This one caught me completely off guard in how much I just loved it. It’s been sitting on my shelf for quite some time and I don’t remember when or why I bought it, so this was just such a delightful surprise. 

Just about everything about this book totally resonated with me. First of all I am a huge fan of dark supernatural Mysteries that don’t take themselves too seriously / can also be incredibly silly at times. TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural come to mind and I feel like this absolutely hits this itch. This book is dark, funny and gory in all the right ways. 

It starts off like a mix of Mistborn and Lies of Locke Lamora (two books series I also adore) but quickly develops into its own thing. It actually feels very much like a cyberpunk story set in a Fantasy world. This becomes most clear with its (hard) magic system that pretty much is very similar to programming. 

They are scriving instructions into objects that make them defy rules of physics and as a result just make them do insane things. In contrast to circumvent this magic certain characters have the ability to “hack” into those commands altering how they function. With programming also being a big part of my job, I really enjoyed this. That also counts for every other part of worldbuilding (dark city ruled by big merchant companies) in this book.

I loved the characters in this one. The tough and damaged protagonist and her inner struggles are a joy to follow along and the supporting cast is also just very well fleshed out. They all just felt like such an adorable bunch of misfits that you just can't help but have to root for.  

I also have to give another praise for the humor. This book just put a huge smile on my face constantly and had me laughing out loud multiple times with some of its character interactions and just funny dialogue. Just pure joy. Like if this is how Robert Jackson Bennett writes in general, I wanna read everything that guy has ever written and I might have discovered a new favorite author. 

There were some parts about the plot that felt very predictable, for example to me it was pretty obvious who the main villain of the story was gonna be, but I just had such a blast that I didn’t care for that much. Overall it felt like the weakest part of the book for me but I’m still gonna give this one my first 5 stars of 2025 and a big fat seal of approval!

Will definitely continue with the Founders series shortly but due to the second book not arriving in time I already started The Tainted Cup by the same author.