Archive for the ‘Chanh Quach’ Category
City of Miracles, by Robert Jackson Bennett
published May 2017
where I got it: purchased new
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All artwork (other than the book’s cover art) in this post is by the very talented Chanh Quach. You can view the rest of her Divine Cities character portraits here.
This is the third book in a trilogy, and I’m a little jealous of people who will read City of Miracles as their first Divine Cities book. How different would City of Stairs be if you already knew Sigrud’s secrets, if you already had Vinya’s backstory? I imagine those early conversations would read much differently and have layers of subtext.
Picking up twenty years after the events in City of Stairs, City of Miracles feels slower, more introspective, and less subtle than the previous installments in the trilogy. The pace and quietness reflects Sigrud’s personality – he’s not slow by any means, but he’s self contained, doesn’t waste words, and comes to things on his own terms. Still wanted by the government for his actions after his daughter’s death, he’s been living in hiding under an assumed name. At his age, he should be slowing down, but to Sigrud one day is timelessly much like the next – he patiently waits for Ashara Komayd to contact him, he keeps to himself, and if anyone suspects his identity, he disappears. In the first two Divine Cities books, Sigrud stole every scene he was in, so it is nice to have an entire novel where he is the star of the show.
artwork by Chanh Quach
As with other Robert Jackson Bennett books, the world building in City of Miracles is fantastic. Gorgeously rendered city scapes, barren hinterlands, everything in between, and more importantly everything has a history. When you close your eyes, you see it, you are there, you can hear the breeze through the trees, you can find someone nearby who can tell the story of those ruins. In the twenty years since we first met Shara and Sigrud, the world has changed. A young industrial revolution, of sorts – more automobiles, a sky gondola contraption that goes over the mountains instead of through them, more telephones, etc. As the younger generation is excited about these new technological developments, the older generation is still getting used to a changing world.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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