#kj parker

[hajizomenoise]

#fencer trilogy #bardas loredan #kj Parker #fanart of novel

[bookfirstlinetourney]

Round 1

If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters.

-The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket

It was the day my grandmother exploded.

-The Crow Road, Iain Banks

You are, of course, an unmitigated asshole.

-Purple and Black, K.J. Parker

#polls #tournament poll #round 1 #books #reading #the bad beginning #lemony snicket #the crow road #iain banks #purple and black #kj parker

[boneopera]

you can't apply the concept of Good and Bad to good literature. YOU CAN'T APPLY THE CONCEPT OF GOOD AND BAD TO GOOD LITERATURE.

Humanity is complicated. Humans are complicated. A decently written multi-faceted character is not going to be capable of exclusively making selfless unproblematic choices. That's not even possible! even if they, the characters themselves, believe that they are following a good positive moral code, they're still going to make self-centered or potentially harmful decisions despite their intentions!

We are complicated creatures and our strongest characteristic is perspective and understanding— it's empathy! So if you want to write a decent piece of literature or create a good story, then you have to ditch your ideas about right or wrong and adopt a more complicated understanding of empathy and perspective and the whys of human behavior. Think about the people you care about! Think about the societal issues that you have strong feelings about. Think about the last time someone said you hurt their feelings! Ask yourself why!

All my favorite stories have the most complicated characters and consequences to even the most noble of actions because it makes me feel human and it reminds me why I love being human and having humanity in my life.

#wuthering heights #disco elysium #silent hill #dan vyleta #kj parker #toni morrison #shakespeare #emily Brontë #writing tips #creative tips #writers on tumblr #writeblr

[freckles-and-books]

Finished Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse earlier, and I’m continuing the angel theme with my next read.

#books #currently reading #pulling the wings off angels #kj Parker #fantasy novella

[godzilla-reads]

Why read one book when I can read two books?

😇 Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker

🐍 Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

#godzilla reads #freshwater #akwaeke emezi #pulling the wings off angels #kj parker #reading #reads #books and plants #books #booklr #bookworm #bookish #book blog #booklover

[nikihawkes]

Book Review: 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

Title: 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City Author: K.J. Parker Series: Siege #1 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 5/5 stars! The Overview: This is the story of Orhan, son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus, and his history of the Great Siege, written down so that the deeds and sufferings of great men may never be forgotten. A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people…

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#16 ways to defend a walled city #5 star books #book #book review #book reviews #books #fantasy #fantasy books #grimdark #kj parker #niki hawkes #the obsessive bookseller #the siege #tom holt

[aliteratepenguin]

Luck, according to Saloninus, is like a cart full of diamonds perched on the very edge of a cliff. Best if you don't push it.

-A Practical Guide to Conquering the World by KJ Parker

#books #reading #quotes #a practical guide to conquering the world #kj parker #v's book log

[xxrrisxx]

There is no absolute right or wrong, good or evil, but there are good manners and common decency.

K.J. Parker

#the devil you know #kj parker #book pages #author #spilled writing #spilled thoughts #book quotes #booklr #books #books & libraries

[evenaturtleduck]

Last night I read the first chapter of Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, and I have mixed feelings so far. Certain things really work for me--the first person narrative voice is fantastic and effective, and the professional post-battle salvage and accompanying commentary on war as an industry (and scraped bare of any and all heroism and romanticism) is also excellent and really interesting!

The problem is that having a protagonist who is an unapologetically shitty and cynical person who causes at least half of his own problems and doesn't seem to have any motivations other than not being found out means I don't necessarily care what happens to him next. An engaging first person narrative voice and interesting career is not the same thing as an interesting or engaging personality, and being morally grey is not the same as being complex. Like, chapter one ends with a comment implying that things are about to start going very badly and I'm like Yes? Ok? That seems like the most reasonable thing to happen given the events of chapter one? I don't even know if I would rather things work out for him or if I want everything to blow up in his face. I don't have an opinion at all.

I'm going to read the next chapter to see if it gets me to care about what happens to him next (lots of my favorite characters have introduced themselves as straightforwardly and unapologetically shitty people, after all, and gotten more interesting as the story progresses), so we'll see.

#saevus corax deals with the dead #kj parker #currently reading

[thirty-five-owls]

Basically the engineer trilogy.

#the engineer trilogy #kj parker

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2023: PROSPER’S DEMON and INSIDE MAN by K. J. Parker.

Full disclosure: I bought INSIDE MAN on a whim because it was comp’d to Deadpool and Geralt on the cover, didn’t realize ‘til I got home that it was technically Book 2 of a series, super didn’t realize Book 1 was PROSPER’S DEMON (which I’d decided previously to pass on for whatever reason I can’t remember now), but then decided, “What the heck, they’re short, I’ll try them.”

Dear reader: I was Disappointed™.

The twist at the end of PROSPER’S was interesting, at least, and I found the demon narrator of INSIDE MAN much more compelling than the exorcist of PROSPER’S, but overall I felt like they were trying Too Hard to be funny and they were way too cynical and conceited for my taste. The best either of them got out of me was a sensible chuckle, and even those were thin on the ground. These were hugely mediocre (to the tune of “I’m scratching KJ Parker and Tom Holt (his other name) off my List indefinitely”), and, like. GOOD OMENS already exists, and does it Better.

Their only saving grace was that they were short and thus padded my Books Read in 2023 Count--done with both of these by January 5!

#books #book photography #my photography #books of 2023 #prosper's demon #inside man #kj parker #also also a review i saw waved a red flag over the unexamined antisemiticism in INSIDE MAN #which #yikes #anyway these really aren't worth your time lol #(not that it's a Lot of time because they're both shorties) #(inside man is longer and it was 127 pages) #(but still. not worth it)

[hajizomenoise]

洛司令。。

#fencer trilogy #bardas loredan #kj parker #fanart of novel #the proof house

[boneopera]

I've read four books by Tom Holt under the penname KJ Parker and to sum it up it's like

here's murder mcmurder king of murdering and eating babies, he loves collecting stamps and his wife and he had a bad dad who did bad dad things to him isn't he the funniest?

#kj parker #tom holt #books

[godzilla-reads]

🕊️ Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“You don’t turn to God for justice; that’s what judges and lawyers are for. You go to God for mercy, or you would if He existed, which He doesn’t.”

A clerical student who’s racked up gambling debt to a local gangster is given an ultimatum- deliver the angel his grandfather kidnapped, or forfeit various body parts in payment.

Reading the back of this book drew me in because the idea of a kidnapped angel and religious existentialism sounded so fascinating. Sadly, I was underwhelmed. The themes of the book (repentance, mercy, justice, etc) were all interesting to read, but the story itself felt lacking.

I enjoyed it, but by the end, I was way more interested in Florio the gangster than I was with our main character.

#godzilla reads #pulling the wings off angels #kj parker #book review #reading #reads #bookworm #bookish #book blog #bibliophile #book blurb #booklover

[zandalorscat]

Sometimes you come across a sentence in a book that is so funny and masterfully crafted that you have to stop and marvel a bit. My favorite right now is this one from Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City by K J Parker:

"Shut up," I explained.

#kj parker #sixteen ways to defend a walled city #books #as you may have guessed the protagonist does not explain

[aliteratepenguin]

I could see that I was upsetting his fundamental view of how the cosmos works; the superior man can do everything better than the inferior man, except for this one bizarre anomaly. It itched him like mad, but the superior man never scratches in public. To do so would be to admit to having an itch.

-A Practical Guide to Conquering the World by KJ Parker

#books #reading #quotes #a practical guide to conquering the world #kj parker #v's book log