Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I take a look at an upcoming fantasy novel that I am particularly excited for, the sure to be hilarious novel, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead by acclaimed author K. J. Parker.

Amazon

I am always in the mood for a fantasy novel that utilises humour and comedy to enhance the story, and to my mind few current authors manage that as well as exceptional talent K. J. Parker, a pseudonym of author Tom Holt.  Parker/Holt has been delighting authors for over 35 years and his intriguing reads blend his unique sense of humour with some elaborate and well-thought fantasy or historical fiction scenarios.  I have only so far had the pleasure of reading one of his trilogies, but that was more than enough to make me a massive of his.

This series was the very clever and captivating The Siege series, which includes some of the funniest books that I have ever read.  Set around a siege of a massive city, all three books told a unique story of its long and deadly besiegement, that were loosely connected to each other and told from the perspective of a different unreliable narrator.  The first book in the series was the very impressive Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (one of my favourite books of 2019), which saw an amoral engineer take command of the city’s defences and use a mixture of mechanisms and bluffing to keep out the enemy.  This outstanding read was followed up by the extremely funny How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (one of my favourite books of 2020).  Set years after the events of the first book, this sequel followed an actor in the still besieged city tasked with impersonating a dead war hero, and who then uses his position to take over everything.  Parker masterfully finished the trilogy off last year with A Practical Guide to Conquering the World (one of my favourite books of 2022).  This outstanding finale saw a scribe and scholar from the city manage to use his unique array of obscure knowledge, as well as a strong understanding of basic human nature, to overthrow a nation and then the entire world in a brilliant sequence of manipulation and cleverness.  I have so much love for this exceptional trilogy, and I really grew to enjoy Parker’s unique sense of subtle humour and the fantastic and entertaining stories he was able to craft using it.

Due to how much I enjoyed The Siege trilogy, I have been keen to see what cool series Parker would right next, and boy does it look like he has something very special planned for us, with his upcoming Corax trilogy.  Starting in a few months’ time with Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead, this intriguing new trilogy looks to follow another complex protagonist as he finds himself stuck in a deadly situation.

Plot Synopsis:

There’s no formal training for battlefield salvage. You just have to pick things up as you go along. Swords, armor, arrows – and the bodies, of course.

Something else that Saevus has buried is his past. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite succeed.

I have to say that I am already really in love with this cool sounding book and I have some very high hopes for Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead.  An adventure novel that follows a battlefield scavenger is going to be very intriguing, and you know that Parker will really dive into the unique elements of this trade, with fun anecdotes looking at the best and worth moments the protagonist has experienced.  Having a compelling protagonist like this at the centre of the novel will ensure that Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead is going to be a very fun read and I look forward to seeing what sort of compelling and entertaining plot the author can come up with to match him.  I have no doubt it is going to be something pretty damn awesome especially when combined with Parker’s brilliant humour and relatable observations about the human condition.

Based on how much I enjoyed Parker’s previous series, there is no way that I am missing this fantastic new trilogy, especially as Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead sounds so damn good.  It also looks like Parker has plans to release all the books in quick succession, as the titles and covers for the rest of the Corax trilogy have already been released.  Both the second book, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle, and the third book, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder, already have 2023 release dates, and if that holds true, then hopefully we can read the entire trilogy in the space of a few months.  If this is the case, I am very, very excited, as I have no doubt all three are going to be pretty exceptional.  I look forward to finding out what new craziness and fun Parker has cooked up in his new trilogy, and I fully expect Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead, and possibly its two sequels, to top my best books of the year list for 2023.