Sahi

When I first saw the blurb of this book, I was excited for it. It seemed like a promising entertaining rom-com (which I enjoy a lot) with a political/royal backdrop that felt like icing on the cake. However, this has just turned out to be soooooo much more. I don't even have proper words to describe how much I loved it – just know that I have already read it twice in three days because once was definitely not enough. This book has brought me lots of smiles and tears, joy, hope and optimism; so be prepared for a very rambling incoherent mess of gushing words masquerading as a review below.

I will be upfront and tell you all that I am a “The West Wing” (TV Show) junkie. There's just something so hopeful about watching a group of people working so hard in politics for the sake of the welfare of the people, without cynicism, with a lot of positivity and genuine interest in public service. Especially considering the dog whistle politics of our current times and the sh*t show we have been subjected to for more than two years now, I am very much thankful for the escapist/alternate reality setting in this book where a Female Texan Democrat with biracial children got elected as President in 2016 and is now up for reelection. It's probably too unrealistic but it's also something I didn't know I needed and the experience has been wonderful. The people working in the White House, the members of the First Family and everyone around them, the Senators we do get to meet in this book are in it for making the world better in the midst of hate and vitriol and scandals and I totally lapped it up. I sincerely hope we do get to see a President Ellen Claremont in our reality too.

Now coming to the characters. I usually prefer first person dual POVs in romance novels but this story being told in third person from Alex's perspective just felt too perfect. He is such a wonderful protagonist. He is America's heartthrob, charming, attractive, funny with massive approval ratings but that's not all he is. He has aspirations of his own – he is super smart and extremely politically aware, wants to be an active part of the reelection campaign even before he is done with his college graduation, and is already working hard towards his goal of being the youngest member of Congress in modern history. He can also be pretty hyper and over involved in things and forget the whole world around him, but as the story progresses we realize it is more like a defense mechanism that he uses to get past the things that are the root of his anxiety. I completely fell in love with him from the get go and it was great following his story.

Prince Henry of England is pretty much the opposite of Alex, atleast in appearances – beautiful and stoic and reserved and I loved the initial antagonistic nature of their interactions. It's pretty much obvious right from the beginning that their “arch-nemesis” vibe is less to do with not liking each other and more to do with the unresolved sexual tension but I appreciate the author for developing their friendship first. Through his conversations with Alex, we see that Henry is unlike the other royal family members, is very soft-hearted and thoughtful, doesn't want to take the traditional military route and concentrate more on his philanthropic aspirations that he shares with his best friend Pez. There is also an underlying sadness to him due to losing his father at a young age and watching him go through his periods of (possible) depression made me very sad. However, Alex understands and falls in love with all of him and the progression of their relationship from friendship to love was a beauty to behold and completely warmed my heart.

As theirs is essentially a long distance relationship, we get to read a lot of text messages, group chats and emails. And god those long emails.... I've seen a couple of reviewers complain that they didn't like them but I was living for them. They were pure, unadulterated, heartfelt love letters and my sappy heart was just waiting for more and more. Alex and Henry just pour out their hearts into words and they are beautiful to read. And these characters are complete nerds, so they also quote love letters from iconic historical figures and those were so much fun. I actually googled more of these historical (some possibly queer) love letters and it was an amazing experience. And the names and titles that Alex and Henry use to refer to themselves and each other are downright hysterical and I have to commend the author for her inventiveness. Their chemistry is absolutely delicious and the intimate scenes are written in a way I've not read before – very steamy and fun and full of feeling but with none of the usual vocabulary that we are used to in a New Adult book. I was totally impressed by the writing in every scene where they are together.

