Jordan Stephens's Reviews > City of Stairs

Most fantasy books go the route of adventure stories with some coming of age mixed in. A relatively young protagonist discovering an new power and using it to fight evil kings and save their world. Maybe they need to reclaim something taken from them, or take revenge for a tragic loss. These are themes we can usually find familiar comfort in when we open a fantasy book.

City of Stairs is none of these things. Instead of a wide eyed young man finding mentors to help him grow we have Shara. She's a total badass. Think Sherlock Holmes- as a magical spy. At her side is Sigrud, who could make Odin look like a soft and sweet little angel.

Despite its brilliant world, astoundingly cool characters, and great story, the book didn't mercilessly hijack my mind. There are plenty of memorable and vivid moments in the book though! What starts as a murder mystery leads into something unexpectedly fantastic. Two parts intrigue, one part action, and one part distilled awesome sauce. Bennett loves to play with expectations and really twists around what you think the book will be. It's extremely readable and fun- check it out!

Book Background and Plot Set Up:

City of Stairs takes place in Bukilov, the formerly greatest city in the land. In the not so distant past it was conquered in a revolt by their offshoot slave nation- the Saypurians. Their leader, the Kaj, killed the Bukilov Gods. This led to all of the Gods' creations unravelling, to the complete devastation of the city. Fast forward about 80 years and Bukilov is in shambles, poverty and sickness are rampant, and political discontent abounds after the Saypuri censorship of anything to do with the history of their vanished Gods.

Enter Shara, a Saypuri spy in her late thirties with a passion for history. Also, she happens to be the great Granddaughter of the Kaj. Accompanied by her bodyguard/assistant, the barbarian Sigrud from the north, she comes to Bukilov to investigate the murder of her hero, the academic historian Efrem.

She must navigate the crumbled Bukilov and it's hidden rebel factions as she seeks her answers. But what will she do as important people from her past show up and she begins to suspect hidden motives from within her own Saypuri government? Can she manage the ghosts of her past while wading through the mysteries of the present?

Plot Summary (MAJOR SPOILERS):

Efrem is murdered while looking into the Bukilov Gods and Shara comes to Bukilov to investigate with Sigrud. She finds a hidden message on Efrem's corpse. Sigrud quickly realizes they are being followed but they literally vanish into midair when he tracks them down.

With the help of the Saypuri official Mulaghesh Shara finds out that the city is divided. She realizes that the political rebel group called the Restorationists could have a motive for killing Efrem. To get more information she is connected to a Bukilov City Father, Vohannes Votrov, by Mulaghesh. He happens to be a former lover of Shara while she was at a university in her homeland. They had broken up over his bisexuality, among other reasons.

While at a party at his mansion their is an attempt by a small force to kidnap Vohannes that is stopped singlehandedly by Sigrud. One of the assailants is captured and interrogated by Shara, who drugs him using a psychedelic pill. Hinterrigation is interrupted by divine interference that Shara sees first hand, meaning the at least one God is still alive.

Things become time sensitive as Shara is given a deadline by her Aunt Vinya Komayd, a top government official, whom Shara has started to suspect of a hidden agenda. She cracks the code hidden in Efrems death message as the number to a safety deposit box that she enlists the aid of Vohannes to retrieve.

Meanwhile she has discovered that Efrem was studying magical artifacts in a hidden warehouse when he was killed. She tracks down a woman who was spying on Efrem and giving his notes to the restorationists. The restorationists come to retrieve her from Shara and they follow them to an underground lair guarded by a magical creature they destroy.

In the lair they find a doorframe that is a portal into the warehouse of magical artifacts Efrem was studying, while looking for clues they trigger a trap which sets the warehouse on fire. This releases a terrifying divine tentacled creature that devours people. It begins attacking and killing citizens of Bukilov until being slain by Sigrud.

This public display blows Shara's cover in Bukilov. Her Aunt Vinya, assigns her to a public relations type position as punishment. Shara opens the safety box from Efrem and finds a diary exposing that the Gods may do the will of their followers, instead of the other way around. She also finds out where the restorationists have been dissappering to, an alternate reality of Bukilov.

With Sigrud they enter this alternate reality and find a fleet of ships being built attached to a magical artifact that allows them to fly. Shara also finds a piece of metal used by the Kaj that can kill the Gods. Shara leaves Sigrud to watch the ships as she goes to warn Mulaghesh of the danger. Shortly after doing so she is captured by Vohannes' older brother Volka, a fanatical follower of the god Kolkata trying to release him from his imprisonment in a pane of glass by the other Gods.

