City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

Published: January 26th 2016 

By: Broadway Books

Series: The Divine Cities #2

 Genres: Adult-Fiction, Epic-Fantasy, Science-Fiction

Format: Paperback 

Source: Publisher

My Rating: 5 BIG BRIGHT STARS!!!

The city of Voortyashtan was once the domain of the goddess of death, war, and destruction, but now it’s little more than a ruin. General Turyin Mulaghesh is called out of retirement and sent to this hellish place to try to find a Saypuri secret agent who’s gone missing in the middle of a mission, but the city of war offers countless threats: not only have the ghosts of her own past battles followed her here, but she soon finds herself wondering what happened to all the souls that were trapped in the afterlife when the Divinities vanished. Do the dead sleep soundly in the land of death? Or do they have plans of their own?

 

REVIEW

When I read City of Stairs back in 2014, I didn’t know what I was getting into. I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did, despite the pacing issues I had. Here we are, 16 months later and I am blown the hell away by this sequel. City of Blades is more than I could have asked for in a sequel. It took me 3 days to get through it, which is pretty normal for me when I’m reading physical books on weekdays. I’m glad that I didn’t rush, and that I was able to jump back into the story with each pickup. 

City of Blades kicks off with General Turyin Mulaghesh being summoned by the Prime Minister of Saypur, Shara (If you’ve read book one, then you know who she is). Shara basically strong-arms General Mulaghesh into an investigation in Voortyashtan, to look into the disappearance of a secret agent. It’s all cloak and dagger, this mission. Mulaghesh knows that this investigation is about to get crazy, and when she arrives, she’s thrown full force into the situation. It’s hard to do your job when you have political “red tape” everywhere. One things for certain – nothing good ever comes from being in the City of Blades. All things divine need to stay dead. 

The action picked up pretty quick in this book. One problem that I had with City of Stairs was the pacing. It seemed slow, yet there was a lot of chaos throughout the book. City of Blades is anything but chaotic. Bennett seems to have taken great care in creating different scenes. Voortyashtan is chock full of tension all around. No matter how you slice it, change upsets people. It’s hard to ignore that this city is being rebuilt on holy ground. You have the contractors striving to do their jobs, with Signe (Sigurd’s daughter) at the head. 

I love being inside Turyin’s head. She is very perceptive. She also has a job to do, and that job is hard to achieve when there are insubordinate people on every corner. Even when the war is declared over, it’s never over. It was good getting back into this world, though the feel of this book is very different from before. Sigurd and Shara both make appearances, but this one is mostly all Muglaghesh. I loved getting more of her background, and seeing just what she has been through, to appreciate her character in the now. I admit, I wasn’t prepared for this story to be so colorful, even with all the ruin and death that unfolds. That’s what makes it a very brilliant sequel. I don’t want to spoil this book, but if you’ve read the first book, be prepared for anything. Lots of deception and secrets running rampant, so it’s best to buckle up tight. 

City of Blades is the best sequel that I’ve read in a long time, and I can’t recommend this series enough. The characters are very well fleshed out and the world building is amazing. Bennett is a great writer, and I can’t wait to read more from him. I think his writing grew a lot with this book, so I can’t even imagine what the next book will be like.