Two of Swords is the new
serialised novel by K.J. Parker. The first seven parts are available now, and
run to about eighty pages each. Further parts will be made available on a
monthly basis. I’m going to try and put out a review for one of the currently available
parts each week, and then review each new part in the month where it becomes
available.
Part Seven of the series keeps up the tradition of
perspective changes. In this case, we’re
taken into the mind of the Emperor, one of the men at the heart of the war
tearing apart the Empire. We last saw him at the close of his meeting with one
of the Belot brothers in Part Six, where he impressed as an avatar of acuity
and focus. It’s interesting to see Parker bring back the motif of doubles again
here – two Empires, two Belot brothers, whose personal struggles have ended
with them leading the opposing empires for those Empires…and two Emperors.
The Emperor we see here is not quite the same as the one
from Part Six. He feels more vulnerable, more fragile. There’s meditations on
age here – not least as the Emperor ascends a long set of stairs to the summit
of his observatory. There’s also some discussion around mortality – events conspire
to make our new protagonist aware of the fragility and immediacy of his
existence.
This segment is particularly short – something in the area
of forty pages. Perhaps as a result, there’s not much exploration of the world
in which the Emperor lives. I would have liked to have seen more of the palace.
But it’s part of the growing ascension of intimacy in the segments – we began
with sweeping events, seen at low levels, and now seem to be in an area of
character studies of those who make, or think they make, the decisions everyone
else suffers under. Most of the page
count is spent, as above, on the Emperor, on his thoughts, feelings and
desires, and not on events, per se. This is a piece of prose based on
reflection, in the main.
That isn’t to say that it isn’t fascinating. Parker’s
trademark prose is in full spate here. There’s
some wonderfully wry observations on both the Belot brothers, and the
art of governing more generally. As ever, it’s a pleasure to read. And although
the build-up is gradual, the narrative definitely carries some heft by the
close. There’s a sense of events teetering on a cusp, of the opportunity for
change, and the risk of stagnation.
Parker takes the time, not to answer questions raised by previous
segments, but to suggest that those questions do, in fact, have answers – and then
to ask more questions. It’s not advancing
the plot, so much as it is opening it up, giving the arcs so far a broader
application, and leaving the situation open to change.
Overall then, this is a decent segment in the ongoing story.
We get an interesting new viewpoint, which also has quite a lot to say on the
broader stage. And we get to see the plot begin to shift across the pages,
events unfurling in new and intriguing ways. I tore through this, and enjoyed
it immensely, despite the initial slow pace – I just wish it hadn’t been over
quite as soon as it was!
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