Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder by K. J. Parker

On December 3, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Comedy/Satire, Fantasy, Five-Star Books3 Comments

Publisher: Orbit (Trade Paperback – 5 December 2023)

Series: Corax Trilogy – Book Three

Length: 323 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

One of the masters of comedic fantasy, K. J. Parker, ends his fantastic Corax trilogy on an outstanding note with Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder.

As we get to the end of 2024, I’m desperately trying to finalise reviews for books I read earlier in the year. This includes the third and final entry in the Corax trilogy by K. J. Parker, which I enjoyed a few months ago. Parker, a pseudonym of author Tom Holt, released his entire Corax trilogy in 2023, which follows a resourceful and ill-fated rogue, Saevus Corax, as he finds himself in all manner of trouble. Set in the same universe as the author’s The Siege series, which featured 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), this was a trilogy with a lot of potential, and I eagerly grabbed all three books the first chance I could.

While I managed to get all three of the Corax novels last year, I only had the chance to read the first novel, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead before 2023 ended. This first entry in the trilogy was pretty damn incredible, and I loved the wonderful and highly entertaining story it contained, especially as it was masterfully layered with Parker’s trademark humour. Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead got an easy five-star rating from me, and it ended up being one of my favourite books of 2023. I quickly got onto the second book in the series, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle, earlier this year, and just like the first entry, it proved to be a remarkable read that I had a wonderful time with. As such, I made sure to read the final book in the trilogy, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder, as quickly as I could, and it proved to be great reading whilst away on holiday. I regret not writing something about Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder sooner, as it was an outstanding and epic read that I could not put down, but hopefully I can make up for it now.

After years of schemes, daring cons, an unwilling coronation and other unfortunate adventures, Saevus Corax is still stuck doing the only job he’s good at, battlefield salvage. Unglamourous and often disgusting work, it provides a basic living for his large crew of outcasts and rogues as they tour their world’s many scattered battlefields, rescuing and repurposing everything they can recover from the dead. However, Corax’s band are about to encounter the only thing that can make their business unprofitable, a massive total war that threatens to burn the entire continent.

Seeing the signs of upcoming mass conflict, Corax and his crew attempt to flee to safer climates where they can still potentially make a living. However, Corax finds his plan to escape thwarted by the family he has long tried to run away from. His sister, Phantis, has finally caught up with him, but instead of the vengeance she always promised, she needs his help to survive a coup gone bad. Despite his reluctance to get involved, Corax attempts to help, only to get dragged into even more danger.

Soon, with war coming closer and various factions seeking to kill him and claim the many bounties on his head, Corax is forced into one final scheme to get enough money to retire and escape from everything. Reuniting with his old flame, the beautiful con artist Stauracia, Corax attempts to find a long-lost treasure that could solve all his problems. But with betrayal coming from all sides, can Corax survive the chaos to come, or has he finally encountered a situation that even he cannot think his way out of?

Parker continues to showcase why he is the master of hilarious fantasy fiction, as Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder was another amazing read with a captivating and unique plot behind it. Masterfully wrapping up the Corax trilogy with a dark and entertaining story, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder had me hooked the entire way through and, just like all the other books in the series, it gets a full five-star rating from me.

This third Corax book proved to be an excellent read, with Parker taking his audience on a final wild ride of schemes, betrayal and family drama, as Saevus Corax comes face to face with all his demons. While easily enjoyed as a standalone novel, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder is best read after the rest of the trilogy, especially as many of the ongoing storylines and character relationships come to an end here. The plot of this book is epic and entertaining, as war, his ongoing conflict with his family and a desire to finally live a normal life drive Corax towards one final scheme while also trying to wipe away the sins of his past. However, as this is Corax, nothing goes to plan, and he soon encounters multiple setbacks and conflicts that he is forced to overcome in his typical resourceful way. However, this time Corax experiences some truly devastating betrayals and dark moments that destroy him in a way never seen before. Parker really lays in the clever twists for this last book in the trilogy, and you will not be prepared for some of the dark routes he goes. I felt that the big betrayal halfway through the novel was pretty impactful, although the final twist of the knife from his worst enemy at the end was the most heartbreaking. Everything comes to an impressive end that, while satisfying, fits within the tragic narrative that is the protagonist’s life, and honestly could the author really have left this series on a true happy ending?