He brings her to his secret hideout where he has also captured Vohannes. He then releases Kolkan, who immediate kills Kolkan and his followers, calling them unworthy. Vohannes is killed after this and Shara is able to hide with the aid of magic. Kolkan leaves to purify Bukilov with the aid of magical soldiers.

Shara takes a large dose of the psychedelic pills that can aid in the the performance of miracles (consult a doctor if the effects last longer than 4 hours). This allows her to destroy Kolkans soldiers. Meanwhile Sigrud has destroyed the fleet of airships and crashes the remaining one down on Kolkan's head destroying his mask and outfit and revealing him to a fusion of both Kolkan and Jukov.

Jukov, a trickster God had hid from the Kaj by sealing himself into Kolkan's prison, with undesirable consequences. The Gods become saddened and desire death and Shara is able to end their life with the god killing metal.

Days afterwards Shara encounters Olvos, the last remaining God. In their discussion Olvos reveals that the Kaj was her and Jukov's daughter.

Shara figures out that Efrem had guessed at the Kaj's parentage, and her Aunt Vinya had him killed to safeguard her own descendency from the very Gods her nation killed. Shara blackmails her into giving up her position and letting Shara return.

The book ends with her convincing Sigrud to return to his homeland and reshape his nation. She scatters the ashes into the sea and heads for her homeland to take power and restore equality to the nations.

Characters:
Shara Komayd: A secret agent out in the field too long. She is prevented from returning to her home on account of the secrets she has learned on her missions. She is intelligent and a rapid problem solver. Her knowledge of history and miracles unrivaled. In this book she has to deal with her pain: the pain of lost love, the pain of betrayal, and the pain of being without a home.

Sigrud: A former member of a ruling family in the north. He is a deeply scarred man, both physically and mentally. He proved himself to be unstoppable competent into fighting and man related skills. While out at sea his family is killed and afterwards he is tortured and imprisoned for years until Shara saves him, telling him that his wife and children survived. He is man of quiet capability, strong and resolved in what he can do. The book sees him returning to face his past in the north.

Vohannes Votrov: Shaped in many ways by the doctrines of the Kolkan religion. He battles the demons his fathers disappointment has left on him. His physical disability is a reflection and a symbol of the intolerances of the Kolkan religion around sexuality. He is man of intelligence and ideals, shaped into resolute defiance of everything that would deny himself of who he is.

Mulaghesh: The tough as nails commander. Tired of bureaucratic politics she wants to retire in peace. She is strong and fearless.

Reflection on the book:

In many ways this book is pretty straightforward storytelling. That story twists genres and expectations. But it is more a feat of story crafting and world-buliding than anything else.The characters have an uncommon depth to them. But that depth is revealed through their pasts coming to light rather than their interactions in the novel.

The relationship between Shara and Vohannes is the most interesting character interaction in the book. And frankly, Shara and Sigrud, while they compliment each other perfectly, don't really have any intimate memorable moments. I struggle to even think of anytime they talk about something outside their mission other than when she rescues him and the last couple pages of the book.

The relationship is one I've seen before in Artemis Fowl. The super genius code-breaking and mystery solving protagonist and their invincible devoted stoic bodyguard. I loved the Artemis Fowl books, but it may be that my familiarity with them took from my ability to see these two as something new- as awesome and well crafted as they are.

There are pretty obvious religious parallels and undercurrents in the books, and I really enjoy that type of thing. The books message reminds me a lot of the Genealogy of Morals by Nietzsche. Nietzsche rebelled against the concept that we have people that we admire and these people form our morals. He offers that instead we have the powerful, who shape our morals through their positions of influence.

In the same way Bennett is saying that we craft our religions and our gods to fit what we want. Rather than what people would otherwise say- that we have Gods and high ideals that shape our religions. He at least is implying a more symbiotic relationship between the creation of religion than proponents of pure divine revelation might want to think.

Favorite Quotes:

We think we move, we run, we push forward, but, I think, in many ways we are still running in place, trapped in a moment that happened to us long ago."

The world is a coward, he thinks. It does not change before your face; it waits until your back is turned and pounces.

Vohannes death speech on shame.

Too many things, too many, all in one. Too many things I needed to be. Too many people I needed to serve. Too much, too much... the world is too much.