A Practical Guide to Conquering the World
Ratings6
Average rating3.8
This is the true story of Aemilius Felix Boioannes the younger, the intended and unintended consequence 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. 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 K. J. Parker's acclaimed sequence of novels that began with Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and continued with How To Rule An Empire And Get Away With It Praise for K. J Parker: 'Readers are ensured a good time and a barrel of laughs to boot' Publishers Weekly on How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It 'Parker's latest epic fantasy proves that all the world is, indeed, a stage, and Parker himself is a master impresario. Readers will enjoy his comedic take on how politics are comprised of equal parts lies, incompetence, and the foolishness of humanity-with just enough flashes of brilliance to save the day. Recommended for fans of Terry Pratchett' Library Journal on How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It 'Full of invention and ingenuity . . . Great fun' SFX on Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City 'Launches a witty adventure series . . . Readers will appreciate the infusion of humor and fun-loving characters into this vivid and sometimes grim fantasy world' Publishers Weekly on Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
Series
Featured Series
3 primary booksThe Siege
The Siege is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by K. J. Parker and K.J. Parker.
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I can't consider this a book I actually read, because I skimmed like 75% of it, but the skimming and the 25% of it I did read made me pretty sure I didn't like it. Honestly this whole trilogy was a miss for me, the narrative voice just did not mesh.
2.5/5 - My main takeaway from this read is that the gimmick of this series was wearing thin for me. I might have had a more positive reaction at a different time.
While the book keeps the historical framing device and sarcastic tone, something about this one was just not as fun. This book ends up being the mongol conquests if facilitated by a random diplomat (from alt-Rome). The protagonist seems to be able get away with everything due to effective dealing with bureaucracy and reading books. Most plot points in the book have an aside detailing how he read a book to get a critical piece of information or has is friend cheat the bureaucracy. After a while it felt a bit grating.
My biggest criticism would be the plot/side characters. Nobody but the protagonist really has agency on the plot after the setup. All the side characters that do come up feel very flat. Any opposition in the story is a problem that can/will be solved fairly quickly then moved on from.