The advantage of a book with more than 400 pages is that it provides ample opportunity for well fleshed out side characters and I think the author does a bang up job at it. Alex's sister June is the one in the trio who keeps them steady when both Alex and Nora are too absorbed in their work. She is a journalism graduate and it was interesting to see her struggle with being unable to pursue her dream job because of journalistic neutrality and through the book, we see her figure out what other dreams she can pursue and how much she wants to be involved in her mother's politics. Nora, the Veep's granddaughter is the smartest of the trio, the data analysis guru (à la Nate Silver) who is always crunching numbers and may not seem good at emotional bonding, but is actually pretty good at giving pep talks when absolutely required. On the other side of the Atlantic are Bea – Henry's older sister who has her own issues from the past but is an absolute rock in support of her brother. And Pez... probably my favorite of the Super Six. He is like the shining star, charming and absolutely flamboyant and colorful, very comfortable in his own skin and wants to establish his charity organization internationally. All six of them may come from rich, political and royal backgrounds but they all felt so real and representative of the millennials and Gen Z – very aware of the society around them, both the good and the bad, and having a fire in their belly to do something to leave the world a better place than what they started off with.

The author also did a wonderful job in dealing with sexual identity in the book in different ways. Alex has always assumed he was straight but his realization that he may be bisexual, his introspection into all the little things that he may have dismissed before and finally being comfortable with his realization is all done with a lot of sensitivity and I really appreciated it. It also goes to show that sexuality is not set in stone that you have to decide on in your teens, people evolve and understand themselves better and sometimes, you realize things about yourself in your 20s and that's totally okay. And the genuine support he gets from his family is awesome. A female President's half-Mexican son getting outed in an election year is definitely a political hurdle, but it was good to see the family and the staff rally around him and prove that they actually do stand for the principles they espouse. In the case of Henry, he has always known that he is gay but he has to deal with the burden of the monarchy and their extreme regard for legacy and what it means to choose happiness over his birthright and country. Nora is also bisexual but she literally has no time or interest in dating and is too busy with her computers and numbers. We also have a host of other diverse characters and it all felt like a group of people around us in the real world and not tokenism.

Casey mentions in the author's note that she wanted to write a “trauma-soothing, alternate-but-realistic reality, a believably f**ked up world, but just a little better, a little more optimistic”. And she succeeds brilliantly in this endeavor. It definitely filled me with joy, gave me some hope that it is still possible to change our ugly reality, defeat the hateful, and maybe finally turn those unwinnable “red” states to “blue”. I love the way the author managed to keep the perfect balance between a swoon worthy love story and the reality of being a public figure with huge aspirations for the future.

I don't know if I have made any sense in the above almost 1500 word rant and I don't think I have truly been able to express everything that I felt while reading it , but to sum it up, this book is wonderful and it made me very happy and I recommend it to everybody. If you love pure, heartfelt love stories, then this book is for you. If you have ever binge watched The West Wing and loved it, then this book is for you. If you have felt dejected and exhausted with politics in the past two years and want to enjoy a little escape from reality, then this book is for you. In the author's own words - “I hope you found a place in here, even if just for a few pages. You are loved. I wrote this for you. Keep fighting, keep making history, keep looking after one another.”

As someone who is only trying to get into sci-fi this year, I know my limitations well and I would never have picked up this critically acclaimed award winning book by my own volition. But one of my book clubs chose this as our May BOTM and I decided I should atleast give it a try. And after finishing it, I'm both blown away by it and also a bit sad, so let me try to articulate my thoughts.

It has not been easy to maintain focus for long periods of time on a book during this pandemic. Part of why I have been gravitating towards more short fiction these days, but when I committed to this book, I wanted to see it through. For someone who almost always finishes any sized book in just a few days, this one took me almost 20 days to read. While one part of the issue was the external circumstances, the other was the subject matter of the book itself. I found the idea of first contact with extra terrestrials very fascinating and there were some chapters which completely held my interest, but I couldn't sustain that for the whole book.

The translation of this book is excellent and it never had that choppy feeling that can sometimes occur in translations. And however it might have been in the original, the book never felt difficult to read (which was how I thought it would be for me). Even the story being told in two timelines felt very easy to follow. I especially found the chapters during the Cultural revolution very fascinating, because I'm not much aware of Chinese history and it felt like a very honest look at the struggles and lives of the people of the time, on both sides of the civil war. The book is also extremely science heavy, and while I could understand what was going on in the context of the story, I could not tell you a single thing about the physics that was discussed. There were paragraphs and chapters devoted to physics discussions, most of them going over my head.

