A Practical Guide to Conquering the World - K.J. Parker

I'm going to open with, this is an excellent K.J. parker book. If you're already a fan, then you'll know what you're getting here. Cynicism, witty banter, a lot of wry humour, and politics, scheming, and people whose motives are less than clear. It's maybe a little less dark than some of their other work, but still not afraid to explore the truth of what people are actually like, behind the stories that they write for themselves. 

Actually, that's one of the central themes here. The protagonist is trying to make the best of the situation from the preceding two books in the series - the destruction of the Empire he called home. At least until it was burnt ot the ground. Now he's living on charity and trying to work out where ot go from here. Saving his skin leads to consequneces that escalate his visibility, which leads to more actions, well, in line with the story title. 

Felix, the protagonist, is wonderfully drawn, and fits the mode of other Parker leads. He's introverted, intelligent, has a deep affection for books and knowledge, and mostly wants to be left alone. His narrative is self deprecating, sharp edged and unforgiving, but it also cloaks a lot of his motivations. Why Felix does what he does is a bit of a mystery, not just to the reader, but to himself. There are always reasons privuded, both to him and us, and the joy is that they're always sensible, plausible reasons. But it often turns out that they were also bullshit. Or they were true, but in service to a different goal. Parker is a star turn at creaitng characters with multi-layered motivaitons, and that's not changed here. 

The story is one I don't want to go into great depth on, because its evolution is par tof what make sit so conmpelling. But the progression from lowly translator sleeping on the floor, to someone conquering the world, and afterwards, is artfully paced, and the world is one which is filled with detail and vividly realised. There's a lot of politics and talking, and a lot of careful planning of battles, and seeing how that actually goes - and the epxloration of expectaiton and reality in military matters is compelling enough to keep you turning pages, and it certainly serves to build tension. 

In the end, this is, well, it's K.J. Parker. This is an author interested in history, in the lies we tell the world and outselves. In digging into things which are true and hidden, and working out if there actually is a nugget of truth under all the nonsense. Or if we are driven to do what we do by the winds of circumstance and historicla chance. There's whip-smart characterisation, a story whose pacing is set up perfectly to ratchet tension and keep you turning pages, and some rock solid worldbuilding. It's a story that's an absolute pleasure to read, and one I'd recommend to existing fans; it does also work as a standalone for neophytes, but the extra textural details you get from the preceding books are great fun, so maybe read this last.

Anyway, overall, a highly entertaining read, and one I do not hesitate to recommend. 

Last Exit - Max Gladstone

Alright. Lets talk about Last Exit, a standalone novel from Max Gladstone. A story about people jumping between worlds and back again. Sometimes those worlds are physical, real things that show us different versions of ourselves. And sometimes those words are all in the mind, living out the story of what was and what could have been, the loss of promise, the loss of pride and what you’re willing to sacrifice, or hold onto, and why. 

Which is all a bit vague, but believe me when I tell you, first of all, that Max Gladstone is one of the finest writers working in science fiction today, and secondly, that even for him, this is a damn fine book.It’s one that will challenge you, make you think. But also one which will make you feel, from the razored pain in your gut as inevitable tragedies roll on, to the searing hope of the struggle against them. And, you know, it’s also got a story in there sharp enough and smart enough that I was found reading it at 3am, even though I knew I was getting up with a tired child a few hours later. That may make me an idiot, but it speaks to the power of the prose between the covers on this one. 

Zelda is, at least arguably, the protagonist. At university, she learned to skip between parallel realities, and taught her friends. They were an adventuring party of questers, heroe sin search of a grail - looking to turn back a tide of rot which was shattering the worlds they found. And then, at the last, at hideous cost, they failed. The survivors scattered to the winds, to live their lives, to forget what they’d sene, or to prepare for it. Only Zelda was left, walking the ways between the worlds, a penance and a punishment in one. But now, things have changed. Now, Zelda has to get her team back together, despite the losses, despite the scars, despite history or lack of it. Or their world is going to end.  

The book promises a lot in that premise, and I’ll say this, it absolutely, one hundred percent delivers. From shattered dystopian hellscapes filled with flesh-eating annites, to Mad-Max style road-warriors, from bandit camps to eldritch castles, we can see a whole host of worlds other than our own, imaginatively constructed, as real as we feel them to be, and as horrifying, too. This is a book showing us our future in a handful of dust. And our own world has that lived in feel, too. The glint of grit and sheen of slime over chrome that makes us feel a little on edge outside the door. The smiles and rages of passers-by, the sorts fields, the halloween parties, the quiet drinks and intimate encounters that give us all life and feeling are, well, all there. This is a space which blends unreality with the real, and makes it feel true. 

Part of that is the characters, of course. In large part who they are, their shared history, quiet wounds and old loves, those are revealed through the course of the text. Which…makes them rather hard to talk about. So, we can talk a little about Zelda, who we meet first, and we can talk broadly about her supporting cast without spoiling anything. And I have to say, I do rather like Zelda. She’s a walking wound on the world, a scarred over trauma looking for an excuse to be done with everything, to wash her hand sof all of it. To atone for losses she thinks she caused, living with her own hubris, her own mistakes, and arguing against her past self whose notions of heroism and pride led her toward what she feels is a catastrophic error, an error from which other people bore the cost. Hardened, perhaps not, but calloused, yes - living an existence on the boundaries, on the space between things, Zelda is counting the cost of old choices. Trying to save the world one incident at a time, scouring the country to fight back a tide of things that almost no-one else knows about, and even fewer are able to convince themselves to care about. Zelda is worn, and tired, and the only thing she’s more done with than your shit is her own. Zelda is worn down, smart, exhausted, bitter, and so wrapped up in her own anti-legend that she maybe doesn’t have the best perspectiv eon things. 

And that’s true of all of her friends, to be fair. The survivors of the team that failed to save everything years ago. They’re still, in some ways, living in that past. Trying to move on from it in their own ways, or reacting to it, defending themselves from a trauma deep and real and painful, looking back at their own youth and trying to understand it, make it make sense. These are people who have been hurt, paid a price for what they thought was something, and came to nothing, people who have seen the cost of believing the narrative - but who also know their friends, know them as people, love them, and don’t know how to make the world and their friendships stand together.There’s…a lot that will get unpacke dhere, about truth and the lies we tell ourselves. About age old pain, about hurt and how it shapes us as children, as adults.. About how we chose to be who we are, shaping the things that shape us in turn. And about the power of hope, and love, and friendship, and how even when those things may not be enough, they can be enough. 

This is a story about how people who failed ot save the world are going to have to try again. About love and loss, about tragedy and understanding, and deciding who we are as people, who we want to be. About trying to change the world, in one way or another, and about deciding to do better, to be better. It’s a fierce, fiery gem of a book, one with edges so sharp you’ll cut yourself, and a light so bright it’ll show you things you’ve never seen before. It’s a damn fine story, and very much something you’ll want to read.

Back in 2022!

 Hello friends!

It's been a long hard couple of years for all of us. 

Thanks for sticking with us this far, and I hope you've found something here that you enjoy, or something that makes you think. Or even something that made you smile, made you feel seen, made you feel not alone in this community of readers and writers exploring the idea of humanity through other lenses.

We're off to recharge our batteries until January; we'll see you all then. In the meantime, keep fighting, keep smiling, you got this.

Through Struggle, The Stars - John Lumpkin

Through Struggle, The Stars is the first part of a military-focued science fiction duology by John Lumpkin.

First up: is it good? I’m going to say yes. If you’re in the mood for a hit of mil-SF, this is going to hit a lot of good points for you. It has well thought out, well described space combat. It has kinetic, visceral ground engagements. The writer has clearly done their research, so there’s a lot of cool, plausibly defined tech on display. And we get to delve into a part of the military sphere that you see less often in the genre (Military Intelligence). There’s valour and duty and blood, hard actions and harder consequences. There’s a story that kept me interested and turning pages. That said, there’s some flaws, too. More on that in a minute.

