With a little help from Gregor and Clef Orso Ignacio, the eccentric Dandolo head of research scriver Berenice Grimaldi and other singularly skilled allies, Sancia sets out to pull off the most dangerous theft of her life. When someone tries to kill Gregor to get Sancia, they discover that a very ambitious and powerful figure is building something that could 'annihilate scriving on a mass scale,' a disastrous disruption of Tevanne's society. This and Sancia's other abilities linked to a painful scar on her skull hint at strange, terrible things in her past. Clef and Sancia are both shocked when they find they can communicate telepathically.

When talented thief Sancia Grado steals a sentient golden key named Clef, she's pursued by paladin-like police captain Gregor Dandolo, scion of the Dandolo merchant house. To have a chance at surviving-and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way-Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.īennett's stunning fantasy, the first in a series, is set in Tevanne, a city-state run by four merchant houses, funded by pillaging nearby lands and powered by scrivers who use sigils to make devices that defy reality. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them. Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims. The Merchant Houses who control this magic-the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience-have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.īut unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one.

In a city that runs on industrialized magic, a secret war will be fought to overwrite reality itself-the first in a dazzling new series from City of Stairs author Robert Jackson Bennett. “Complex characters, magic that is tech and vice versa, a world bound by warring trade dynasties: Bennett will leave you in awe once you remember to breathe!”-Tamora Pierce Prepare for ancient mysteries, innovative magic, and heart-pounding heists.”-Brandon Sanderson “The exciting beginning of a promising new epic fantasy series.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett