When war is a business, collecting the dead and those things they certainly don't need anymore is just a normal day for Saevus Corax. Told from the interesting perspective of Corax himself, he's not always to be trusted!

K.J. Parker has a tremendous reputation in fantasy writing circles. I'm embarrassed to admit that SAEVUS CORAX DEALS WITH THE DEAD is my first experience with the author. Based on his reputation I was eager to check this one out and see if I would be as enamored with his books as most readers seem to be. And so with that I embarked on the opening entry in Parker's Corax Trilogy.

The first thing I noticed as I started reading is that this story is written in first person. That's not a deal-breaker by any means but I will say that I don't read many books told in this way so there was a bit of an adjustment period. It's not that I don't appreciate first-person narratives either. If the story is good, it's good no matter the style of voice. And once I settled into it in earnest this was not a factor at all with regard to my opinion of the book.

I was immediately hooked by the main character's occupation, as that's how we are introduced to him in the first chapter. You see Saevus Corax and his "team", so to speak, comb over the dead bodies of fallen soldiers after battles to gather up whatever valuables and weapons they can recover. Saevus though refuses to admit that what he does is in any way objectionable or callous, preferring to call himself a Battlefield Salvage Contractor. And this is how the story begins. You are either going to be completely turned off by it or like me, desire to delve further into Saevus' life and history.

As the story progresses we do get a glimpse (although murky at best) of Saevus' previous life via the dialogue of other characters that he encounters who seem to recognize him from that time period. He continually tells them that they are mistaken, he is Saevus Corax after all! But it's obvious that he is hiding a dubious background and his new lifestyle and job are a convenient cover. It's that mystery of who Saevus Corax was and really is that makes this book such an entertaining read. And along the way we get treated to some pretty shady encounters of swashbuckling adventure.

There were some things that I didn't enjoy as much as at times the pace slows down quite a bit and it was admittedly more frequently than I would have preferred. During those times my mind kind of wandered until I was eventually pulled back in by an interesting exchange of dialogue or threatening encounter with an enemy. And speaking of dialogue, it is of the extremely snarky variety and reminded me a lot of the type that you would see in a Joe Abercrombie or Clayton W. Snyder book. So that part of it was fun and I did enjoy some of the back and forth between the characters.

In the end I enjoyed SAEVUS CORAX DEALS WITH THE DEAD and am also delighted to see that the next two books in the trilogy will be released in November and December of this year, following the October release of SCDWTD. So the entire trilogy will be published in only a three month span! How often do you see that these days? Pick this one up if you enjoy fantasy with a morally gray main character that leans toward the dark/gloomy but with a slight dose of biting humor as well. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where this series goes from here.

I reviewed this book for Booklist magazine, a librarian-focused review journal. I'm not able to post it here as it's being published in Booklist.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Orbit Books for an advance copy of this fantasy novel that deals with war, politics, the past, and trying one's best to not get involved in any of it.

War has many masters. And it seems many maids. Someone has to clean up after all these battles. Straighten out the arrows, sweep up the spears, launder up the lances. Holes in armor, and the clothing underneath can be patched or replated, swords honed, helmets banged out. Just because they are used doesn't mean they can't be used again. A fresh coat of paint, not black hopefully as black gets hot bleaching in the sun, lying among the dead. Oh and the bodies, can't forget them. Stripped of belongings, shoes, clothes, medals, all to be used again, the remains burned in bonfires for ash to help the fields regrow. The right man could make a good living, a bad man a lot more. And a man hiding could make enough to survive, though the past always has a habit of catching up with a person. Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead is book one in the Corax Trilogy by K. J. Parker aka Tom Holt, is a fantasy story about war, death, keeping one's head down, and trying to make things right.

Saevus Corax and his horde of men make their living by traveling the countryside cleaning up the detritus of war, the men, armor, and supplies that are left when the victorious leave, and the dead remain. The work is challenging, but Corax and his men are very good at what they do, and business seems very good. So good that quatermasters can make good money buying used material charging for new, and making quite a fortune, one that Corax doesn't mind getting a part of. Saevus Corax is not our narrator's real name. Once, he tells us, he was a playwright, and his name is taken from a famous play. On a battlefield in a desert, Corax comes across a man who knew him before he became a battlefield scavenger. Which sets off a long series of events bringing Corax back into a world that he thought he was free of, with bounties on his head, his friends endangered, and his sarcasm and cleaver mind his best weapons.

Not the fantasy book I expected, but one I enjoyed even more for not knowing the trip I was about to take. This is a book that is full cynicism, about war, trust, friends, business, religion. The satire is strong in this one. The story is told well and with a hearty laugh every couple of pages, mixed with a sadness that Parker is clever enough to add, more to make Corax a more interesting character than a scoundrel. As boss he deals with the ugly things, the disposal of bodies himself. Talking of his past he mentions things casually, but with a tinge of regret. Corax does eliminate people easily, but only when there is no choice. One can learn quite a bit about war planning here, and also about politics. The book is big, but moves quickly, hooking readers quickly and never letting go.

