This book is kinda marketed as Part 3 or a trilogy, and kinda marketed as a stand-alone book set in the world of the Robur.

But if you didn't read the first two books, several parts of this book will go right over your head. Since all three books are great, just read all of them.

This book follows the same pattern as the previous two; the narrator is writing his memoirs after a series of events that have changed the world.

This is my only actual complaint about the book, the writing style for each narrator is the same. I like the style, but makes the series feel more like a series. In the Black Company series, the narrator changes meant the entire feel of the story changed. Style, details, plot points, etc., everything felt like a new story. In this series, everyone writes with the same style, which is a little disappointing.

Highly recommend the series.

Believing himself to be the sole survivor of his nation, a translator uses his book knowledge to exact revenge, found a new religion, and change the fate of his world. While elements are fun, tie-ins to the real world get clever, and the specific tricks the protagonist pulls out his hat are engrossing, this is ultimately a story about a man who is just smarter and better than everyone else, to the point people begin to believe he's a prophet. APGTCTW copies many of its more interesting elements directly from Parker's other work, along with its flaws. There's a woman treated as somewhere between a daughter and a lover (which, ew), friends who don't really seem to like each other, and this one man who is brilliant but ignored because of an unjust world taking over and fixing things. It was most enjoyable before I decided to read Parker's other work.

A Practical Guide to Conquering the World by K.J. Parker

I had never read anything by KJ Parker before, but I remember Jo Walton speaking fondly about his prior books in this world, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It, so I was thrilled to get an eARC from Orbit and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jo Walton described Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City as a “grabby” book - a book that grabs you, that you can grab and not want to put down. This book was definitely grabby, with a fun first person narrator that was not necessarily likable but fun to be in the head of.

As a former classical studies major, I really appreciated most of the author’s callbacks and references to actual history (those that I picked up on, at least - I’m sure I missed a bunch).

A few times, towards the end of the novel, some of the coincidences felt a little too contrived, but this is a minor quibble. The book was super fun from start to finish and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I am going to go check out the earlier books by this author soon!

Summary
An unassuming translator in a far capital finds his entire country has been wiped out, and that he himself has only a tenuous grasp on survival. He sets out to make the best of it, and a little more.
Review

I won’t rehash my overall view of K.J. Parker’s approach. I’ve done that in other reviews. Here, I’ll talk only about this book. In addition, this is the third book in a loosely related series, and I’ve not read the first two, but this does function well as a standalone book.

As always with Parker, the writing is excellent, the tone sardonic but appealing, the hero understated but engaging. As is also often the case, but ever more so here, the book is desperately in need of a map. The plot wanders across countries with abandon, especially in the final third, where we cross half a dozen countries in the span of a few pages, none carefully placed, and with no real sense of where in the world we are. The story clearly takes place in Parker’s larger universe, with recognizable nations like the Aram Chantat and Aram No Vei, but his preference for generic names (the City, the Empire) makes it very hard to place anything in context. He clearly recognizes and makes fun of his own tendencies here, but that doesn’t make things easier. (He also alludes in passing to earlier books such as The Fencer and Devices and Desires.)

As typical with Parker, the main joy here is not so much the plot as the journey – following along with the protagonist as he stumbles (or does he) his way through one difficulty after another. Late in the book, Parker raises some larger questions about intent and self-determination, but then drops them without any kind of resolution. The end of the book in general I found to be something of a letdown. Neither the protagonist’s arc nor that of his nation is really concluded; they both simply fizzle out in a disappointing coda.

Well written and engaging without breaking any new ground. Good for Parker diehards and newcomers; less so for casual fans.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in The Siege trilogy, but as someone who hasn’t read the other two, I can say that this definitely works as a standalone novel. You don’t have to read the first two, but now I want to.

Our narrator is an unassuming translator without a home. He’s also an avid reader, a master manipulator of events (but wouldn’t admit it if asked), and a military and political genius (but only if you say so). The book presents an interesting perspective on the truth. Saying more about the plot would be giving things away.

I very much enjoyed this book. It’s written in casual, funny first person. I laughed, I marvelled at how things fell into place, and I kept turning the pages. Also, one of the characters spends three years in a library with nothing to do but read. It’s every bookworm’s dream! I recommend this one, even if you haven’t read the others. Thank you to Orbit for my copy.

