This was a great read! Really enjoyed the writing style. The story was very interesting and I love the protagonist. The engineering aspect was a nice twist on a city siege story as well. This is my first K.J. Parker book and I'll certainly be looking for more! ( )

I really thought I'd like this story -- I'm a sucker for an anti-hero. But it never really pulled me in. Generally, the writing was good. If I had to search for some things to criticize, the plot twists were too convenient and the characters were flat. ( )

This was probably a 5 star book right up to the last 10 pages. ( )

That was quite fun. Even more so than the "typical" KJ Parker I remember. It's the way the narrator tells everything. ( )

"Everyone keeps telling me what I can't do, but they're wrong. The only thing I can't do is nothing."

The City is about to be under siege and the only one left of any military rank is Orhan, the colonel of engineers. Orhan has done more bridge building than he's done city defending, he's a liar and a cheat, his enemies have done more for him than his friends and he prefers working with things over people. He's also all the City has if it hopes to survive the siege to come.

I never thought I'd enjoy a fictional book based on engineering but here you have it. This is a historical military fiction novel told from the point of view of the City's equivalent of the army corp of engineers. It definitely offers a unique perspective. I think I ended up liking Orhan, he's brilliant and creative in how he saves the city, has a snarky sense of humor, even though his personality has so many unlikable flaws and it shouldn't work yet it does. I don't know! That ending was very abrupt and unsatisfying. I understand why, but still.

Also, even though this is commonly tagged as fantasy, the only fantasy element is that one of the races of people has blue skin and they're using different names for the Byzantium/Constantinople inspired City under siege. This book will likely appeal to lovers of historical fiction

Be sure you read the Translator's Notes at the end. Mine were after the Orbit logo on my Kindle so I thought they weren't part of the story but they are. Not sure if it's placed this way in other versions or not. ( )