Foundryside

I have been so excited to read this book because I have seen so many book reviewers raving about it. However, it fell short for me.
Let me start off by saying that the world building and the magic system are some of the most interesting I've read in the fantasy genre. Bending reality to do certain things is bizarre and hard to wrap your mind around while reading, but ultimately is so fresh and interesting.
However, because of the complexity of this world, half of the book felt like an instruction manual to me. I felt like I was just trying to learn how everything works with a little bit of a story sprinkled in through much of the beginning of the book. Sancia as a character is fun, and I love heist stories, but I just couldn't get behind some of these characters. They were entertaining, but I didn't feel emotionally connected to them in any way.
The ending really turned much of this book around for me. I texted my husband as soon as I finished and was like “I take back everything I said I loved it”. Now that I've sat with it, I still agree with my critiques, but the ending really was suspenseful and super fun. I'm excited to read the second, and I hope that now that we've learned how a lot of the world works, we will be able to dive right into the story.