The Founders Trilogy

Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett follows Sancia Grado, a skilled thief in the city of Tevanne, who steals a powerful artifact linked to the magical technology of scriving. This technology allows objects to be imbued with sentience through coded commands and has been exploited by the ruling Merchant Houses to enforce a rigid capitalist order. As Sancia becomes entangled in a conflict over control of the artifact, she must navigate political intrigue and harness its power to survive. The novel explores themes of magic, technology, and transformation within a high fantasy setting that includes queer and LGBT elements.

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett continues the story of thief-turned-revolutionary Sancia Grado in the industrialized fantasy city of Tevanne, where magic functions like advanced technology. As Sancia and her diverse allies work to spread scriving—magic that grants objects awareness and complex commands—to ordinary citizens, they threaten the power of the merchant houses that control the city. Their plans are disrupted when an enemy attempts to restore a legendary hierophant, a once-human scriver who has effectively become a godlike being. The novel blends dark urban fantasy, high-stakes magical warfare, and queer character dynamics as Sancia confronts the possibility that only another constructed god might be able to oppose this resurrected power.

Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett concludes the Founders trilogy with a dark, high-stakes blend of fantasy and science fiction. Sancia, Clef, and Berenice now confront a distributed, near-divine intelligence that uses scriving magic to occupy both machines and human minds, turning the world into a battlefield. Backed by a radically transformed society built through progression-style magical technology, they attempt to liberate controlled hosts and dismantle monstrous war engines while an unstoppable enemy advances toward a reality-shaping gateway. As they race to uncover the origins of scriving and plan an audacious heist at the heart of their opponent’s power, internal betrayal and the moral costs of their own transformations give this war-driven, queer-inclusive narrative its tense, adult tone.