A fantasy book that is a lot more reality based, and much more cynical than many books on the market. War is ugly, ends horribly and at the end the bodies are worth less than the clothing one is wearing. The world is well described and very interesting. Recommended for fantasy fans who like a more realistic story, or like to wargame their campaigns. There is a a lot here for role players and for people who like big stories, with real costs. This is the first I have read by K. J. Parker, but I am looking forward to the other two books in this trilogy, and everything else Parker has written.

What a delightful book! Storytelling at it's finest. I immediately liked Saevus, despite his claim to be a liar and a terrible person. He does casually commit murder, so he's not perfect, but he's actually a good person in disguise. Literally, since he's got some really large bounties out on him due to something in his past. He leads a post war clean up crew, which is how he deals with the dead, but quickly gets caught up in some much bigger schemes and pulled along for quite a wild ride. The big save at the end (trying not to give any spoilers) might have felt more clever had there been some foreshadowing of it during the book, so one might possibly have seen it coming. Even so, it all ties together excellently for a very satisfying ending. There's another book on the way, which is great news, I'll be watching for it!

Summary
Saevus Corax, a man of dubious antecedents, is a professional battlefield gleaner. Except that a whole host of people seem to be coming after him for reasons in his past, and it's causing a vexatious amount of trouble.
Review

I’ve been whining for a while about K. J. Parker, but I keep picking up his books. At last, however, I feel I may be reaching my satiation point; during most of my reading of this book, I honestly didn’t care whether I picked it up or not. Only during the last 50 pages or so did I develop a real interest in the protagonist.

Parker’s books are individually very well constructed, written, and intriguing. Taken as a whole, however, it becomes ever more clear that he’s using a single template with a slightly different hue each time. I didn’t feel like picking the book up because I knew, with high confidence (and a mixed metaphor), almost precisely what the beats would be and where they would come in – and I was right.

The gimmick is what’s intriguing in each variant of the story – here, that Saevus Corax runs a crew of battlefield scavengers. Parker does his research and presents each profession or circumstance convincingly. It’s hard to escape the idea, however, that each of his protagonists is pretty much the same. They downplay their skills, take the least obvious course, insist on always defeating expectations (to the extent that it’s self-defeating, because that is the expectation), and, as often as not, turn out to be someone else. That’s pretty much the case here – improbable strategies with ‘unexpected’ results, often due to extremely long-range tactics that work out against all odds. The similarity of protagonists is not helped by the fairly generic, chartless politics of Parker’s world. Here, I acknowledge, we do get mentions of his greatest hits of nations and empires (the Robur, the Aram Chantat, the Sisters, the Knights), albeit with no real sense of how they fit together – whether this island and Empire and City are the same as the island or Empire or City mentioned in this, that, or the other story. It allows Parker a lot of flexibility and it was fun for a while, but now it’s just too much sameness – like a dozen slightly different versions of the Lord of the Rings, each with the Elf, the Dwarf, the Wizard, the Warrior, the Ranger, the leader Hobbit, the servant Hobbit, etc.

To be fair – and somewhat annoyingly – in the final pages of the book, title character Saevus Corax does develop a tiny bit, at last providing something of an emotional foundation for the story. Is that enough for me to pick up the next book in the trilogy? I don’t know, honestly. If I get it for free, maybe, but I’m starting to wonder whether I’d be just as well served by just picking up one of Parker’s older books and rereading that. Aside from the gimmick, it’s hard to see what would be particularly different.

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

Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead delivers an adventure romp with a smart and likable protagonist and the signature focus on battle strategies that K.J. Parker is known for.

Saevus is a battle scavenger who survives through his wits but he has few friends and many more enemies. As the story progresses, we get insight into his past and into the reason why he went into scavenging as well as his tactical mind. I loved Saevus’s narrative voice and that was my favorite element of the book–he’s charming without being insufferable and can be a bit arrogant one moment then self-deprecating the next. Parker also writes him with a dry sort of humor that works for me, and I enjoyed seeing Saevus stumble into a bad situation and have to turn it to his advantage.

Previously, I had tried to read one of Parker’s other books, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, and found that it wasn’t quite for me. That book felt very much like someone teaching you a lesson on a battle strategy and making you sit down and listen to them, though much more conversational. The battles and conflicts in this book function in the same vein. It’s definitely my least favorite aspect of the book, but I think some readers will really take to it and prefer that style over a more typical fantasy fight. On a practical level, all of the fights do work and made sense to me.

While Saevus doesn’t really grow as a character, I was still invested in his actions. None of the other characters stood out to me, unfortunately, but they did their jobs. The big draw of this book is seeing how Saevus thinks himself out of terrible scenarios and watching him surprise those around him. There’s also some intense political rivalry between two big institutions that I found very intriguing though I wish that had been pushed further.