The author continues to utilise the writing style and intriguing setting that made the first two Corax books and the preceding Siege trilogy so successful. While this similarity in style and substance does deal a certain dose of repetition to this third book, I still have a ton of fun reading them, and Parker makes it work so well in the context of his story. Utilisng a chronicle format from the perspective of the protagonist, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder recounts the events of this final adventure, once again loaded with Corax’s distinctive and often satirical commentary and observations on events. The author relies heavily on twists, betrayals and deep intrigues throughout the plot, all of which are carefully pulled together, explored and savagely roasted by the protagonist as he experiences them. The continued cynicism and sarcastic take on the world that Corax witnesses and human nature in general brings in much of the book’s humour, and it is hard not to enjoy Corax’s unique thoughts. This first-person perspective is such an effective storytelling method for the series, and I love how it enhances the humour of the story while also serving as a good tool for exploring the various aspects of the semi-fantasy/alternate history world that the author is setting so many of his books in. Parker’s style really fits the complex narratives of deception, lies and betrayal that are the hallmark of the Corax series, and I am so glad that he set out this novel the way that he did.

The final Corax book was just as character focused as the previous entries, and I appreciated how Parker brought his various character arcs to a final close in Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder. Most of the focus remains on titular perspective protagonist, Saevus Corax, and it was great to see his unique story come to an end. A typical Parker protagonist, in that he is clever, funny, unrepentantly cynical and just a little bit tragic, Corax has been a great figure to follow, especially due to the elaborate schemes and complicated history that define his life. Constantly analysing the world and relying on the predictability of human nature, Corax is a dangerous person, especially when dealing with the various people trying to manipulate him as he tries to do the right thing. While he is usually able to outsmart everyone, several betrayals in this book really get under his skin, and he ends up being particularly rash and devastated at times. Despite this, he is still the clever, surprisingly honest, and often thoughtful figure that you have come to love in the previous novels, and I really appreciated seeing how his story concluded in this final Corax novel.

Aside from the protagonist, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder features an interesting range of supporting characters, many of whom have a complex relationship with the protagonist. The most prominent of these is the manipulative force of nature, Stauracia, a con-artist who has a lot of history with Corax. Corax and Stauracia play off each other perfectly, and I always enjoy seeing their unique form of courting involving cons, lies and deceit. Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder is the book that really defines their relationship, and it was awesome to see their chemistry on full display as they try to work together for the ultimate final score. The rest of the cast is pretty fun as well, with the highlight being Corax’s sister Phantis. Parker has spent the entire trilogy hyping up Corax’s family as dangerous antagonists, and the author didn’t disappoint when it came to finally featuring one. Phantis is an incredibly selfish, vindictive and manipulative figure, and it was great to see the fantastic scenes between her and Corax, which amped up the family drama. While I was slightly disappointed we didn’t get to meet another member of Corax’s family that has been talked about a lot, Phantis was more than enough for this book, especially as she hits Corax where it really hurts in some of the darkest scenes of the book. Throw in the recurring background characters from the previous novels, including Corax’s band of scavengers, and this proves to be a great cast with a lot of fun features. However, readers are warned not to get too attached to any of them, as Parker has final book killing fever and deals with several characters in intriguing ways, especially as many are tempted by betrayal and their own sinister schemes.

In the end, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder was yet another outstanding and deeply clever novel from K. J. Parker that I honestly cannot rave about enough. Providing its own addictive and funny narrative, while also bringing the entire Corax trilogy to a fitting end, Saevus Corax Gets Away with Murder was an epic read that proves near impossible to turn away from. Parker is such an impressive author, and I look forward to seeing what he produces next, especially as he appears to have a new series starting in mid-2025.

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Saevus Corax Captures the Castle by K. J. Parker

On February 1, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Comedy/Satire, Fantasy, Five-Star Books7 Comments

Publisher: Orbit (Trade Paperback – 21 November 2023)

Series: Corax – Book Two

Length: 321 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of the funniest fantasy authors in the game presents a fantastic second entry in his closely released Corax trilogy with the hilarious and brutally brilliant Saevus Corax Captures the Castle.

