Quirky and fun! I’ve never read this author before but I’ll have to check out some of his other books now.

Rating: 10/10

Thank you to Nazia and Orbit books for providing me an ARC. All thoughts are mine

How to Rule an Empire is one of the, if not, the most brilliant fantasy novels based on the Byzantine Empire that I have ever read. This is a tale of a conman, a tale of an actor that becomes something bigger than life. I really liked Notker and his ability to adapt in this world-changing novel. An actor that is threatened by three of the most powerful men in the city suddenly becomes privy to the politics of the city that forces him to become Emperor.

Firstly, I applaud Orbit for taking this Byzantine inspired fantasy and adding it onto my shelf. The cover really makes a lot of sense when you read the entire novel. I feel Notker’s mother never really liked him and really wished that in the sequel, we see their chemistry becoming repaired. I was disappointed not to see a map because I really want to see a map of this Byzantine inspired fantasy. I also wished to see more of Ogus and his scenes developing with Notker who becomes the Emperor in a way.

This is also, of course, inspired by the 1453 Siege of Constantinople. If you watch Netflix’s Rise of Empire: Ottoman, it provides a somewhat balanced viewpoints of the Roman and Ottoman viewpoints from the siege. If you get started with book 1, it’ll provide some very good context. Notker seems to be inspired from Giovanni Giustiniani, apparently a Genose Captain, part of the Imperial Byzantine titles: Imperial Stable Master.

Bascially put, he’s comes from one of the greatest families of Genose. Hired by the last official Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, Giovanni proved to be a pain in the neck for the Ottomans. He would fight them back, and he would conduct schemes and ruses to trick the Ottoman attackers. Very similiar things happen. Except you can guess here: Like Notker, Giovanni also fled the city when the attack led by the Ottomans was led by a ferecious assault and Giovanni fled, but he succumbed to his wounds (he attacked but he was wounded very severly). Notker has something similar…but you can figure that out. And I did not like Hodda. I don’t think she was ever a good fit for Notker in the first place (in brain and cunning yes. In love? Never.) I think Notker needs some really positive women in his life. Both his mother and Hodda are horrendous in my opinion. Captain Very was also a great character 🙂

I had so much fun reading this in the first person, I felt I was actively involved in Notker’s story. I CAN’T wait to see where his story goes! Truly, this IS the performance of a lifetime. I daresay Notker has gotten a bigger role that was very…tremendous for an actor of his capabilities. I cannot wait to read book 3! 10/10 from me.

I enjoyed reading K.J. Parker’s Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, therefore I was very curious to see how the story would be carried forward with a new main character: from the very start Notker, the protagonist of this novel, spoke with a very unique, very entertaining voice and made this new sojourn in the city a delightful time.

The city is now in its seventh year of the (so far not very successful) siege by the ever-growing army of the so-called milkfaces: the blue-skinned Robur ruled over this part of the world for a long time, placing the light-skinned inhabitants in a practically and culturally subservient position. Once the oppressed decided to put an end to the Robur dominion, the siege of the city began and, as we saw in the previous book, it was thanks to the milkface engineer Orhan if the invading army’s attempts at overruling its defenses did not succeed. As the story opens, we learn that the Robur, not exactly happy to acknowledge Orhan’s endeavors, have tweaked history a bit and heaped the glory for their salvation on the shoulders of Lysimachus - Orhan’s former bodyguard and a far more acceptable Robur - making him the public face of government.

Unfortunately, one of the stones regularly launched by the invaders’ trebuchets falls on on a building where Lysimachus and other officials are present, killing him instantly: the effect on public morale would be devastating, so the city’s de-facto rulers decide to employ a body double to keep Lysimachus alive in the eyes of the citizens. Enter Notker, a struggling actor and playwright, whose skills as an impersonator are well known: he’s enrolled for the charade despite his deep misgivings, and day after day he surprises even himself by growing so well into the role that at times he finds it hard to avoid blurring the boundaries between truth and fiction. He becomes so good in his role that his personality - at least on the surface - undergoes important changes, as do his goals, or at least that’s what he seems to convey…

Indeed “seems” is the pivotal word here: where Orhan was an unreliable narrator simply because we saw events only from his point of view, Notker is even more unreliable because he’s a professional liar - after all what are actors if not people who can don many personalities as they would do with clothes? So in his case we not only witness events from his angle, we know he is putting on a mask, playing a role, and this adds a further layer of misdirection on anything he says or does. What’s more, Notker seems to enjoy being Lysimachus, not just for the power he finds himself able to wield, but because he has such a low esteem for himself that he seems to prefer living a lie than showing the real person underneath:

[…] being me has never been easy. And on balance I’d far rather be anybody else but me.