What really impressed me and what I feel is the soul of the book is the philosophical questions it asks. We have a group of humans who are fed up of humanity because we are destroying nature and environment without a care; we have another group which still cherishes humanity and wants to do anything to survive. And the author discusses both their POVs without clearly judging any of them, because they all have their valid points to make. And then there is the important question of what will happen if we do make contact with extra terrestrials - should we expect them to be a higher evolved intelligence than us and hope to learn from them?? Is it even possible to coexist with an advanced civilization? And why do we humans who can't coexist with the people who live in other countries, who wage wars constantly and perpetuate mass killings of people, expect an outside civilization to be benevolent and grant us knowledge? These are some very interesting questions to ponder on and I know I'll be thinking about them for a while.

I was initially intimidated when I saw the cast of characters at the beginning, but I quickly understood who were the main influencers in the story and was able to follow along. However, being used to first person POVs, this third person narrative felt very distant and I couldn't connect to anyone. Even when I could objectively understand that something bad was gonna happen, I wasn't emotionally attached to any of them to care enough. Also, except one main protagonist, there are hardly any female characters around which I thought was a real miss; and among the ones who were present, I felt that none of them were shown in any good light.

In the end, this is a book that definitely deserves all the prestige bestowed on it because of the concepts and philosophies it discusses, in a mostly accessible manner. It is more of an introspective book than an action packed alien invasion adventure novel, so you should keep that in mind before deciding to pick it up. If you are someone who is new to sci-fi like me, I would suggest reading more science fiction novels before venturing into this series. But if you are a science/physics nerd, then this would probably feel like home. I still haven't decided if I want to continue with the series, but we shall see.

The Divine Cities trilogy is one of my favorite reads from last year and probably one of the most impactful fantasies I have ever read. Though I never went back to reading RJB's earlier works, I knew I would want to check out his upcoming books. When I realized the ARCs for his latest were available, I had my fingers crossed and I can't describe the elation I felt when my request was approved. Foundryside is another amazing action packed new fantasy series with interesting characters, a corrupt city and a rich history full of almost godlike beings.

Sancia Garbo is a master thief in the city of Tevanne who is on her way to her latest job, which might just provide a solution to all her troubles. When she realizes the object she has stolen might lead to devastating consequences in the wrong hands, it's obvious that she might not be safe anymore. Captain Gregor Dandolo is a righteous war veteran who just wants to bring some law and justice to his city where none exist and wants to start that by bringing the thief who stole from his warehouse and burned half the waterfront to justice. What starts off as a typical cops and robbers type of chase turns into much more when assassins start looking for Sancia and Gregor is caught in the crossfire. Both of them join hands with an unlikely crew to dig deeper and figure out the conspiracy that might have far reaching consequences to their world.

The worldbuilding here is rich and masterful and it comes alive in the skilled hands of RJB. Tevanne is a city divided between the four merchant house compounds who are law unto themselves. Anyone who can't afford to live in the campos has to make do living in the slums between the compounds called The Commons where there is hardly any food or work and every day is a struggle to survive. The merchant houses have become all powerful and rich using the magic system called “scriving”, which is a way of writing sigils on objects that make them slightly sentient and change their reality – like making a carriage believe it's always going downhill so that it goes faster and without a driver (or) making an arrow believe it has been falling down from a much longer distance so that it hits with a very high velocity. As the story progresses, we get to know about more complicated scrivings, the scrivers who are responsible for imagining new possibilities while keeping ahead of the rival merchant houses and the washed out scrappers who work the underground market to provide some comfort to the poor people living in the Commons.

