syl__'s review
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
acardattack's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Enjoyable, and quick. A few times I felt a tad lost or confused as we're thrown right into the middle, but overall enjoyable
antigonus's review
4.0
How can something so simple and short provoke so many emotions?
On paper (pun intended), Purple and Black is just an exchange of letters between two college friends who have, unexpectedly, assumed positions of power. Yet it is also an exploration of many powerful — and ever-present — themes like the corrupt nature of power, naive idealism of youth, mutable nature of promises made in moments of passion, presence of evil in any work of greater good, and more.
Sure, all of that is heavy stuff. But the story never seems to take itself too seriously.
“A man will betray his honour, his country and his friend, but the bond between two people who share a common devotion to hardcore porn is unbreakable.”
Nearly every letter has a laugh-out-loud moment like that.
In short, this has all the elements of a typical K.J. Parker story, but in a more condensed and powerful (if that is even possible) form.
On paper (pun intended), Purple and Black is just an exchange of letters between two college friends who have, unexpectedly, assumed positions of power. Yet it is also an exploration of many powerful — and ever-present — themes like the corrupt nature of power, naive idealism of youth, mutable nature of promises made in moments of passion, presence of evil in any work of greater good, and more.
Sure, all of that is heavy stuff. But the story never seems to take itself too seriously.
“A man will betray his honour, his country and his friend, but the bond between two people who share a common devotion to hardcore porn is unbreakable.”
Nearly every letter has a laugh-out-loud moment like that.
In short, this has all the elements of a typical K.J. Parker story, but in a more condensed and powerful (if that is even possible) form.
the_s_lightacademic's review
5.0
wow
never thought I'd love a book about politics and economy and behind-the-scenes looks at war planning, but here we are. the whole question of whether anything someone in power does could ever truly provide a positive outcome is so fascinating. it's such an interesting look on politics and corruption and power and just... wow
this is really freaking good
never thought I'd love a book about politics and economy and behind-the-scenes looks at war planning, but here we are. the whole question of whether anything someone in power does could ever truly provide a positive outcome is so fascinating. it's such an interesting look on politics and corruption and power and just... wow
this is really freaking good
jajorgen's review
5.0
Posted to the library's book blog MADreads:
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/epistolary-war
I was looking through my recent reads to find a book I just loved. A lot of things lately have been solid, but not great. Except for this one. Purple and Black is brilliantly done. Tightly woven. Thought-provoking. And all of that in a slender 113 pages. This is a fantasy novel, but don't let that prevent you reading it. It's only a fantasy in that it has a made up country. Everything else about it reads like historical fiction.
The story is told through a series of letters between Nico, the reluctant emperor who only got the job because the rest of his male relatives killed each other off competing for the position, and Phormio, one of Nico's best friends from school who is now a reluctant general trying to quell a rebellion on the border. The title of the book refers to the ink used in the letters they write to each other. Purple is the official color used when communicating with the emperpor and black is the ink they use in their more informal (off the record) communications. While Nico struggles with the back-biting, competition and scheming at court, Phormio is struggling in a more direct way. A shadowy group is staging guerrilla attacks on border towns and it's Phormio's job to find and conquer this mysterious foe.
I'm not a huge fan of epistolary tales. I really only have one other that I can rave about and that's Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road. Even as I type that I'm struck by the realization that so much of what I love about Hanff's book is present in K. J. Parker's - even though one is a memoir and the other historical fantasy. Wit and dark humor and characters who jump off the page and the sort of stick-with-you kind of feeling only the best books evoke. That's all here. I finished this book in an evening, but thought about it for days afterward. Wonderfully done.
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/epistolary-war
I was looking through my recent reads to find a book I just loved. A lot of things lately have been solid, but not great. Except for this one. Purple and Black is brilliantly done. Tightly woven. Thought-provoking. And all of that in a slender 113 pages. This is a fantasy novel, but don't let that prevent you reading it. It's only a fantasy in that it has a made up country. Everything else about it reads like historical fiction.
