[Sir Thursday]

So I read Colours in the Steel (Book 1 of the Fencer Trilogy) a while back, and quite enjoyed it - she obviously knows what she's talking about with the siege engines and the like, and the family members and coincidences that kept popping up were enjoyable, with wit sprinkled nicely throughout. Her style of writing feels a bit different from your standard fantasy fare - straightforward but still fresh.

I decided to try Shadow (Book 1 of the Scavenger Trilogy) because I'd heard good things, but I couldn't really enjoy it (although I was feeling rather ill at the time, which might have explained a few things). So I thought I'd go back and try the second volume in the Fencer Trilogy, The Belly of the Bow. I was mildly enjoying it - there was a lot devoted to bowmaking, but not enough to ruin the story...

And then, as the book drew to a close, KJ Parker pulled out something that almost made my eyes pop out with surprise. A supremely jaw-dropping WTF?! moment:

Spoiler

Bardas killing Gorgas' son and using his innards to make a bow? :eek: It seems completely out of character. I realise that Bardas is EXTREMELY pissed off at Gorgas when Iseutz tells him who it was that opened the Gates to Perimedeia, but still... WTF???

It gave me a shock, anyway. Anyone else have a similar experience?


Sir Thursday

[ChrisW]

I wouldn't say it was out of character. Bardos is a strange one. Can't exactly remember my response but I don't think my eyes popped.

[RodeoRanch]

I really enjoyed the Scavenger Trilogy.

[Werthead]

Yeah, Bardas has serious Issues, which IIRC are explored even more in depth in the third book.

[QuickTidal]

I bought Devices & Desires a while back. Tried to get into it and just didn't, but I still have it, and I'll give it another go sometime.

[Tsundoku]

Yeah, liked the style and wit of the Fencer trilogy, but some of the events that occurred, and specifically the endings of each book kinda left me feeling rather deflated. There's a difference between striving for an outcome that avoids the typical fantasy stereotype, and having a totally unsatisfactory ending.

Cheers,

La Sombra, thinks KJ Parker needs to go to "Endings School". (As distinctly opposed to "Eddings School".)

[Lorn]

Loved the Scavenger trilogy (one of my top 5 fantasy series) and read Devices and Desires not long ago. The story is good and she still makes me laugh but it is a book very difficult to get into. The characters are quite unlikeable, I want Ziani to die very slowly and painfully but since he is he main character, I fear he will stick around to the end. Maybe I get the next one but only if I can't find something else to read.

[cervantor]

Personally I didn't like the Scavenger trilogy that much at all. I thought it had some great concepts, but the overall execution wasn't to my liking. I tried reading "Devices & Desires" hoping it might be an improvement, and it was in some areas, but I've decided the writing style of the author just wasn't to my tastes. In the end, I think that KJ Parker's works are an acquired taste...

[DurhangAddict]

I just finished Belly Of The Bow last week. That was definitely the WTF scene of the first two books. I am about 100 pages into The Proof House, but my copy of Reaper's Gale arrived yesterday, so it gets set aside for now.

Though for me, that WTF moment was immediately followed by a second one:

Spoiler

Gorgas' reaction! HE FORGAVE HIM! "Well, what's done is done. I can always make another son. I can't make another brother."

I read the Scavenger Trilogy first, which I quite enjoyed. I've read Devices and Desires which I rather liked (it's an interesting idea - engineering meets religion. Do not blaspheme against Specification!). I have Evil for Evil waiting for me once I finish the Proof House.

What I like about her writing is the black humour, and that I usually cannot predict where the story will go.

Oddly enough, I had assumed she was a he until this thread