In 2023, fantasy author K. J. Parker (a pseudonym of author Tom Holt), had an incredible blast of creativity as he managed to release an entire trilogy within the space of a month with the outstanding Corax series. Set to follow an infamous battlefield salvager, the titular Saevus Corax, as he finds himself getting dragged into all manner of unusual scenarios, this series sounded so damn fun. I was particularly intrigued, especially as these books were set in the same universe as his epic The Siege series, which featured 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).

While I managed to get all three of Parker’s Corax books last year, I only had the chance to read the first novel, Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead before 2023 ended. This first entry in the trilogy was pretty damn incredible, and I loved the wonderful and highly entertaining story it contained, especially as it was masterfully layered with Parker’s trademark humour. Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead got an easy five-star rating from me, and it ended up being one of my favourite books of 2023. As such, I really want to get through the other two Corax books as soon as possible so I quickly powered through the second one, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle, last weekend. Saeuvs Corax Captures the Castle was another outstanding read that I had such I wonderful time with.

Several years after his last outrageous adventure when he was crowned a king against his will, Saevus Corax is back to what he knows best, battlefield salvage. While it is not the most glamorous work, it provides a living for his large crew of outcasts and rogues, as they tour their world’s many scattered battlefields, rescuing and repurposing everything they can recover from the dead. However, a nemesis with a personal grudge will send Corax on a dangerous path he might have no escape from.

When several of his men are kidnapped, Corax’s only apparent chance to save them is to capture a delipidated castle in the middle of nowhere. Utilising his unconventional tactics and knowledge of warfare, Corax begins his impromptu siege, only to discover that his old flame, the beautiful con artist Stauracia, is in charge of the castle’s defence, and she has no intention of losing to Corax again.

But why is Corax’s new unwelcomed employer so determined to capture the castle, and what are they hoping to achieve by using Corax’s motley crew? The truth has the potential to plunge the whole world into war if Corax can’t keep it under wraps. However, Corax soon finds himself distracted by revelations from his past, as he finds hope being dangled before his eyes. Can Corax survive this latest misadventure and the dastardly rivals it brings, or has he finally met his match?

The second Corax book proved to be just as funny, addictive, and inventive as the first awesome entry, and I had such an outstanding time with Saevus Corax Captures the Castle. Placing his wonderfully witty and world-weary protagonist on the course for more unusual conflict, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle had me fully hooked from the very first word and I just had to give it another full five-star rating.

Parker came up with a pretty clever and memorable narrative for Saevus Corax Capture the Castle, which proved to be a lot of fun to read. Starting with another entertaining look at one of the group’s salvage jobs, the book soon places Corax’s entire group in a bad situation when members of the salvage band are kidnapped, and the only way to get them back is by capturing a castle. So begins a battle of wits as Corax pits his innate knowledge of war and human nature against the manipulation of his old foe Stauracia, as they both try and work out why they have been charged with looking after an isolated castle. This impromptu siege between two groups of people who do not actually want to be there proves to be quite entertaining, and it serves as a fun focus for the first half of the book. This first half also features several flashbacks into Corax’s past, especially the events that have occurred since Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, which provides some interesting motivations and looks at the connections between Corax and the book’s main antagonist.

Thanks to some deeply personal manipulations, there is an interesting and dramatic plot change in the second half of Saevus Corax Captures the Castle, as Corax finds himself motivated to journey alone to a forbidden nation. This change from a siege to an independent journey actually works really well in the context of the story, and it builds on a lot of cleverly hidden elements and clues from the earlier plot. You are really on the edge of your seat during this second part of the book, especially as Corax is in the direst of scenarios, and I loved seeing him use his understanding of people to get out of trouble. The ending of this misguided quest proves to be very clever and a little heartbreaking, as Corax finds what he is looking for, but it’s not what he wants. It does allow him a few bits of knowledge that let him destroy his opponents back home and get the payday, although nothing is every that simple for Corax. I liked the intriguing tone that Parker left this second book on, especially as like the first book, the protagonist soon realises that he’s happiest when back doing what he does best.