The story is told through a series of letters between Nico, the reluctant emperor who only got the job because the rest of his male relatives killed each other off competing for the position, and Phormio, one of Nico's best friends from school who is now a reluctant general trying to quell a rebellion on the border. The title of the book refers to the ink used in the letters they write to each other. Purple is the official color used when communicating with the emperpor and black is the ink they use in their more informal (off the record) communications. While Nico struggles with the back-biting, competition and scheming at court, Phormio is struggling in a more direct way. A shadowy group is staging guerrilla attacks on border towns and it's Phormio's job to find and conquer this mysterious foe.
I'm not a huge fan of epistolary tales. I really only have one other that I can rave about and that's Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road. Even as I type that I'm struck by the realization that so much of what I love about Hanff's book is present in K. J. Parker's - even though one is a memoir and the other historical fantasy. Wit and dark humor and characters who jump off the page and the sort of stick-with-you kind of feeling only the best books evoke. That's all here. I finished this book in an evening, but thought about it for days afterward. Wonderfully done.
ariaslibrary's review
4.0
As the kids say, "That shit HURTED!"
This was hilarious and then sad then full on depressing that I actually cried
The author was able to make us laugh, portray how tiring and ridiculous ruling and bureaucracy can be, all the while showing that Nicephorus and Phormio really are college best friends. Phormio being mad that his friend, the new emperor, made him a governor is just so funny.
BUT
So funny yet so sad. Fuck Gorgias to hell and back, that manipulative bastard. And shame on you Phormio.
I wanted to laugh, not go through the five stages of grief.
This was my first book by this author.
I'm never touching this book again. Still loved it though.
This was hilarious and then sad then full on depressing that I actually cried
The author was able to make us laugh, portray how tiring and ridiculous ruling and bureaucracy can be, all the while showing that Nicephorus and Phormio really are college best friends. Phormio being mad that his friend, the new emperor, made him a governor is just so funny.
You are, of course, an unmitigated bastard. Not content with dragging me away from my chair at Anassus, which I worked bloody hard to earn and which will now go to that pinhead Atho, you made me waste three months of my life in a military academy, of all places, and now you've dumped me here, in the last place on earth, surrounded by snow, soldiers and savages. What the hell did I ever do to you?
BUT
So funny yet so sad. Fuck Gorgias to hell and back, that manipulative bastard. And shame on you Phormio.
Therefore love is the cause of the greatest sorrow, therefore love is the greatest evil.
I wanted to laugh, not go through the five stages of grief.
This was my first book by this author.
I'm never touching this book again. Still loved it though.
midrel's review
3.0
I don't often read this kind of novel, but this one was entertaining enough. I probably liked the concept more than the execution, however. The world-building was barely there, and there was very little to differentiate the characters of Phormio from that of Nicephorus. The plot twists became obvious half-way trough and the rest of the book was just the story coming to terms with itself.
Also, I found the relatively modern language to be incredibly obnoxious and jarring. It definitely did not fit with the setting of the book, and made it pretty hard to take the story as seriously as its premise suggested.
All the above might sound harsher than I intend, however. Mostly, I think this would have made for a very good longer novel. I would have been a sucker for that.
This feels... Half-realized, I suppose. But still good and worth a read in the end.
Also, I found the relatively modern language to be incredibly obnoxious and jarring. It definitely did not fit with the setting of the book, and made it pretty hard to take the story as seriously as its premise suggested.
All the above might sound harsher than I intend, however. Mostly, I think this would have made for a very good longer novel. I would have been a sucker for that.
This feels... Half-realized, I suppose. But still good and worth a read in the end.
joelevard's review
4.0
There's nothing more fun than snooping into someone else's mail and reading their letters. When I was in middle school I was friends with these two girls who were always passing notes that I wasn't allowed to read, which made me very angry and paranoid (more so than usual anyway). But once while leaving English, one of the notes was dropped! I furtively picked it up and stuffed it in my pocket, and snuck off to the bathroom to peruse its secrets. It turned out to be totally mundane (I recall it started. "This class is so boring!") and not entirely about how cute I was (probably they had just talked about that already that day though). But I still enjoyed it.