Sancia is an excellent protagonist. She is fiery, angry and pragmatic, her survival skills are top notch and she is extremely brave. Her past as a tortured slave still haunts her, leaving her with some form of PTSD. Her special talents also make her a unique being in the city, someone who could be used for nefarious purposes but the way her character is written is very realistic and likable and she never falls into the “special snowflake” trope. Gregor starts off as the stereotype of a soldier – proper, polite, righteous, thinks he can bring about a change by just instituting laws – but he quickly sees through the rampant corruption of the merchant houses, especially by listening to Sancia's history and resolves that the city needs a revolution. Orso is the master scriver of Dandolo house and comes across as a pretentious academic, but he is ultimately just a seeker of knowledge and has his heart in the right place. His assistant Berenice is talented and confident and can think on her feet even in dire situations rigging up scrived objects to get them out. Claudia and Gio are scrappers but are quick to help Sancia not just for the money, but also the opportunity to do more with their scriving talents. And most important and my favorite is Clef, the artifact that Sancia initially stole who is so much more than just a key and the one around whom much of the story revolves.

The story is full of action packed heists and chases, planning daring adventures and figuring out the history of the ancient hierophants, who did much more than just bending the reality of objects. The world and magic system is very original and unique and thoroughly detailed and I loved getting to know more about it. The writing is also very easy to read and not as intimidating or dense as other adult fantasies and I couldn't put it down once I started. Between all the life and death stakes that the characters are fighting, we also get some wit and humor – I especially enjoyed the conversations that Sancia and Clef had with scrived objects to make them do things they didn't want to.

Just like I expect from RJB, we get some subtle commentary on the effects of slavery, how rampant and unchecked capitalism concentrates wealth and power in the hands of the few and lets the ordinary people suffer, how the pursuit of knowledge run amok can blur the lines of morality. The parallels to our world are uncanny because these are all questions we do ponder on frequently, especially with the rising wealth gap and extreme advances in biotechnology and genomics. The magic system of “scriving” and the way Sancia uses her talents to get around the loopholes in scrived objects is also eerily similar to computer programming, hacking and artificial intelligence and how the creations might get ahead of the creators one day. The author actually calls it “the magic equivalent of database management” and I think that's a brilliant analogy.

The city of Tevanne is so dependent on scriving and rigged objects that even a minute failure in an essential component can bring down the whole infrastructure; this is a direct parallel to our over dependence on technology in everyday life and the constant threat of cyber warfare and collapse of our technological infrastructure. On the other hand, the slavery in the plantations is an essential component of trade and wealth for Tevanne and none of the merchant houses care for the conditions of the slaves or how they are tortured, which is again how our world works; in most cases, we live in our own bubbles while human rights are violated every day in other parts of the world and we believe that it would never affect us. The deft way that the author incorporates all these themes into a fantasy heist story just shows his amazing talent as a writer.

I'm so much in love with this book and it's characters and I'm definitely looking forward to reading it again. This would be a delight for all Robert Jackson Bennett's fans and anyone who enjoys reading about well developed fantasy worlds with unique scientific magic systems.

Thanks to Crown Publishing and Netgalley for proving me with the advance copy of this book. All opinions expressed are solely mine.

Surely a 4.5 but just fell short of a full 5 star rating.

I'm not someone who knows much of American history - we obviously didn't need to study it in school and whatever I've gleaned through in the past few years has been by watching documentaries, tv shows or reading fiction inspired by true historical events. Even in those cases, I have probably read more about WWII because the Holocaust is one of the most horrific events that I've come to know perpetrated by design by one evil man. As far as American history is concerned, I know about important events and key figures related to the Civil war and the civil rights movement, but not much more. So, why did I pick up this book? I have no idea. I just read one glowing review on Goodreads and decided to give it a try. And whatever I was expecting it to be, it surpassed all my expectations.

