The Father of Lies is a collection of short novels and novellas by K.J. Parker (a.k.a. Tom Holt). It's a brick of a book, well over 500 pages, and contains 12 pieces which run the gamut from first person revenge/love tales, to (mostly) straightforward mythology retellings, complete with the drama and infighting immortals get up to, and a couple of decent Faustian stories for good measure.

Most of the time when I'm reviewing collections and anthologies, I swear I'm going to savor them like a box of chocolates and wind up devouring the whole thing cover to cover. That's not really the way to experience this book. I enjoyed this book a lot more for having read a story at a time interspersed with other completely different genres and styles.

Picking out stories to highlight is difficult, they're consistently well written and the author has a deft hand and sure voice.

I honestly enjoyed all of the stories, but No Rest for the Wicked, The Things We Do for Love, and The Devil You Know were outstanding. It's worth noting that all of the stories in this collection were previously published elsewhere, but it's nice having them conveniently accessible together.

There is no additional author background or introduction included with the book; the stories stand up quite well on their own merits.

Enjoyable, savor them over time.

Four stars (on average, trending toward a five, there are many flashes of brilliance here).

This collection of short stories is too long. The problem became apparent that in little bites the stories were good. But one after another they started to blend together in a way that wasn't fun. I don't remember which character did what to or with whom. It came together in a way to form a picture that I don't care about. I had to read one story take a break for a week before I could read the next one in the last quarter of the book. This is the second of the collected editions so I will read the first one knowing how to read it. But I don't know if that will help give me a clearer picture of what I was supposed to see.

I loved this collection of stories by KJ Parker. It's great having all these in one place as well. 😀

This was a good collection of novellas/stories all set in the same fantasy world. (I gather that this is the same world as many of Parker's other novels, although I'm afraid I don't know if this particular world has a name.) These are stories involving tricksters, people who make deals with demons, people who try to cheat demons, etc. The stories are funny and make me want to check out Parker's novels.

The Father of Lies by K. J. Parker- This is a huge anthology of twelve short novels and novelettes that show off K. J. Parker's expertise at telling a story, all the twists and turns and all the surprises. All told in first person with sly wit as they each recount their triumphs and failures and their captures and escapes. My personal favorite is "Downfall of the Gods", as a celestial being recounts his journey among men who worship him and how he distains their adore. "The Last Witness" is a long story that meanders around the subject and doubles back on itself only to finally show its merit. Like all anthologies I've read, by a pool of authors or by the same person, no every story is a winner, but most of these are a notch above if not several than your run of the mill story. If you've never read K. J. Parker, this is a great introduction, if you have, don't miss this landmark collection

The prose is very solid but it's a loooooooong collection and gets a bit repetitive at times. Still, I do love fake Rome with all my heart!