If Notker is clearly unreliable, on the other hand he’s witty and funny and - veteran actor that he is - he manages to infuse a light note in everything he describes, be it a political conspiracy, a particularly bloody assault on the walls or a difficult negotiation with the Themes, the two factions that run the city’s working class and are in constant, fierce competition with each other. What emerges from his light-hearted chronicles, however, is a sort of moral code, no matter how heavily disguised, that adds an intriguing facet to Notker’s character and slowly turns him from the initial lovable rogue into a sympathetic character: if absolute power can corrupt, it can also sometimes change people for the better, make them care for something beyond their immediate needs. Or, to use Notker’s own words:

[…] that’s the risk with staying in character. Sooner or later the character stays in you.

Through a series of flashbacks we learn more about our protagonist and his difficult childhood under the wing of an overbearing father with a penchant for violence that the man channeled into a career as a Theme enforcer: despite Notker’s almost-fond recollections of those fatherly lessons, we can perceive his desire to detach himself from such an heritage, and that’s another reason it’s easy to empathize with him and to understand his need to forge his own destiny, but also to do something good once he finds himself in the position to do so.

Unlike Orhan, who remained front and center in his version of the story, Notker is paired with another interesting character, fellow actress and onetime lover Hodda: the author often mentions, with tongue-in-cheek humor, that one of the main requirements for a successful play is the presence of a strong female character and Hodda fits this specification to perfection, not only because she’s a determined, independent woman who brings these qualities to her roles, but also because she’s practical and resolute and faces life with a no-nonsense attitude that’s very refreshing. Her dealings with Notker, even when circumstances bring them very close, are always based on those traits, and she often acts as the voice of reason (a voice laced with a strong dose of scorn, granted) tempering Notker’s wildest flights of fancy. Both in this story and the previous one the author brought to life this kind of female character - women who combine a sharp tongue with an even sharper intellect, who take no flak from men and know what they want from life and how to get it, and Hodda here is their rightful representative.

How to Rule an Empire… like its companion novel is a fun journey that nonetheless compels you to seriously think about people and what drives them, that successfully mixes drama and comedy always keeping a good balance between these elements and that presents you with memorable characters while telling a fast-paced story able to hold your attention from start to finish. For me, a perfect combination….

This is the much anticipated (though unexpected) sequel to Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and boy-o, was I excited to read this little nugget! It takes place some unknown amount of time after the events of Sixteen Ways – maybe you know how long, I was unsure – and follows Notker. Notker is an actor and playwright of dubious success and he happens to be known for his impersonations of famous people. One of his best is that of Lysimachus, hero of the people who was recently crushed under a rock at a house party Notker was running late to.

Notker is convinced somewhat forcefully to play the role of Lysimachus in perpetuity to keep up the morale of the city. I mean, the big hero of the people can’t just die! Notker turns out to be somewhat clever, makes some good decisions, and gee whiz! He ends up becoming emperor! Obviously there’s far more to it than that, but I can’t give away the whole plot in the review.

Notker is a likable character and the humor is present, though it’s not in your face hilarious. I personally found Sixteen Ways to be far funnier (likely due to Orhan being the main character) and loved it just a little more. That being said, How to Rule and Empire and Get Away With It maintained the status quo and proved to be a delightfully refreshing addition to the fantasy genre.

I’d definitely recommend this series to anyone with a penchant for military fantasy, though I think it will appeal to most folks who read fantasy as a whole. You don’t necessarily have to read the first book, though I would highly recommend starting there. Without that, you have no background, no context for the goings on in this installment.

An Empire And Get Away With It, by K.J. Parker, was a sequel to Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City. The blurbs I read made it seem like Empire wasn’t a sequel, but they are listed as part of a series. The ending of Sixteen was fairly definitive, but the books also share clearly similar cover art style – so suffice to say I was puzzled. After picking Empire up, I found the answer to the question is just as confusing:

Book one, Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City, is the story of an engineer stuck in an endless siege against an enormously overwhelming army camped outside. Throughout the course of the book, the engineer manages to deadlock the army, essentially creating a stalemate and saving the city. The siege is still going on at the end of the book, but for all intents and purposes, the conflict is over. Empire is a pseudo-sequel set eight years later that tells the story of a different set of characters (with some minor carry over) who are still dealing with this endless siege. Parker pretty much washes away the original cast of Sixteen by literally saying “rocks fell and everyone died” – so Empire is more like a strange retelling of Sixteen than an actual sequel. In many ways, Empire is just the same book as Sixteen – so what’s the point in reading it? The answer is Empire’s cast provides a kaleidoscope of new angles and views of a classical fantasy problem and delivers solutions and commentary with the same unyielding drive and wit as the first book.

