TBR #26. The Folding Knife by K. J. Parker.
First sentence: “On the morning of the day when Basso (Bassianus Severus, the future First Citizen) was born, his mother woke up to find a strange woman sitting at the foot of her bed.”
This makes the seventh K. J. Parker book I’ve read, the first stand-alone novel. I confess I was apprehensive about what a Parker story would be like in only 450 pages rather than the customary 1,000+, but I needn’t have worried. All the things I like about Parker, primarily the deliciously dark role of fate, circumstance, and luck, are still present.
Set in a Roman-style culture, the novel tells of Basso’s cataclysmic rise and fall from prominence. He begins his career as a banker but quickly follows his father into politics. However, an early action–what he calls his only mistake–alienates his sister, who becomes his mortal enemy, using his favorite nephew against him in a struggle to ruin his life. Basso, like most Parker protagonists, is not necessarily a likeable but is an unquestionably fascinating character.
This novel is clever, dark, and sardonic, with a thoroughly developed culture and plenty of politics and war. Even the banking parts were interesting. I’ll definitely be reading The Company and The Hammer, Parker’s other non-series novels, quite soon.
Mostly About Books 