Our protagonist, Neil, is a young graduate of the US military, in a world where the US is now a declining power in a space-diaspora universe, uncomfortably wedged below China and Japan in terms of political power. Still, the US is out there in a universe with systems connected by artificial wormhole,s colonising in the name of truth and democracy. Neil is a little introverted, perhaps, and a little unsure of himself, a man trying to shake off the trappings of his adolescence. This works pretty well most of the time - as Neil learns the ropes of his new role in the military, so do we. As he gets to know his commander and her officers, so do we. As he befriends his lower-decks colleagues, so do we. He’s an accessible everyman, with a precise, thoughtful intelligence which means that the reader is never that far ahead of him in uncovering mystery or considering consequences. I do find there’s a tendency to tell us about his insecurities, rather than letting internal dialogue or external circumstance highlight them; for me that felt a little narratively heavy handed, but its not a deal breaker, and you may prefer that style. Neil is smart, a little naive, a little rough-edged, pushed into a pond and trying to get his feet under him. 

In this he’s aided by both those above him, and some of his friends. The latter are a good bunch, and we do occasionally get to see things from their viewpoint as well as Neil’s. I think when we look at them in isolation, they work - having thoughts and feelings and needs enough of their own to feel rounded. Some of the interactions with neil feel a little flat, though; I was particularly flummoxed by a romance which seemed like it lacked chemistry, one where the characters on the page were wondering why they were bothering as much as I was as a reader. But the friendships, the banter, the camaraderie, the pivots from the small joys to the higher duties, these all ring true. 

If we diverge for a moment, we can talk about space battles. Occasionally, Neil, being part of the intel section of a ship of war, gets into some scrapes. And those are marvellously drawn. Well thought out, considered, but at the same time having a tension and a pressure to them that makes every kinetic strike at once a tragedy and a relief. It’s a ballet of equations and superior firepower. I can’t stress enough how much fun the battles are to read, how quickly you’re drawn in, and how real it feels. The conflict is marvellously done. 

I’m not sure the same is true of the central antagonist.  They’re, well, just a bit of a monster, really. Some of the secondary challenges that Neil and his ship face over the course of the story are people doing what they think is the right thing, but the central pillar is one of psite and malice and just, general awfulness. Which is fair enough, in its way, but it would be nice to see a more nuanced driver for some of the problems thrown in the path of our hero, beyond moustache-twirling baddie. That said, the villain is suitably entertainingly horribly villainous, so I can’t complain too much. 

The story is all military engagement, politics, mysteries and mayhem. And it’s no bad thing. You can chew on it happily, and have a good, action-packed time.I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say it’s entertaining, and an adventure, and that you’ll have a good time reading it. There’s all the duty and honour you can shake a stick at, some good heroics, and some skulduggery and realities of war mixed in there, too. It’s a clever, entertaining read, so if you’re looking for some Mil-SF, give it a try.

Penric's Demon - Lois McMaster Bujold

As many of you have probably figured out by now, I'm a big fan of Bujold's work. Her science fiction, at least. The Vorkosigan Saga, an intergenerational family drama blended with adventure, politics, romance and, well, a lot more, is to my mind one of the seminal work sin the field. But somehow, I've mostly not cast an eye over her fantasy work.

Which, it turns out, is a shame, because it's a lot of fun!

Penric's Demon is the start of a series of novellae focused on the eponymous Penric. As the story begins, he's on his way to a wedding. Well, his wedding. One he doesn't seem overly enthused about, but which, as the dutiful younger son to a minor noble house, he feels obliged to go through with. Things take, well, lets call it a turn from there, and by the close, Penric's world has been changed forever. Possibly for the better!

The worldbuilding is, as you might expect from an author of Bujold's character, top notch. Given the form, she's clear and concise in her descriptions, getting you as much of a payload of "world" as possible in relatively few words. If there aren't any multi-page descriptions of food (sorry, GRRM fans!), there's context cluses and dialogue asides to keep us grounded in Penric's world, and enough description with tightly observed, precise details to make that world feel fleshed out and lived in. The story gives us enough context to play itself out; it wouls be churlish to want more. In a larger novel, I probably would, but here, what we have works wonderfully, building up enough of a framework of society, culture and environment that you can fill in the blanks yourself. 

Interestingly, these Penric stories take plac ein the same world as some of Bujold's other fantasy work; I certainly didn't need to have read them to get a lot of enjoyment out of this story and its world, though I might go and try those other novels out at some point, for the extra flavour. 