The one common refrain we always hear is that history books are boring. And this book is most definitely written by a history professor. But boring it ain't. While I hoped that it would be interesting enough that I can read it slowly over the course of a week or two, I didn't expect it to suck me into it so wholly that I managed to complete in just three sittings. The author writes in such an accessible manner with lots of anecdotes and dry humor that you can't help but enjoy it. Particularly, the first half to two thirds of the book is very engrossing - the details of the events the author is describing are truly horrific and I was frankly appalled that I didn't know any of it. However, what is more appalling is that this actual history of the United States is nowhere taught in its schools. Americans might very well proclaim (and even believe in their hearts) that they are a nation built out of anti-imperialist notions, and by virtue of literally erasing all this history from their textbooks ensure that this image stays intact, but the fact is, US has been an empire and colonized millions of people since the late 19th century and continues to do so till this day.

There are many important chapters of history that the author decides to talk about, but the two which get most page time are Philippines and Puerto Rico. While I had some idea that PR is still a colony of the US and has no representation in Congress while being very dependent on federal aid, I knew nothing about how it came to be so. And I literally had no clue that Philippines, a country in Asia was colonized by the US for around 47 years. The years of oppression, the wars and massacres that were raged to quell any rebellions and exploitation of resources reads like any standard imperial fare (I've read enough about British in India to see the similarities) - it's just surprising to read because we never talk about US in the same vein as British while discussing colonization.

What was truly horrific and revolting to read about was the illegal and unethical experiments that so-called pioneers of American medicine conducted on their colonial subjects, with no regard for their consent because they didn't care about “those” people. Forced sterilizations, experimenting the initial versions of the birth control pill (with highly adverse side effects), deliberately not giving medicine to some patients to determine how they fare, and airdropping mustard gas on thousands of people to understand its effect on humans - these are not so dissimilar to what Josef Mengele did - but while one is the infamous Angel of Death, other is the father of Chemotherapy. I guess this is what it means when we say history is written by the victors.

The latter half of the book deals more with how the nature of imperialism changed after WWII and technological advances made during the war enabled it to take the form of globalization. I was utterly fascinated by the chapters about how American standards became the norm across the world in every field and ISO came to be, and the rise of English as the global connecting language. Some might think this was actually good and only happened because of “free market capitalism” and not forced on anybody, but when one country controls more than 60% of the manufacturing economy of the world, the leverage it holds is enormous and what other countries do to appease it is just pragmatism and not enthusiastic acceptance. One very stark fact that reiterates it is that while all countries across the world decided to adhere to many US standards, US still separates itself from everyone by refusing to use the metric system. This may also seem trivial to Americans because they are used to believing they are the best at everything, but as an Indian, the fear of losing our languages and ultimately our culture to the hegemony of English isn't really that unfounded.

The last section of the book about the pointillist empire is where I lost interest a little. The author rightly points out that the more than 800 US bases across the world make it an empire even now, albeit just a different kind but he doesn't go into much detail. We only get to know a little about the military bases in Japan as well the initial ones in Saudi Arabia, which eventually and very unexpectedly led to the rise of Japan as a tough industrial competitor to the US; and the accumulation of wealth by the bin Laden family and then using it to fight against the US which facilitated that wealth in the first place. The author also points out little known facts about how Guantanamo bay came to be which eventually led to its use as a detention facility, as well as the loopholes in law which led to exploitation of labor in Northern Mariana Islands even though they were by right US citizens. The author refrains from going into much detail about any of these though, and also only makes cursory references to all the wars the US has fought in after WWII. I guess this was done to limit the size of an already big book, but it just gave a feeling that some important events were glossed over.

Wow did I go on quite a rant in this review. I didn't even realize I had so much to say. To conclude, I just want to mention that this book is well written and very readable for anyone, whether you know anything about US history or not. Even if you usually find history books boring, I promise that this is very engrossing and enjoyable, mostly due to the author's excellent storytelling skills. And if you are someone who is interested to know more about the usually hidden and unknown parts of American history, you should definitely give this a try. It'll surely surprise you. And I think it's important to know this history but ignorance of it can only lead to mistakes in the future.