Publisher: Orbit (Trade Paperback – 10 October 2023)

Series: Corax – Book One

Length: 359 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 pages

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One of the most unique and funny authors of fantasy fiction, K. J. Parker, returns with an outstanding and hilarious read about a likeable protagonist caught up in the middle of so much drama, with Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead.

Few authors have the comedic chops and inventiveness of K. J. Parker, whose work I have been deeply enjoying over the last few years.  A pseudonym of established fantasy author Tom Holt, Parker has written a ton of unique and compelling reads over the years, including some outstanding novels that set outrageous and clever protagonists against the stupidity of their world in some impressive scenarios.  I particularly enjoyed Parker’s recent The Siege series, which saw three very different men take advantage of a major siege in very different ways.  All three Siege books were extremely epic, and they all got five-star ratings from me because of their clever stories, entertaining characters, and fantastic comedy.  This includes Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (one of my favourite books of 2019), How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (one of my favourite books of 2020) and A Practical Guide to Conquering the World (one of my favourite books of 2022).

Due to how much I enjoyed Parker’s last series, I was very excited when I found out that he had a fun new trilogy coming out in 2023.  This series, the Corax trilogy, follows Saevus Corax, a professional battlefield looter who runs afoul of multiple groups, nations and people in his quest for survival and the big score.  Parker, who seems to be an unstoppable force when it comes to writing, released all three Corax books in the space of around a month, which is pretty damn impressive.  I have so far had the great pleasure of reading the first of these, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, which proved to be an exceptional novel and one of my favourite books of 2023.

Saevus Corax is a man with a twisted and hidden past, who seeks to make a new future for himself by looting the many, many battlefields that scatter his world.  Leading a professional band of scavengers, Corax makes his living by selling recovered and repaired gear from the dead to warring armies desperate or greedy enough to buy from him.  While not the most glamorous work, it’s a job Corax excels at, and it allows him to escape his complicated history.  But the past always has a habit of coming back when you least expect it, especially when there is a great deal of money on the line.

Finishing up a lucrative job, Corax and his men are shocked to discover that they are being accused of committing a brazen heist and now have a price on their heads.  Assuming that he is the true target of this bounty, Corax soon finds himself targeted by the two most powerful banking organisations on the continent.  Forced to flee, Corax finds himself the most wanted man alive, with several nefarious organisations, as well as vengeful members of his own family, placing a massive bounty on his head.  But who is Corax really, and why does everyone want him either alive or dead?

To understand that you’ll need to unwrap Corax’s complex history, and the events that turned him into the most important figure in world politics.  But Corax is sick of being a pawn in everyone else’s game, and he soon starts to make his own moves to ensure his independence.  Will Corax survive, or will his attempts at upsetting the board result in chaos and destruction across the world?

This was an absolutely amazing read from K. J. Parker that placed a very likeable and relatable protagonist into one heck of an elaborate bind.  Filled with a wry humour, outrageous scenarios and constant treachery, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead was an outstanding read that gets a very easy five-star rating from me.

Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead has a great story that is told in a first-person chronicle format from the perspective of titular protagonist Saevus Corax.  This is the exact way that Parker wrote The Siege trilogy, and indeed this book is set in the same world several hundred years down the line.  This results in a different landscape for the story, with the bulk of the technology, culture, and certain story elements reminiscent of medieval times rather than the previously seen Romanesque setting, and Parker uses this to his full advantage, especially as the protagonist finds himself caught in a battle between this world’s equivalent of the historic banking giants, the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller.  While nominally a fantasy novel, as it is set in a different world, this series often comes across more as an alternate history novel with comedic undertones, which is highly fun.

The author comes up with an awesome tale surrounding this scenario, as the compelling protagonist is thrust into this conflict against his will thanks to certain aspects of his birth.  Corax recounts this entire adventure in detail, as he first attempts to ascertain who is trying to capture him after framing him for a crime, before eventually going on the run.  Despite promising the reader to always tell the truth, Corax proves to be a somewhat unreliable narrator, mainly because he doesn’t have a desire to share his own personal history unless he must.  However, this hidden history comes into play quite a lot, as his past ensures he is immensely important for just being him.

Inevitably betrayed and captured, Corax is sent off to experience his destiny, which results in some substantial carnage as the protagonist attempts to either escape or turn the situation to his advantage.  This leads to several amusing battles, impractical wars, and other major confrontations, as Corax and the other characters lie, backstab and manipulate to try and get what they want.  Watching a highly practical man with a professional understanding of warfare and a capable imagination face off against various foes who constantly underestimate him makes for some great entertainment, and the various twists and turns that emerge are so much fun.  This entire story comes together extremely well, and the sheer number of betrayals, changing loyalties and attempts by people to use the protagonist for their own advantage ensure you’re never certain who’s going to come out on top of every brilliant scene.  The conclusion of Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead’s plot is very clever, and it brings together a lot of the unique world and compelling story elements that have been built up over the course of the story.  The way that the protagonist overturns everything just to maintain his life is so much fun, and the fitting rewards all the characters get is very fun.

I have so much love for how this story comes together, as the protagonist’s recounting of events really works to give you a personal and complex take.  Every moment of the story is told through Saevus Corax’s cynical and distrustful eye, which adds a certain slant to events, and the author does a great job of providing some fun, but detailed, context to the events unfolding.  Much of this book’s excellent humour is lifted from these outrageous situations that the protagonist finds himself in.  The protagonist does a great job of expressing the ridiculousness of many of these moments, as well as the funny ways he manages to oppose them, often by using simple human nature or flaws in various systems to his advantage.  I loved how well Parker introduced his protagonist is this novel, and Corax’s excellent narration of current events, as well as the compelling and often emotionally charged retelling of his personal history, comes together well to tell an impressive story.  I really cannot emphasise enough how well this first-person narration works, and the detailed recounting of events from a grounded, sensible and exasperated figure really makes for a unique tale.

As the first book in this new trilogy, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead is a self-contained book, and readers don’t need to have read any of Parker’s previous novels to appreciate it.  As a fan of The Siege series, I enjoyed that the Corax books are set in the same world, especially as the author slips in some fun references and allusions to prior events.  However, no prior knowledge of The Siege books is needed, as the protagonist provides all the relevant world history in his narration, with a few fun and ironic points about the unreliability of prior narrators.  Parker does a good job of quickly building and exploring the various nations and powers in this world, especially if they relate to the plot, and I liked some of the fun parallels that exist between some of them and real historical entities.  The interplay of politics, the rivalries between powers, and the simple desire many of these groups have to betray each other is well set out as a result, and this works into the plot of the book very effectively, especially once you begin to understand just who Corax is.  I really enjoyed how all these elements are explored in the plot, although I did on multiple occasions wish that Parker had included some form of map just so I could have kept track of locations and nations.  I honestly had such a great time returning to this amazing world, especially as we got to follow yet another unlikely leader who was able to change the world just by applying their own unique brand of knowledge and an understanding of how fallible humans can be.

Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead was an incredible novel from K. J. Parker that continues to showcase his exceptional and comedic writing style.  Setting a great protagonist down a chaotic road, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead had an amazing story which Parker showcases in his well-honed and enjoyable style.  Immensely clever and exceedingly funny, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead comes highly recommended, and I loved every second I spent reading it.  I already have both sequels, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle and Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder (both with very intriguing titles), and I am hoping to read them as soon as possible as I know I will love them too.

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