking to envelop everything in everlasting darkness. He is both pathetic and terrifying, a man-child who is lashing out at those he feels wronged him.

The plot is as intricate as the previous books, and suffice to say that Bennett is adept at mixing intense action, complex intrigues, emotionally-charged relationships, and speculations on divinity, war, and oppression in a completely unique and organic way that I haven't seen done before in the genre. That's saying quite a lot considering how much derivative product is churned out year after year. This series deserves plenty of accolades and book sales, as the author has created something quite special and worthy of repeat readings. Though each book can stand on its own, the three form an integrated whole that is one of the most impressive works of the last decade, on par with N.K. Jemisin's BROKEN EARTH trilogy.
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Reading Progress

January 7, 2018 – Started Reading
January 7, 2018 – Shelved
January 7, 2018 – Shelved as: alternate-history
January 7, 2018 – Shelved as: dark-fantasy-gothic
January 7, 2018 – Shelved as: fantastic-weird
January 7, 2018 – Shelved as: strong-female-characters
January 15, 2018 – Shelved as: favorites
January 15, 2018 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

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message 1: by William (new) - added it

William Wow, what a great review! Thank you, Stuart. I’ve added it.


Stuart Thanks William, always happy to hear from you. I think I need to up my ratings to 5 stars for the first two books!


message 3: by William (new) - added it

William Wow, Awesome!


Stuart So William, you’ve lived in London over 30 years? You must have seen a lot of transformation during that span. We just moved here six months ago and have barely touched the surface.


message 5: by William (new) - added it

William Yes, see my message to you. Great city here!


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