Sigils

Aerdh

by B.R. Sanders

The City of Mages is built, but it is not safe. One of the mages is murdering the others, and Resident 5613 has been assigned to find out why--and stop the murderer if they can.

ebook

Published June 25, 2017

About the author

B R Sanders is a white, genderqueer writer who lives and works in Denver, CO, with their family and two cats. Outside of writing, B has worked as a research psychologist, a labor organizer and a K-12 public education data specialist.

Other names I've published under (the whole B R thing gets tricky--sometimes periods get added, sometimes not, etc):
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love how I can explore this universe story by story. This time, I got to know more about the City of Magi.

However, the story itself and the characters as well fell a little short for me this time. They were too simplistic.

[RoAnna Sylver · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, Sigils is quite a different story - in length, atmosphere, and general Feel - than other B.R. Sanders work readers might be familiar with. Where Ariah was epic-fantasy-length and... 'sprawling,' but in the best use of the word (sweeping?), the densely packed mage-city where every person and area is assigned a number, feels claustrophobic, which definitely seems intentional. It's a fascinating look at a unique concept, and the idea that crime would break out in such cramped quarters makes way too much sense (especially if you've ever lived in a similarly densely populated area).

The murder mystery at its core is tense and keeps you turning pages, although it's not very hard to guess who the perpetrator is - but then, I really didn't take it as a whodunit, per se, that's not where the story's point and value lies. It's more like a location character study than a straight-up mystery, something I haven't seen a lot of. Recommended if you like super interesting worldbuilding and creepily tense atmospheres.