kgbooklog

K.J. Parker, Evil for Evil
Orbit (2006) ISBN: 0-316-00339-5
Score: -1

Middle book of the sorta-fantasy[1] Engineer trilogy, in which things apparently continue to go according to the plan. About halfway through I decided that the author wanted to do an anti-romantic version of Foundation, taking everything Asimov did right and do it wrong (focussing on predicting individuals instead of mobs, keeping the plan on track through large chaotic battles involving said predictable individuals, killing as many people as possible in order to achieve private goals).

[1] Invented world, not quite industrial technology, but no other speculative elements.


Next Book: Shaun Tan, The Arrival

K.J. Parker, Devices and Desires
Orbit (2005) ISBN: 0-316-00338-7
Score: 2

Start of the Engineer trilogy, an epic fantasy without the fantasy (it is set on another world). It's a story about technology, yet the most advanced country has frozen its tech just short of an industrial revolution. The plot and character motivations need some suspension of disbelief, since the conflict mainly consists of the antagonist demonstrating that "love is the most destructive force in the universe". I really wish the female characters had a chance to be something more than just pawns and objects of obsession.

Next Book: Charles Stross, The Merchants' War