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A review by maidofbees
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It was hard to rate this one! I did really enjoy it- the narrator, whilst unreliable and unlikeable, was very readable. The book made me laugh at points and I enjoyed the unusual perspective of following an engineer through a seige.
I would say that one issues was that the world this book is set in was very unjust, but that the story didn't really do much with that. There wasnt much societal change and the main character also didn't seem to want to cause any improvements in rights for anyone, beyond a dislike of the upper classes. This is the first in a series, however, so maybe the next book tackles that more. I'm also aware that this is a world based on the Byzantine Empire, which did have a lot of inequalities.
Finally, the book ended fairly abruptly, which was a bit of a shame. I wont spoil anything but I would have liked more of an ending!
I would say that one issues was that the world this book is set in was very unjust, but that the story didn't really do much with that. There wasnt much societal change and the main character also didn't seem to want to cause any improvements in rights for anyone, beyond a dislike of the upper classes. This is the first in a series, however, so maybe the next book tackles that more. I'm also aware that this is a world based on the Byzantine Empire, which did have a lot of inequalities.
Finally, the book ended fairly abruptly, which was a bit of a shame. I wont spoil anything but I would have liked more of an ending!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Sexism