City of Stairs – Robert Jackson Bennett

The Continent was ruled by six Gods. Not “Gods”, in scare quotes, but real no-kidding Gods who could create miracles at will. And who thought remarkably small. (The reason for that is eventually revealed.) Enslaving the rest of the world no problem whatsoever. Then the slaves found a way to kill the Gods and rebel.

It is now less than a century later. Saypur - the nation that grew out of the rebellion - dominates the world. It especially dominates the Continent, where it has done unto others, and where any vestiges of the Gods and their works are suppressed. Shara, a senior Saypur agent, comes to the Continent to investigate a high-profile murder. (Shara is far more than a top agent. It is possible that, in the wake of the murder, she is the world’s foremost expert on the Gods and their works.) As she investigates, it becomes increasingly likely that the Gods aren’t as gone as most people believe.

City of Stairs is complete in itself. So are its two sequels. Together they also tell a larger story: The Gods get little good from their near-absolute power - and do little good to others. As the locus of power moves around, so does the locus of misery. The world does get better as the trilogy progresses, but the people who make it better are the builders, not the rulers. (Two of the major characters in the trilogy are rulers who made the world better, and both failed as rulers.)

And the story-telling starts well and never lets up.