“When you forget, you remake yourself.”

So What’s About?

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions — until its divine protectors were killed. Now, Bulikov’s history has been censored and erased, its citizens subjugated. But the surreal landscape of the city itself, forever altered by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it, stands as a haunting reminder of its former supremacy.

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched — along with her terrifying “secretary”, Sigrud — to solve a murder.

But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem, and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

What I Thought

Everyone who has talked this book up to me has been totally right! It’s really, really good. There’s a great balance of spy adventures/intrigue and really amazing magical revelations. The magic was probably my favorite part of the book overall. I loved the many descriptions of miraculous objects and miracles, as well as the written historical fragments about the Divines from different perspectives. The ultimate story that City of Stairs has to tell about the Divines is truly unique and fascinating, and I love the way it unfurls bit by bit, ultimately revealing that the Divine are shaped by their followers instead of the other way around (amongst other Dramatic Reveals). You truly get the sense of an ancient city and truly awe-inspiring magic, and the scene where Kolkan returns stands out as a highlight. The zealots who bring him back are big into denouncing the sins of the modern world and bringing back all the old rules, but they are all then horrifically smited by Kolkan because some of his arbitrary rules had been forgotten to history. It’s a great statement on that kind of zealotry focused on hard interpretations of old religious texts and rules. I also loved the followers of Olvas and the final conversation with her at the end. Generally speaking, I think everything to do with faith, history and magic is phenomenal in this book.

The book's representation of conquest is also interesting, especially in the way that lots of history has been lost and purposefully erased and obfuscated, including the way that Saypur has deliberately denied the Continent its history, culture and religion. A messy political arena has developed in Bulikov after its destruction and because of its oppression, with nationalist zealots and those who seek to make their country richer by modernizing and forming alliances with Saypur, and the ever-present and resented oppressors. Overall, this part of the book felt like another strength to me.

Shara herself was kind of a middling protagonist to me; she’s smart and quippy and she loves history, but her main personality trait that really stands out is that she drinks a lot of tea. We’re also told many times that she’s the best Saypuri agent around, but she doesn’t do a whole lot to back up that opinion in the book and is quite often manipulated and outsmarted. In the scene where Volkan reveals that he’s not Vohannes, she takes an astonishing amount of time to realize what’s actually happening long after his monologuing has made it all abundantly clear. And while she gets credit for killing the sea monster and stopping Kolkan’s invasion, I kind of feel like Sigrud was the real hero in both of these scenarios. The good news for me is that Sigrud is the protagonist in the following book!