u/Emotional_Comb_4064

Asking cuz r/Fantasy is really serious where every post that isn't bingo/review gets taken down, and I'm looking for some casual chill place with memes etc

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to put anyone or anything down; English is not my first language. Obviously Spoilers!

So I just finished City of Stairs, and unfortunately overall I feel kinda disspointed. What got me to read it was the premise - the Blink, political tension, murder mystery

But the thing, I feel like the book doesn't really know what it's supposed to be. It starts out as what it feels like a somewhat dark and grounded political murder mystery thriller with pacing on a slower side. And then you have >!Sigrud fight a giant monster and realizing he's immune to it's powers cuz he got the mark of Kolkan!<. Like this literally feels like an asspull. I would expect to see sth like this in a shonen anime (I love those, no hate), not in the City of Stairs

Also, at some point I seriously started to question if I accidentally skipped some chapters, cuz the whole resolution with >!Kolkan ressurection and especially his "condition" and defeat felt so weird. Like I understand that Jukov and Kolkan were merged together and suffering, but why the sudden change? So first they appear as just Kolkan, passing judgement, raising armies and then suddenly after being hit by a ship they don't wanna live anymore cuz they are are merged!<

Overall, I feel like the book heavily fell of after mby the first half, and shifted direction from a thriller to action adventure with some elements of mystery. I'm not really sure how to put it into words. It just felt way more action-packed, light hearted and simple

I understand that my own expectations are partly at fault, but still

Please, share your experience in the comments, it would be really interesting to read, especially since I expect most people to enjoy the book a lot more, given that it has a pretty good rating on Storygraph