4.0
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World
ByPublisher Description
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World can be read by itself, but for those who like endings it can also be considered the refreshingly pragmatic conclusion to World Fantasy Award-winning author K.J. Parker’s acclaimed sequence of novels that began with Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and continue with How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It.
"Full of invention and ingenuity . . . Great fun." —SFX
"Full of invention and ingenuity . . . Great fun." —SFX
This is the true story of Aemilius Felix Boioannes the younger, the intended and unintended consequences of his life, the bad stuff he did on purpose, and the good stuff that happened in spite of him.
It is, in other words, the tale of a war to end all wars, and the man responsible.
For more from K. J. Parker, check out:
It is, in other words, the tale of a war to end all wars, and the man responsible.
For more from K. J. Parker, check out:
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World
The Two of Swords
The Two of Swords: Volume One
The Two of Swords Volume Two
The Two of Swords: Volume Three
The Fencer Trilogy
Colours in the Steel
The Belly of the Bow
The Proof House
The Scavenger Trilogy
Shadow
Pattern
Memory
Engineer Trilogy
Devices and Desires
Evil for Evil
The Escapement
The Company
The Folding Knife
The Hammer
Sharps
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesA Practical Guide to Conquering the World Reviews
4.0
“A Practical Guide to Conquering the World is the third and final book in KJ Parker’s The Siege trilogy, taking place during and after the events of the first two books. Felix is a diplomatic interpreter serving in a foreign kingdom when the Empire’s fall leaves him stateless. He is taken in by a barbarian princess whose life he once saved. With little else to do, he assigns himself a mission: through sheer book-smarts and force of will, he will rise to power, wage the war to end all wars, and unite kingdoms so that what happened to the Empire can never happen again.
This book had a much slower start than the first two. For a while, I was genuinely unsure where the story was headed. It mostly felt like Felix was being swept along by events around him, with very little agency of his own. Things improve considerably after the first act, when he finally begins to execute the plans he had supposedly been laying all along (though, admittedly, the groundwork wasn’t especially evident beforehand). The novel retains the series’ signature wit and irreverent humor, but this time applies it to a court fantasy rather than the military and political settings of the previous books. It also delivers the most satisfying ending of the trilogy.
With Felix being an avid researcher and voracious reader, the story has an unmistakably bookish slant that felt surprisingly fresh. I especially enjoyed watching him rise from an obscure interpreter to arguably the most powerful man in the empire through little more than scholarship, languages, and curiosity. Admittedly, his success sometimes feels as though it relies on a fair amount of luck alongside careful strategy. Throughout, the novel also offers an engaging exploration of the relationship between truth and belief.
A Practical Guide to Conquering the World is a fitting finale that adds another unique perspective to an unconventional fantasy.”
“Another great addition to this series. I save these books for when I'm feeling slumpy and this one worked it's magic once again”
About K. J. Parker
K.J. Parker is a pseudonym for Tom Holt. He was born in London in 1961. At Oxford he studied bar billiards, ancient Greek agriculture and the care and feeding of small, temperamental Japanese motorcycle engines; interests which led him, perhaps inevitably, to qualify as a solicitor and emigrate to Somerset, where he specialized in death and taxes for seven years before going straight in 1995. He lives in Chard, Somerset, with his wife and daughter.
Other books by K. J. Parker
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