In terms of character, we see the same focus and precision given to Penric as we do to his world. In his actions, and in his internal dialogue, we find a young man in a rut, acting out of a sens eof family and duty, conscious of limited horizons, tolerating and chafing around their edges. He's a good lad, and an affable, likable protagonist. As things move along, he proves to have some hidden depths as well. I think the only flaw here is that the other characters, broadly, get less attention than I would like, and we don't see much of the motives of, for example, those antagonists whim Penric runs across. On the other hand, what we do have in this short space of narrative is very well done - Penric's family are, given a few traits on the page, people we can all identify with and have probably met in some form or other ourselves, and if the antagonists are mostly nasty pieces of work, still, they pull it off convincingly. There's certainly enough here to make you give a crap about the people on the page.

The story itself, well, I shan't spoil it, but it shifts along reasonably well. There's a certain amount of setup, as one might expect from the start of a series ("This is the protagonist.."). But once things get rolling, there's enough wit, banter, excitement, peril and chaos for anybody. This feels like a bite size read, in a good way; i found it hard to stop reading, and the short form encouraged me not to. I suppose my only real complaint is that though there's a complete story in here, I really wanted more. Which, well, fortunately there's another nine or ten of these stories, so that's not really a problem. This is a quick, entertaining tale that made me chuckle occasionally, and had some surprisingly effective emotional moments - it's a good time, a nifty adventure, and if you want a literary snack, this is definitely worth your time.

Jade Legacy - Fonda Lee

Jade Legacy is the final part of Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga. I had a great time with the first two parts of this series, which combines criminal enterprise, hands on politics, beautifully kinetic trans-natural martial arts, family drama, and discussions of identity, culture, and construction of the self. If that’s a bit of a mouthful, I’ve also described it as The Godfather meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, though that does this series a disservice. It has deep roots, asking thoughtful questions whilst also not being afraid to show us raw humanity, and get the reader to feel things. 

The tl;dr is that this is a great book. I didn’t want it to end. I found myself reading through the night, wanting to see what happens, but also not wanting to finish up. That’s always the mark of a great story. I suspect it’ll keep you all up late reading it as well!

This is a sublime family saga, filled with pain and joy in equal measure. Explosive, brutal, graceful violent action dovetails with raw emotional honesty, politics, crime and conspiracy. All ties to the lives and loves and hard choices and harder costs borne by a family we’ve followed for two books now. It’s a bloody, compelling, emotional story, and a fantastic finale to a cracking series.

Fittingly given the title, legacy is a core theme here. he country of Kekon is a minor power with a unique resource, surrounded by global superpowers engaged in a long, slow, cold war. How Kekon navigates the geopolitical reefs will be decided by its clans, groupings of families and tributaries who are the heart and soul of politics and finance in Kekon. The clans run retail, they run manufacturing, they run housing. They have economic arms which look after their people, which buy factories and movie studios, and more martial arms, with one eye toward arms and drugs, and the other protecting the assets of their clan, and looking to seize the territory of others. We know the No Peak clan best of all from this series, and their rivalry with their closest contender, the Mountain, the conflict in ways that these entities want their country to work, is a core part of this book. Because the families at  the top of these clans, they can’t stand each other. Theirs is a decades long history of blood and violence. But it’s also becoming something else - because if the clans can’t stand together to the outside world, they’ll be ground on the uncaring edges of superpowers that only see them as pawns in service of larger games. 

We can see through the eyes of the higher echelons of No Peak as they attempt to navigate their personal feud, whilst preserving their country in the face of outside pressure. But also, they have to contend with a changing world, a world that is moving forward as it is in part because of their actions. A more connected world. A more tolerant one, perhaps. Or perhaps not. It’s a question, you see, of values.Hilo, the head of No Peak, is someone we’ve seen move from young, hotheaded killer to, well, something different. A leader who banks the fires of passion until needed, with a personable style, raw cunning and personal charisma - but Hilo is also aware that he’s shaping his country, and working out how that will work. And so are the rest of his family - mothers and sisters and sons, brothers, occasional cousins. Everyone has an agenda, and everyone is shaping the future. 

Hilo and his family, at the head of one of the largest socio-political engines of their nation, have to decide what sort of future that’s going to be, and how willing they are to fight for it

Of course, it’s not all council meetings, quiet bribery and blackmail. There’s simmering revolution out in the streets. There’s Kekonese immigrants in other countries, whose communities are under threat (and this nuanced ,thoughtful exploration of cultural identity in different contexts is a joy incidentally, one with deep roots), and whose sense of self is a little more fluid, out from under the thumb of centuries of cultural shaping; being able to decide who they want to be, though of course under the strictures of another culture entirely. 

