The Two of Swords: Volume Three

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
The war is almost over, because almost everyone is dead. The Lodge has come out of hiding to attack what's left of two empires. And the people who played unwitting parts in a complex scheme are starting to learn what was behind it all and why.

Review
I think this largely concludes the pile of K. J. Parker books I'd bought when I was still enthusiastic or at least unwilling to give up. This last volume largely confirms all the things I've said before, but perhaps it's worth a wrap-up here.

Parker is a very talented writer. While I didn't much care for the one Tom Holt book I read, the Parker books and stories, with their wit and sardonic tone, are very well put together. The self-deprecating characters and their surprise at their own success are funny, as are the instances of perfect planning that somehow goes all wrong, and the lucky chances that make disaster go all right. The prose is excellent, the metaphors... well, not always complex, and often hammered into the ground, but they're clear and apposite.

All of that is good, and why I loved most of the first Parker trilogies I bought. As time went on, though, and I read more and more (Goodreads tells me I've read almost two dozen), the more I realized how many traits they all share. Every Parker story is composed of essentially the same characters, plot points, twists, etc. And, because they're set in a roughly shared but largely generic world, even the settings are quite similar. The details of how things go wrong and right are different, but not greatly.

Because of how generic and convoluted they are, Parker's books are hard to tell apart. Aside from a few shocking moments or memorable scenes, I'd have a hard time recalling the plot of many of them, and even less success with characters.

This last book in my stack had the same issues as usual. It does wrap things up fairly neatly, and it's been interesting that the main threads of the trilogy's plot (the craft and guild) have remained largely in the background – I haven't seen that often before. And he does make an effort to not only tie off many, many threads, but to loop back to some of the key characters he's invoked over the three books. It's a professional, competent ending. It's also unfortunately one that left me almost entirely unmoved. There are emotional moments in the book (and trilogy), but they have less effect than they used to, because they're expected. If you see a good or beautiful thing in a Parker book, you already know that someone will destroy it for a logical but ultimately valueless reason. It's not tragic anymore.

I give Parker credit for talent and for introducing a new tone in fantasy literature. Unfortunately, he hasn't progressed much since then. Like an actor who keeps playing the same old role, Parker's books are dependable, but haven't been innovative in quite some time. If you're new to him, I strongly recommend picking up one of his books or trilogies; you may love it. But it doesn't really matter which you choose, because, to me, at least, they're pretty much the same.