This series is great! I’m not a giant fan of military fantasies but the author really did a great job with this series. You could probably read this one a stand-alone book but there’s no reason to skip the other two!
Each book, including this one, centers on one main character that has to hold things together in the face of war and get people to listen to them and their good advice to save the day. It really is a sign of good writing when an author tells a story so well as to make it a page turner for a reader who wasn’t quite sold on the plot and theme at first. It’s grimly funny at times but this is a pen name for Tom Holt so that shouldn’t be surprising.

A Practical Guide To Conquering The World by K. J. Parker-This third book in the Siege Series, following Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City and How To Rule An Empire And Get Away With It, is everything you've come to expect from the whit and wonder of K. J. Parker. This one follows the others in that the narrator is a snarky individual with talent and determination in abundance. Through imaginative twists and turns we follow his sometimes convoluted tale. If you haven't read the first two, no worries, each story is self-contained and can be enjoyed on its own.

I missed the first two books, but liked this a lot. It's a bit unique in it's way, and I can tell the author has some natural talent. I want to circle back to the others. Recommended.

I really appreciate the free review copy!!

Felix is a translator for the Robur embassy in Echmen. A survivor to the last, he constantly schemes to keep his skin amidst the fraught world of Echmen politics. After word comes that the Robur empire has been destroyed, he becomes attached to the court of the princess of the Hus. Through clever wiles, he gains influence over the Hus and other tribes, and uses it to try to take down the Echmen empire.

I don't normally review books I don't like. This is one exception, where I think the book is doing active harm. I was uncomfortable with Parker's handling of race in the first two books, where the Robur appear to be an analogue of Rome but with black people, facing down the barbarian "milkface" hordes. I suspect he thought he was doing something clever by making black and brown folks the so-called civilized nations and white people the so-called savages, but it was problematically done. It was a clueless white person's attempt to flip the script; perhaps forgivable to some degree. Here, it gets worse. there are many other obvious analogues to European, Asian, and Middle Eastern ethnic groups, all of which are as stereotyped as possible, complete with slurs and racist jokes. Occasionally, members of these groups are shown to do something surprisingly clever, as if to say, "hey, maybe they're not all fools!" but the attempt falls flat.

I've found K. J. Parker to be a hit-or-miss with me. His clever, self-aware rogues and world-weary everymen are often a delight. Had Parker not chosen to include racist caricatures of various ethnic groups, I think I would have enjoyed this book. It wouldn't have been a favorite of mine, but I'd be giving it a decent review. I am honestly astounded that A Practical Guide to Conquering the World was this bad, considering that the world in which it is set is pretty well established at this point, what with all of the novels, novellas, and short stories set throughout long spans of in-world time. He's an established writer who's had time to build out this setting, with all its messy, absurd geopolitical entities. This is what I'd expect from a young, early career writer with a bad editor. I get that Parker is known for lampooning overly complicated political structures and regulations and pompous officials. That's great and fun, but it takes a nasty turn when he aims that wit against people and groups that canonically, in text, have experienced oppression from both the Robur and Echmen.

I am genuinely sorry to write such a negative review. I enjoyed other works by K. J. Parker! I have some of his books! I think his Subterranean Press novellas and collections are his best work! The first two books in this series were fun, if a bit flawed in their handling of race. But this left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that I plan to get rid of my copies of his books and entirely stop reading his work. It's rare that I drop a writer I've been reading for a while but this is one of those places where I have no regrets about doing so.

A Practical Guide to Conquering the World by K.J. Parker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Getting through all three of these Siege books has been a real pleasure. In each of these, we get to see a different aspect of life and profession but even though the times aren't the same, the wider world is.

Above all, the main first-person characters are nicely droll and ironic. Their meteoric rise from truly humble beginnings is a delight. The way each of them gains their fame is both quirky and amusing.

In this particular book, we get away from a humble engineer or a poverty-ridden stage actor and live a life of a lucky, but minor translator for a distant embassy who just happens to survive his nation's ruin and his boss's suicide.

From there, it just gets wacky cool, jumping from an impossible situation to a life of book-reading pleasure to being welcomed by cannibals to becoming a prophet and then the supreme leader. You know, normal, obvious stuff that happens to all us academic types. :)

I had a great time. It's light epic fantasy, with all the humor AND the twisty plots and huge battles, wrapped into one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for the eARC!

The snark, it continues. This time our unreliable narrator is Felix, who may be the last surviving Robur after the fall of the City described in the previous book.

However, the snark was less charming this time around. Felix seemed more self-serving than the previous narrators -- although a desire for self-preservation is not surprising in someone who may be the last of his kind. His purpose (to end all war) seemed generous, but the way he went about it (by conquering the world) was hardly altruistic.