And there’s questions of class, and the way that those who wear the jade, and are able to fight and kill with supernatural speed and pwoer, are also typically the power elite in Kekon. What does that mean for those that don’t, or can’t wear jade. What society do they live in? Is it the one we see between the cracks of the dream of the clans?

Which is all getting rather wooly. So let me put this out there, grounding, and an ending:

Jade Legacy is a brilliant book. It explores class and culture and identity through the personal lens of a family steeped in soci-opolitical power. But it also explores the personal stories of that family. Their loves and woes, triumphs and tragedies. The way they bounc eoff each other, and off those around them. It’s not all big questions. Some of it is intimate, emotional, parents working on marriages, children deciding who they’re going to become (and family trying to help them decide, with varying success!). There’s blood and sweat and tears here, but it’s laced right through with passion and friendship and love that comes off the pafe and seeps right through your fingers into the bone. 

This is a family story, a personal story, and that’s what will make you feel, what will make your heart break and your soul soar as the story errands. And it will, and it does. 

Go now, and read this book; it’s worth it.

The Bone Ship's Wake - R.J. Barker

The Bone Ship’s Wake is the third and final part of R.J. Barker’s Tide Child trilogy. And, just to get this out of the way, it is very, very good. If you’ve read the previous two books in the series and are wondering whether or not you should pick this one up, the answer is a very strong yes. Pretty much put down this review, walk quickly to your nearest bookshop, and give them your money. Because you want to know how this series ends - and I can at least tell you that it ends with the same kind of wit, compassion, energy, imagination and raw humanity which made the first two books so bloody brilliant.

A lot of that is the characters. Joron in particular, is a top-flight protagonist. In part that’s because of how he has a blend of strength and fragility which makes him feel very much a person. Now leading a fleet of ships, preying on the shipping of his enemies, and trying to rescue his captain, Joron could be seen as a legend in his own lifetime. Indeed, the text explores the formation of legends in this way - both Joron and his captain, Lucky Meas, can be shaped and driven by the expectations of their crews. Reputation, and the power of story, is looked at as something between a strength and a potential weakness, a set of constraints and freedoms given out by the tale that those around us tell themselves. But Joron lives inside his own legend, struggling to live up to it, and knowing he can use it to realise his goals. Fighting his own insecurities and depression, Joron also struggles with the more physical aspects of a progressive disease which makes him doubt his own sanity.

Some of which may sound frightfully depressing, but if Joron struggles, he also fights, fights to find Meas, and fights to find himself, to define who he is, both as part of and against his own legend. That energy, that courage, the victories being as honestly earned as the sorrow in defeats, gives the story a set of emotional stakes and catharsis that means you care. Well, I do anyway. Joron is real, in his doubts and in working past them, in his illness, struggling with it and through it. And, of course, there’s heroics and moments of dazzling courage mixed in there, physical and otherwise.

The world is, well, something special. A richly imagined tapestry of sea battles, dragons, piracy, politics, family, and the growth of legends. It’s obvious (to me, anyway) how much fun the author has working with the great ships, crafted from the bones of monsters. You can feel the wine-dark waves slapping against the bone hulls, the icy wind cutting through heavy coats, and the isolation, majesty and terror of the open sea. There are stern chases here, and a use of language which makes the world feel dependent on its seas, and those who sail them a society of their own. The rhythms of everyday life on a ship are wrapped around the core of the story, and the sea is the spine of the thing, the way people live in it, work with it, and let it become part of them. I will mention that there are, of course, some ship battles - they’re visceral, bloody, unflinching and real; including the grim tedium and tension of the longer chases, followed by moments of blood and fire. But even outside those times, the glowering skies, rolling waves and dangers of the deeps, make the story feel alive.

I won’t spoil the story - at least any more than I already have. But I will say that this is a wonderful conclusion to one of the best fantasy series I’ve read in the last few years. It provides a tale that will keep you turning pages, and the kind of emotional payoff that will leave you thinking about the ending for days. This is a book that delivers a fantastic ending to a brilliant series, and if you’ve made it this far, you should absolutely, one hundred percent go and pick a copy up.