Overall, this book was a fun story with some truly surprising and wonderful twists and turns. I loved Saevus as a narrator and his outlook on the world, and while the focus on strategies and the politicking didn’t quite work for me, I can easily see why it would for others. If you’re a fan of Parker’s writing and of more low-key fantasy that’s about outmaneuvering your opponents through surprising and solid tactics, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead is for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This review has been scheduled to be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, and my blog on September 19, 2023.

I really couldn’t get into this book, I’m not sure if it’s the writing style or what. I really wanted to love it though 😩.
I’m hoping maybe I can come back to it later and love it but, 30% through and I feel like I’m forcing myself to finish and I hate leaving a bad taste in my mouth for a book.

I do not know if it is the writing style, but I didn't feel any excitement or the need to turn the page to finally see what was happening. It was a nice read, the world built is interesting, it's smooth sailing, but that's the problem. There was no angst. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. This was a fun read with a main character full of dry wit. I enjoyed the perspective of someone outside the fray, observing geopolitical confrontation from someone who has to clean up the mess. This was the first in the series, so I am excited to follow this character.

I enjoyed this book. To me, the book had several strong points. The first-person narrative was enthralling and I thought that the character was very self-aware. The development of the secondary characters was very good, as was the banter between all the characters. I found the writing easy to read and very fluid. I also liked how the protagonist/narrator discussed social issues. The style reminded me of Sir Terry Pratchett in his Discworld books. Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Another gem of a fantasy novel from KJ Parker, featuring an arch, seemingly self-aware “hero”, thrust into desperate circumstances when he is falsely accused as the perpetrator of an act of piracy against a ship full of tax proceeds. As always, both narrative and dialogue are drily witty, world weary, and curiously insightful. While I often prefer Parker at shorter lengths, as one can take only so much cynicism at a time, I sailed through this novel and look forward to reading the next two featuring Saevus Corax..

KJ Parker writes some really great books, and some even include some really amazing characters..lol. I'm a sucker for the character trope of the snarky, sarcastic, Quick whitted, yet morally ambiguous main protagonist.

Couple this with crime element and you have yourself the fantasy version of a Guy Ritchie movie. Think, King Arthur, legend of the sword...only much more involved and convoluted..but in a good way.

The banter with other characters makes the story memorable and draws you in almost as much as the twisty storyline. The twists are good too, not forced but a necessity to the story fundamentals.

Do yourself a favor, and read this story, enjoy it and pine for the next installment...just like me..

4 stars, only because I'm rating it, as the self-proclaimed biggest Parker fan on BookTube, against the other Parker novels that I've read. A 4-star Parker is still leagues above many things in enjoyment.

This one is 1st person like his novellas (and Siege Trilogy, though I haven't read that one) and I just didn't take to it the way I do to his 3rd person novels - Folding Knife, Hammer, Company, Savages, and Sharps. Having read all of Parker's shorter fiction, Saevus's voice is familiar and those who like the Saloninus books will find a similar--if slightly less prolific and brilliant--narrator.

This book says some brilliant things about war, loyalty, and balance in geopolitics, and the three main metaphors Corax himself uses: balancing pans, a passive game of chess, and timing. There's a lot to like here with Parker's brilliant prose and wry observations and I think this could be a great starting point for those who want to get into his novels and are looking for something slightly less heavy than the standalones. My main issue is that my favorite works of Parker aren't the "I have to keep going from place to place bc people are hunting me or I'm being knocked out and captured" that is a common thread in many novellas. In fact, if you've read all of his short fiction, you can predict who is coming at the 11th hour to get him out of a scrape this time judging by which character you haven't seen in a while and which most recently screwed him over lol, but the joy lies in figuring out just how it will happen and whose side everyone is really on.

None of this is inherently bad. At no point did I struggle reading this and I strongly recommend anyone and everyone pick up Parker whenever you're able. I'm curious to see where the series goes, as this wraps up in a way that could stand on its own. Great book!

Thanks to Netgalley, Orbit, and the author for the e-ARC!

This book was ok, I couldn’t get into the writing style. It’s very bump.bump,bump. Also, I just couldn’t get into the character. The premise is interesting, but I couldn’t find myself wondering why he would be running. It explains why cryptically, but it just didn’t do it for me.

Saevus Corax (his current name) runs a for profit business cleaning up battlefields. He pays a fee so that he has the right to whatever armor, weapons, clothing, etc. is left behind. He also disposes of the bodies left behind. But when he visits a monastery where he stores surplus items until market time, he finds it mysteriously empty except for a person he know in a previous life. And he is on the run again trying his darnedest to escape his fate. Of course, fate had the last laugh, but he still managed to wiggle around and stop the worst from happening but at the cost of friends and maybe more. An interesting journey led by a man who really is trying to do the best he can with a very, very bad hand. Great fun in the Parker universe! If you have read other of K. J. Parker's series, you will likely enjoy this title too!

Thanks Netgalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read this title!