City of Stairs
Robert Jackson Bennett
Worshippers and their gods
I am reading Robert Jackson Bennett out of order. I started with his Founder's Trilogy, which I loved, so now I'm traveling back in publication time to his Divine Cities Trilogy. From that inverted perspective, there is a perceptible similarity in world-building. Both are fantasy series, and there is magic in them. Bennett's magic systems are very mechanistic -- he could, and at least in the Founder's Trilogy does, tell you in considerable detail exactly how a magic spell or device works. In the Founder's Trilogy it's software engineering -- in the Divine Cities it's burocracy. In City of Stairs magic spells are called "miracles", because they are accomplished only with the aid of gods. They nevertheless have very much the form of magic spells in other books: the magic/miracle user recites a few words and makes gestures, and predictable useful effects ensue. These spells/miracles work as follows
Miracles are just formal requests, Shara thinks wildly. It’s like having a form preprinted and filled out and handing it in to get exactly what you want!
Two nations are important in City of Stairs: the Continent, and Saypur. I think of them geographically as like India and Indonesia. (In fact, in an interview Bennett said that he conceived of Shara, the protagonist, as a Southeast Asian woman, so my Indonesia guess was not far off.) The Continent has the gods. Because of the power of their miracles, the Continent was able to conquer most of the world, including Saypur. Many years ago Saypur was occupied and oppressed by the Continent, and Saypuri memories are still bitter. Some 80 years ago Saypur revolted. A Saypuri warrior killed the gods. and conquered the Continent. Saypur now rules the Continent. The old religions are suppressed by Saypuri edict, and the bitterness is now on the other foot.
The story starts as a murder mystery. A Saypuri scholar, who was studying in Bulikov, the capital city of the Continent, has been killed. Shara Thivani, a Saypuri spy, shows up to investigate his murder. But, as is almost always the case in fantasy, there is a bigger mystery -- the mystery of the nature of reality in this world. In particular, Shara's investigation mainly concerns the nature of the gods and their powers.
Gods are created and shaped by their worshippers, and get their power from worship. This is not a new idea -- indeed, the clearest exposition that I remember to have read is offered by Puck in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. Shara eventually figures out that people have as much power over the gods as the gods have over them.
Aside from the world-building, the chief splendor of City of Stairs is the characters. Shara is intelligent and creative -- easy to admire. The chief officer of the occupying Saypuri military, Colonel Turyin Mulaghesh, is tremendous fun. And Shara's personal secretary Sigrud is also rather splendid in a quite different way. In fact, I understand that Mulaghesh is the hero of City of Blades and Sigrud of City of Miracles. I certainly intend to read them.