I mention this because I think epistolary novels are oddly the exact opposite of this kind of illicit fun for me (so really, I mentioned it for no reason at all). But no, I hardly ever think novels in letters are as enjoyable as they would have been as simple prose. I have trouble sinking into them, I get distracted by the different voices, or I think they don't seem different enough, or I forget who's writing a particular section. They are tiresome.
I mention this for an actual reason though: K.J. Parker has written an epistolary novel I enjoyed! Though perhaps that it is a brief novella that took me an hour and change to read played a part, I still was never frustrated like I was about 15 minutes into The Gurnsey Potato Face Club. Purple & Black takes the form of letters between the somewhat reluctant emperor (he was next in line for the throne after all of his brothers and uncles murdered one another in a power struggle, yay) of a Romanesque city-state and his chief general, an old college buddy the emperor appointed to the task despite a near-total lack of military experience.
So we're reading letters between the emperor, who is trying to keep order in the city and deal with political strife and tax problems and treaties, and the general, who is trying to quell a shadowy rebellion and not die. And though the description brings to mind Rome (the TV show), the language and humor is very contemporary, full of sarcasm and irony and swears, which makes it really fun to read. Later on there are twists, which I did not see coming, but it was interesting to note that apparently even in ancient and fictional city-states, dudes in college liked to get drunk and sit around philosophizing about how the world would be so much better off if we could all just be Libertarians, man (today they would first watch South Park so they could get some oversimplified ideas to use as a jumping off point).
K.J. Parker (which incidentally is a pseudonym for British woman who writes nothing but grim, violent historical fantasy type stuff, so everyone assumes she's male -- check out even some professional reviews, full of "him"s) has written a really interesting story and managed to make it interesting even in a format I despise somewhat blindly, so props tohim her. And also to Subterranean Press, which neatly printed this in two colors (guess which two), and for plot-related reasons at that.
I mention this because I think epistolary novels are oddly the exact opposite of this kind of illicit fun for me (so really, I mentioned it for no reason at all). But no, I hardly ever think novels in letters are as enjoyable as they would have been as simple prose. I have trouble sinking into them, I get distracted by the different voices, or I think they don't seem different enough, or I forget who's writing a particular section. They are tiresome.
I mention this for an actual reason though: K.J. Parker has written an epistolary novel I enjoyed! Though perhaps that it is a brief novella that took me an hour and change to read played a part, I still was never frustrated like I was about 15 minutes into The Gurnsey Potato Face Club. Purple & Black takes the form of letters between the somewhat reluctant emperor (he was next in line for the throne after all of his brothers and uncles murdered one another in a power struggle, yay) of a Romanesque city-state and his chief general, an old college buddy the emperor appointed to the task despite a near-total lack of military experience.
So we're reading letters between the emperor, who is trying to keep order in the city and deal with political strife and tax problems and treaties, and the general, who is trying to quell a shadowy rebellion and not die. And though the description brings to mind Rome (the TV show), the language and humor is very contemporary, full of sarcasm and irony and swears, which makes it really fun to read. Later on there are twists, which I did not see coming, but it was interesting to note that apparently even in ancient and fictional city-states, dudes in college liked to get drunk and sit around philosophizing about how the world would be so much better off if we could all just be Libertarians, man (today they would first watch South Park so they could get some oversimplified ideas to use as a jumping off point).
K.J. Parker (which incidentally is a pseudonym for British woman who writes nothing but grim, violent historical fantasy type stuff, so everyone assumes she's male -- check out even some professional reviews, full of "him"s) has written a really interesting story and managed to make it interesting even in a format I despise somewhat blindly, so props to
books_with_benghis_kahn's review
4.0
I was skeptical at first of the voice of 21st century college friends writing letters in a Roman-esque setting, but it didn't take long before I was completely swept up in the back and forth. I never expected this level of philosophical depth and interpersonal drama to emerge from just a series of letters--Parker pulled a delightful magic trick here, and I can't wait to continue through his backlist. The exploration of themes here of hypocrisy and idealism vs. practicality, and how adherence to idealism doesn't survive long once one gains power, was really well done.