Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead
Ratings12
Average rating3.5
From one of the most original voices in fantasy comes a twisted tale of murder, betrayal, and battlefield salvage. There's no formal training for battlefield salvage. You just have to pick things up as you go along. Swords, armor, arrows - and the bodies, of course. Over the years, Saevus Corax has picked up a lot of things. Some of them have made him decent money, others have brought nothing but trouble. But it's a living, and somebody has to deal with the dead. Something else that Saevus has buried is his past. Unfortunately, he didn't quite succeed. For more from K. J. Parker, check out: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled CityHow to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It A Practical Guide to Conquering the World The Two of SwordsThe Two of Swords: Volume OneThe Two of Swords Volume TwoThe Two of Swords: Volume Three The Fencer TrilogyColours in the SteelThe Belly of the BowThe Proof House The Scavenger TrilogyShadowPatternMemory Engineer TrilogyDevices and DesiresEvil for EvilThe Escapement The CompanyThe Folding KnifeThe HammerSharps
Series
Featured Series
3 primary books#1 in Corax Trilogy
Corax Trilogy is a 3-book series with 3 released primary works first released in 2023 with contributions by K.J. Parker.
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If you like snarky literary prose, this book is for you. Thats the main reason I picked it up anyway. I love smart mouth protagnists, especially if they are telling the story.
The plot is great, the characters lovable and the book is pretty self aware. I wish there was more random mental ramblings and less excruciating war strategy details. Although that may just be me. Still gonna read the next book!
An entertaining book but my issue is that the main character feels like any of the main characters from the previous first person trilogy from KJ parker I've read. Zany and sardonic and arrogant. If you had told me this was the same person form 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City I would believe you.
And unfortunately, it's just not a character type I like that much. This voice was maybe a bit better than that trilogy, but I still struggled with it.
Although, I did audio for this one and I think the narrator, while technically good, is mismatched for this book. So I will try the second one physically and see if that helps.
KJ Parker's stock in trade is a sardonic cynicism, allied with dark humour and an eye for the realities of a situation that epic fantasy often overlooks. So it's entirely logical that his latest is about someone making a living from battlefields in the aftermath of bloody conflicts. That's where it starts anyway - Saevus Corax goes on quite the journey through this book. And you'll enjoy going on it with him - it's a good fun read, as long as you are the sort of person who can find the fun in treachery, betrayal, and corpse disposal, of course....
