City of Stairs was an interesting book (which is due to be released on September 9th, 2014 by Broadway Books, a Crown imprint) that immediately intrigued me. I had not really been aware of it leading up to the promotional stage and though I know of Robert Jackson Bennett, I did not actually know much about him or his writing. This is actually the first chance I have had to read his work. When I looked at the description it immediately stood out as something I needed to request. The story takes place primarily on a colonized continent. The Continent was formerly a world power which wielded its’ own pantheon of gods. The gods are now long gone and a smaller island nation has colonized the Continent. More or less at the center of the Continent is the city of Bulikov, our main focal point. An even with certain political and legal implications brings our main character, Shara, over to Bulikov, and that is just the first few pages.

In town with the credentials of a diplomat  assigned to the local embassy sent to investigate recent events, Shara is actually about as far from a political player as one working for thier govenrment can get;, she is one of Saypur’s top operatives on the continent. Her true job is less diplomatic politician and more undercover spy. What sounds so far like a geopolitical drama evolves into a world with a unique magic system and a strong fantasy based story. Religious extremists, divine miracles and unexplainable events cause Shara and her associates to believe that these long gone gods may not be as gone as everyone seems to think. The plot really escalated quickly and refocuses several times. There is drama, magic, twists and plenty of action. More than enough for any fantasy fan.

I really appreciated the level of characterization and descriptiveness the author used. The characters were given not only depth, but layers. I really liked how the the layers were teased out over the course of the book, slowly revealing more and more about them and their history. I felt like I had a strong understanding of many of the main characters at the end and a really nice glimpse into their pasts and their motives. I am a sucker for strong characterization and Bennett certainly gave us that. It was not only the characters that were given full back stories, but also the regions, the deities and political structure. The world building was fantastic and unique. It bordered on fantasy world building and urban fantasy world altering. It does not end there either. The descriptions were detailed and vivid. One particular scene stands out where Shara is cooking while discussing some rather in depth Continental history. The detailed descriptions of her preparations intertwined in her conversations felt so casual yet was extremely well done, completely taking me into to scene where i could absolutely see her standing there crushing garlic and slicing meat. I do not know why that stuck with me so much, but I was completely impressed with it.

If you cannot already tell, I really, really enjoyed the book. The action scenes were great, the world building was very well done and magic system was interesting and unique. I have not talked about Sigrud at all in this review so far, but you will love Shara’s “secretary” and travel companion. I do not know if there is anything in particular that I  can point out that I  did not like. I have to give City of Stairs 5/5.  I absolutely recommend pucking this up. I would even go as far as saying to pre-order it, it liked it that much. I am not claiming that this is the most revolutionary book I have read and it will change your life. It was however damn good and fairly unique and I am confident that most SFF fans will love it. The novel was a very well balanced book. I hope we see something else in this universe. I know I will have to pull some of Robert Jackson Bennett‘s other works after this.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher, through Goodreads in exchange for a fair review.