I greatly enjoyed the first two books in this sequence and had a fun time with this one as well. Like the two previous books, there’s a lot of scheming and politics and adventure. You don’t have to have read the other two books for this to make sense, though there are references to events that occur in them.

Parker is a fun, engaging writer. The book is a quick romp and overall it’s solid. But, well I had a good time reading it, in the end, I found myself a little dissatisfied. Felix is always the smartest person in the room, always the cleverest wit with back-up plans upon back-up plans and it quickly kills any sort of dramatic tension there could otherwise be. For a book that is about a man taking over the world, the stakes never seem very high. It’s a fun enough book, but one that ends up feeling a little slight.

I loved this book. I found it well-paced. The world building and character development are excellent. The writing is clever and frequently very amusing. I liked that the protagonist/narrator was not perfect and was sometimes annoying. Although this is the third book of the series, the book was seamless and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. There was also considerable social commentary that I enjoyed. Yet there weren't a lot of fantastical elements in the book; it just seemed like a slightly different Earth at a previous time. Nonetheless, this book is a worthwhile read. Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the advance reader copy.

KJ Parker isn't fantasy, it's speculative fiction in a different world. But there is not magic or sceince fiction themes. I would call it rationalist fiction, as if an engineer could fin d a perfect design for a civilization. It is simple but fun.

Overall, I quite liked this book. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. I enjoyed the world, Parker’s writing style, the protagonist Felix, and the inspiration from history. The world building was definitely a stand out part of this book. I felt entirely immersed in it. I couldn’t keep track of the many people and countries mentioned, but that wasn’t necessary because they were just random details placed into the world making it really come alive. Along with that, the historical inspirations were a nice addition. I do wish the female characters were written a bit better, there needed to be more well developed and influential female characters. I was very engaged in the beginning through middle of the book, however, by the end I didn’t love the direction the plot went in. The book follows the title pretty well, but how it was achieved in the end wasn’t my favorite. For this reason, I rated the book 4 stars instead of 5.

While I'm super sad that I hadn't read the first two books, I still found reading this book enjoyable. The premise is really interesting.

A follow-up (not exactly a sequel) to Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and How to Rule and Empire and Get Away With It, this works fine as a stand-alone. The narrator and protagonist is Felix (whose name, he tells us, means 'lucky'), a translator living in a distant empire as a junior member of a diplomatic mission. Things go wrong, then they get worse. Felix is mainly interested in saving his own skin, but somehow that turns into uniting quarreling barbarians and toppling an empire or two. Oh, and he might be a prophet.

Dry, deadpan fun.

Perhaps it's because I haven't read any of Parker's previous work, but this one was a dud for me. The pacing was off and I couldn't care less about the main characters. I tried to tough it out, but I was so bored just over 1/3 of the way in - with no signs of that changing - that I've had to relegate it to the pile of books I'm never gonna finish.

K. J. Parker has done it again. He has provided a main character who brings about great changes in the world while trying only to preserve himself. Felix is a Robur translator in the Echmen empire when the City fell. Since he had saved the daughter of the king of Hus, they took him in as their translator. Then when the Echmen turned on the Hus, Felix saved her again and then went on to set up a vast shift in power. The fun of a K. J. Parker book is the characters and the details that fill out the world. If you enjoyed either of the first two books in this series, you owe it to yourself to find out how it ends! Now I just need to track down the rest of his works and enjoy myself.

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title!

2.5/5 stars -- I consider myself to be a pretty quick reader and yet somehow this book took me an entire week to read. I could not pinpoint what it is about this book that made me loath to pick it up, but I just could not get into it. On its face, it has everything I normally like in a book, complex world/culture building, a dark sense of wit, twists and turns, allusions to modern religions/philosophies, and more.

I just couldn't attach myself to the main character -- Felix was neither likeable nor unlikeable, and perhaps that's why I felt so <i>meh</i> following his story. The storyline felt like we were going off on a million tangents with explanations of philosophies/mythologies of the different cultures in the book, which normally I don't mind but here just didn't feel compelling. This book is the third book in a trilogy, but the description said that it could be standalone. I'm wondering if I missed out on some of the depth of the book because I didn't read the first two.

Honestly, this is the kind of book that I wanted really desperately to like and somehow just couldn't get there. Maybe I'm in a book slump and you should take this review with a grain of salt, but the story didn't grab me and pull me along like I wanted it to.