Saevus Corax Captures the Castle features the exact same writing style as the first book in the series, which you tend to notice when you read these books in quick succession. I personally liked this continuation of style, especially as it is what made me a fan of Parker in the first place, and it results in quite an entertaining story. Told in a chronicle format from the perspective of main character Saevus Corax, the book is his account of events, filled with his commentary, observations and memories, to tell an intriguing tale. Corax proves to be a very fun narrator, and his ultra-cynical take on the world has an entertaining influence on the story which is hard not to enjoy. The resulting mixture of betrayals, manipulations and unconventional warfare really comes together into quite a comprehensive and fun story thanks to this great narration, and I was chuckling the entire way through.

The series continues to utilise the unique world that Parker came up with for both the Corax books and The Siege novels, and the fun references to some of the prior events are quite amusing. As I mentioned in my review for Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, this series is in some ways more of an alternate history novel rather than a fantasy book, as it does not feature any magic or unnatural elements. Instead, we get a world of war, politics, and domineering nations, which acts as a satirical mirror of our own history. I would still prefer some form of map up front to keep track of where the characters are going and where some of the nations being discussed are in relation to each other, but you can get by without one. While there are a few mentions of the previous novel in the series, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle is for the most part a standalone novel, and anyone interested in a particularly fun tale can dive in here no problem. However, I would personally suggest going from the start of the trilogy, if for no other reason than some of the jokes in this sequel are a little funnier after Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, and you get the full understanding of the unique relationship between Corax and Stauracia. It also solves one of the main mysteries from the first book, and it would not surprise me if a couple of story elements from this novel are featured in the third and final novel in the series.

As you would expect from a first-person perspective novel like this, most of the focus is on the titular Saevus Corax, whose unique adventures we are following. Corax is a very typical Parker protagonist, in that he is an intelligent and cynical being who would rather live a simple life doing what he does best, but instead finds himself thrust into complex and dangerous events. This proves to be a fun character dynamic, and I loved seeing the often-exasperated Corax forced to deal with people trying to outsmart and manipulate him while he is just trying to do the right thing. Luckily his strong ability to understand how people think and then use that to outplay them often keeps him out of trouble, and it is quite entertaining to see him casually stop a clever enemy plan, just because they are doing exactly what he would. His distrustful, intense, and often very honest outlook on life really impacts how the reader sees the world he lives in, and you really grow to appreciate his take on events, especially as he knows everyone is out to get him. However, readers do get to see another side of Corax in this second book, especially as you get to see how his one previous attempt at romance worked out, and the impacts its tragic ending has on him cause him to act out in some big ways. As such, this is a very intriguing book for this great character, and I had a wonderful time seeing him develop even further.

Aside from Corax, the cast of Saevus Corax Captures the Castle is pretty fun, as Parker comes up with an interesting group of self-centred, occasionally loyal, but mostly treacherous figures to partner up with our favourite rogue. The most prominent of these is Stauracia, who was both a secondary antagonist of the first novel and the protagonist’s love interest. Stauracia is a con-artist who has run afoul of Corax and his group before, and who finds herself forced to work both with and against them in this novel. Smart, manipulative, and utterly lovely, Stauracia is the perfect foil for the more subdued Corax, and they have some amazing chemistry in this book. I loved the unique relationship that bloomed between them that is often driven more by dislike or mistrust than anything else, but both of them come away a bit better from knowing the other. Other major characters include the group of unlikely companions that make up Corax’s battlefield scavengers. Their constant bickering makes for a fun background to many scenes, and I like how they are usually annoyed with Corax’s antics, although they keep following because no-one else could do the job better. Throw in a great villain, whose prior connections to Corax result in some brutal plots against him, and the cast of Saevus Corax Capture the Castle are extremely entertaining, and I loved seeing the unique narrative that formed around them.

Overall, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle was a highly fun and utterly amazing novel from K. J. Parker that I cannot recommend enough. Featuring all the humour, entertaining cynicism and clever characters that made the first Corax book so incredible, Saevus Corax Captures the Castle serves as an outstanding sequel that continues the series in an awesome way. An outstanding and epic read, this was such a great book and I cannot wait to read the final Corax novel as soon as I can.

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