While Sixteen told the story of an engineer facing off against an army, Empire tells the story of an actor. At the beginning of the second book, a stray catapult shot manages to kill the ruling general of the besieged city. To keep the peace and maintain morale, the general’s seconds kidnap a famous impressionist and force him to assume the general’s identity to maintain appearances. At first, the actor is just trying to save his skin and stay alive. But as time progresses, he begins to realize that no one has any idea what they are doing, and if he doesn’t actively intervene, they are going to end up losing the city. Thus begins the greatest story of faking it until you make it I have ever read.

Empire is an amazing book with a unique narrative identity. As always, Parker seems to be a man of original and clever ideas, and he writes stories to express them beautifully to his readers. The narration is done in the style of a play, with a ton of quirks and nods to this concept woven into the storytelling. The protagonist’s name is Notker, and he positively vibrates with energy and flavor. Parker does a tremendous job of approaching all the problems in the story from the perspective of an actor and finds solutions that feel true to his cast’s way of thinking. It creates this really cool dichotomy between Sixteen and Empire; if the reader is paying attention, you can see the enormous thought and detail that Parker put into both novels. The positive side of this relationship is that both books have a symbiotic relationship that improves the experience of reading both. The bad side of this relationship is it is impossible not to compare the two books directly, and I think it makes it easy to see that Empire is the weaker story.

Don’t get me wrong, Empire is an excellent book, and I absolutely recommend it. But I think Sixteen is better. Empire feels a little emptier than Sixteen, and the extreme emphasis on Notker means that the supporting cast is less developed, and the world feels less lived in. Somehow Sixteen made me feel like the worldbuilding shrunk, and I came out with less information about the setting than I started with. Finally, the pacing in the second book is a bit topsy turvy. The adherence to the play-like style means there are some extreme scene transitions and set changes that can feel jarring.

Overall, I definitely recommend How To Rule An Empire And Get Away With It. Parker somehow managed to deconstruct his own book and rebuild it into something new and wholly original, and it is an impressive work of fiction. Like all Parker books I have read, Empire is an interesting experience from start to finish – funny and fresh from page one. If I had to pick one over the other, I think I would still go with Sixteen, but they are both wonderful books that you should read as soon as possible.

Rating: How To Rule An Empire And Get Away With It – 8.5/10
-Andrew

Notker is an actor, impressionist, and playwright. And a liar. This is his story of how he came to rule an empire and get away with it. With his nearly uncanny resemblance to the most popular guy in the besieged city, he finds himself playing the role of a lifetime, and somehow finding himself leading the entire city, almost all of whom don't even know who, exactly, he is. All while things are falling out of the sky.

And...I did it again. This is the sequel to a book that takes place seven years ago when the siege started, Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City. You guessed it; I didn't read the first book, though I think I should because this one was fun, humorous, and I just really liked Notker. I feel like I only missed out on some details, so it was easy to catch up with what was going on. All in all, a really fun, easy to read book that went too fast.

The Characters: The Liar

The characters were so much fun. Since How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It is told by Notker, there was an amusing lack of gravity to all of the characters, as well as the story, that just made them into what felt like fun caricatures. Sure, some of them were more serious, but I kept picturing them grinning kind of like Cheshire cats, mysterious yet silly looking.

Of course I adored Notker. It's impossible to get to know him extremely well since he's the one telling the story. He was honest and funny, all while lying through his teeth to everyone else. And sometimes telling the truth, even when the people around him didn't want to hear it. I loved that he could get away with saying just about everything and almost coming off as almost an idiot. It was fun to see his role in the city change, which, in small ways, changed his personal character, but he somehow managed to stay good ol' Notker.

Most amusingly was how Notker wrote about the others around him, like Hodda and the various men who either worked for him or ordered him to do things so they wouldn't have to kill them. They each had their designated role, but also felt like accessory characters, every single one of them. Notker was clearly in the lead role and everyone else was just supportive. Either Notker was a very good liar, or all the world really is a stage and Notker was just on one of the largest ever.

What I really loved, though, was that this is a city of black people (it took me a while to figure it out even though they were referring to whiteface in the theater circle, as opposed to the blackface we all know far too well) that white invaders have laid siege to. I loved that all of it, the entire story, pointed to typical fantasy elements and behaviors you'd see in fantasy where just about every leading character is white. But the lead characters here are not white. I loved that it showcased black people as being no different than anyone else in fantasy, which makes this seem like a very timely read considering the upheaval the US has been going through when it comes to racism.

The Setting: The Stage

Almost all of How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It takes place in a single city. There's an island, and mention of other far off places, but most of it is in a besieged city. It felt like a very well-thought out city, but that could be because it was all set up and built in the first novel, which I did not read. I do wonder if I missed out on something, if, maybe, I lost out on some comprehension and richness of the world building because I failed to read the first book, but it still felt beautiful and fascinating with a rich culture and history. I did have a bit of a hard time envisioning what, exactly, this place might look like, but just found it so fascinating that I couldn't help but be delighted. What world building there was here was built right into the story, into Notker's narrative as it was necessary, so it felt like it was being built up around me, albeit in stones that had already been laid.

The Plot: The Almost Ridiculous Story That Somehow Works

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It was funny and delightful. I adored Notker and how he told his tale, and was tickled at the end when I realized I couldn't quite trust his version as he is, of course, an actor and not a writer. It made me wonder what he might have left out because it didn't fit his personal narrative, if, maybe, he took credit for something he didn't do. While that normally bothers me because it feels shallow and egotistical, Notker is unapologetically an actor and the whole world is, literally, his stage. I loved Notker, so of course I loved his story.

This is about a fairly adequately talented actor who is given the role of a lifetime, and ends up ruling an empire and getting away with it. It has some twists and turns that were perfectly timed as the book is divided into 3 acts, which also makes me wonder if maybe some of it was exaggerated for the 3 act structure, and because Notker is not a writer. The interesting thing was that, when I was immersed in the story, I really had no idea where it was going. It was a continuous series of something bad happening and then Notker somehow solving it and saving his own neck in the process, so I had no clue what was really going on. At the end, though, it was just so simple. It's How to Rule and Empire and Get Away With It. Not that I'd actually recommend this method to anyone.

Another thing I found fascinating about this book was the violence. I dislike violence in books unless it's actually very necessary to the story and not at all gratuitous. Well, there's actually quite a bit of violence here, but I...kind of liked it. Oh, I didn't like that bad, painful things happened, but it was somehow...fun? It wasn't grotesque or glorifying. It wasn't overly bloody with lots of lost limbs and heads. Painful, yes, but amusing to read. I guess I just have to remember Notker, an actor, is the one telling the story so there would be some theatrical finesse to it.

Overall: So Much Fun

This was such a fun book. I adored Notker. Because this is an actor telling his side of the story, it was kind of difficult to get to know the other characters, but he was just so charming that I didn't care. The story was humorous peppered with some quite serious bits that gave How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It a terrific balance of telling a fun story and moving it along at a great pace. Overall, a ton of fun, and maybe I should go back and check out the first book.

Thank you to Angela Man at Orbit for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book will be available on August 18th.

Apparently this book is a sequel to Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City. I had no idea and was able to understand exactly what was going on anyway, so it obviously stands quite well on its own. In fact, I’m not sure how it could possibly be a sequel at all.

Let me tell you what I thought about this book. The beginning: perfect. The middle: perfect. The end: perf – well, you get the idea. The only thing I don’t love is the ridiculously long title, and that’s just because my memory is a lousy, fickle thing. I’m afraid I’ll forget the title in a year or so, when I’m ready to reread it.

Notker is the main player in the story. He’s an actor and playwright (although he says multiple times that he’s not a writer). Through no fault of his own he finds himself pressured into playing a character that requires absolute dedication. Because if he’s less than convincing…bum, bum bum! Certain death!

The book revolves almost entirely on the development of Notker. You’d think that would get old after a while, but it never does. This book could have continued for another few hundred pages, and I would have happily kept on reading. Notker is smart, self-deprecating, and either very lucky or incredibly unlucky (I haven’t decided which yet).

For this kind of book to be engaging at all, the author would have to be brilliant. Thankfully, K.J. Parker is. He juggles characters, history, and storyline with ease. His narration is witty and funny. It’s also thought-provoking. That’ s quite a balancing act.

I love posts where I get to wax enthusiastic about a book. How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It deserves a standing ovation. I absolutely loved it. Read this book!