Colours in the Steel Fencer Trilogy Book 1 eBook K J Parker
Download As PDF : Colours in the Steel Fencer Trilogy Book 1 eBook K J Parker 
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An epic novel of blood, betrayal, and intrigue. . .
Perimadeia is the famed Triple City and the mercantile capital of the known world. Behind its allegedly impregnable walls, everything is available-including information that will allow its enemies to plan one of the most devastating sieges of all time.
The man called upon to defend Perimadeia is Bardas Loredan, a fencer-at-law, weary of his work and the world. For Loredan is one of the surviving members of Maxen's Pitchfork, the legendary band of soldiers who waged war on the Plains tribes, rendering an attack on Perimadeia impossible. Until now, that is.
But Loredan has problems of his own. In a city where court cases are settled by lawyers arguing with swords not words, enemies are all too easily made. And by winning one particular case, Loredan has unwittingly become the target of a young woman bent on revenge. The last thing he needs is the responsibility of saving a city.
Colours in the Steel Fencer Trilogy Book 1 eBook K J Parker
This is my first novel written by Mr/Ms Parker (pseudonym if I recall correctly), and I must say it went way beyond my expectations.It is a story about consequences, about revenge and about inevitability of fate (and the fact that what little "magic" there is in this novel is based on changing the flow of future events is used to reinforce this point).
What makes any novel better, and which is also the case with this novel, is that there are no heroes and villains, at least not among the main cast. Everyone is a bit of a hero, and a bit of a villain, or actually a better description is that they are none of either, just people trying to live their normal everyday lives.
The main character is one of the deepest you will find in fantasy literature. He is no hero, most definitely, and shouldn't even be a likeable fellow, but somehow you end up feeling all the turns of bad luck that smack him around in this novel.
There is a disillusioned head of local religion terribly low on self-esteem, there is a clerk working for the main character, hopelessly in love with him, there is a young and prodigal chieftain of local tribes whose motivations are not what they seem, there are foreign trader siblings with more curiosity than common sense (in case of the sister), and more bluster than actual ability (in case of the brother), there is a demented girl blinded by revenge, and a scholar who is a survivor above anything. As you would expect from any novel, their seemingly unconnected lives get tangled together, but definitely not in the ways you would expect.
The writing is very good, if sometimes unorthodox, and if you are a fan of cynicism you will find this book even more enjoyable. The plot is pretty easy to follow, although a bit on the slow side. There are lots and lots of technical descriptions, which I enjoyed, and if you read this book you will get the basics of sword-making, and even more than that on production and operation of siege engines. As a non-native speaker I struggled a bit with names of numerous carpenter tools, various kinds of wood joints, and blacksmithing expressions, but I got through it.
What I found a bit lacking is worldbuilding, an important part of any fantasy book. It is OK, but I feel it could have been fleshed out even more.
To sum it up, a definitive recommendation to any fan of adult, intellectually stimulating fantasy.
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Colours in the Steel Fencer Trilogy Book 1 eBook K J Parker Reviews
nice book as advertised
Parker gets real repetitive after a couple of volumes
This a really great, smart tale about complex people living in a complex world. I am looking forward to the next in the series but meanwhile have a bought a different book by the same author which I will read first. This person can write!
I really enjoyed this book, it's a page turner. I would continue with the series but the prices are WAY too high.
It's good, maybe even great. It's about a siege on a city and a fencer who has to try and save it and it's awesome. It has a lot of explanations of fencing but other than that its a pretty good early work of Parker's, the newer stuff is a bit better than this one but it is still worth a read. It has a highly interesting plot and like other Parker books is extremely well worded and written. So all and all I would recommend reading it, but it might cause you to think that you need to read the rest of the books in the series, which is true but if you only read this one then that would probably be fine the other two books although good are not nearly as interesting as this one.
Perimadeia is the greatest city of the world, where lawsuits are resolved be fencers-at-law, people dueling to death. The winner of the duel is the winner of the case. But this city of wonders has enemies a young master of a savage clan brings with him the memory of fire and the science of building blades by watching the colors of the steel; two magician get trapped by a course. Loredan, a former army lieutenant and now a fencer becomes a central figure in the fall of Perimadeia. All the characters, principal and secondary, are masterfully crafted, while the city comes to life in our imagination, with all its wonderful contraptions.
So begins my journey into the world of K.J. Parker. Introduced to Tom Holt's alternate persona via "Savages", I immediately gravitated toward his sharp wit, philosophical questioning, and writing structures. Now, I've taken it upon myself to read and review each and every piece of K.J. Parker's bibliography (presumably in chronological order, but time will tell if I stick to that).
"Colours in the Steel" is not Parker's most popular book, not by a long shot. Many of the arguments made against it is that a lot of the characters fall a little flat and that the long, arduous descriptions of medieval machinery/weaponry can be a bit taxing to the historically impaired (myself included). However, in a semi-recent interview (2 years ago now, but in K.J. Parker time that's pretty recent in terms of interviews) on the Coode Street podcast, Holt/Parker discussed with the show's hosts that all of his characters and his dialogue are mere extensions of his own thoughts. What does that mean? I'll tell you.
It means that reading this book is going to take a different mind than what most other books will ask of a reader. You'll be spending far less time attaching yourself to individual characters than the time you'll spend trying to wrestle with the deep, philosophical questions that Parker proposes throughout the novel. Now, I am not trying the comment negatively on Parker's character designs, because Bardas Loredan, Temrai, Patriarch Alexius, et al. are all going to be memorable for me. They just won't be as memorable for what they *did* as they will be for what they *asked*. Nor am I trying to comment negatively on Parker's world, because "Colours in the Steel" presents an interesting world with just enough detail to make it feel consistent, but not too much that you'll need an entire history book to understand why things are the way they are.
Some of the aforementioned, stimulating philosophical questions include
"Is civilization really necessary?"
"Where does true strength come from? Passion? Intelligence? Patience? Fear? Stubbornness?"
"What is a person when they no longer (wish to) fit in society? Are they stronger or weaker?"
"How much control do we really have in life? Are we the heroes of our own stories, or mere pawns on a very large chess board?"
and my personal favorites "Why bother?" and "Why not?"
If I haven't already interested you with the promises of deep pondering, then it is entirely likely that Parker will not impress you otherwise. Unless you're a writer.
If you're a writer in any way, I suggest that you read Parker for structural reasons. Along with his wit and philosophical questions, the way that Parker plays with structure is another of my favorite components to his writing. Scattered throughout chapters, brief, almost short-story-like tales of a character that has never been mentioned before will help bring detail to the reality of the situation, while simultaneously providing insight on what's going on with the main characters. I'd provide examples, but this review is getting long enough as is.
K.J. Parker is a writer that expects the reader to pay attention. Useful information will pop in and out of scenes but the reader can easily miss the bread crumbs that Parker leaves for the reader to follow if they aren't consuming the book slowly. "Colours in the Steel" is a great book, and so long as you don't focus on looking up each and every piece of medieval equipment that is mentioned (and thoroughly explained) throughout the story, then you'll have a lot more free time than I did.
This is my first novel written by Mr/Ms Parker (pseudonym if I recall correctly), and I must say it went way beyond my expectations.
It is a story about consequences, about revenge and about inevitability of fate (and the fact that what little "magic" there is in this novel is based on changing the flow of future events is used to reinforce this point).
What makes any novel better, and which is also the case with this novel, is that there are no heroes and villains, at least not among the main cast. Everyone is a bit of a hero, and a bit of a villain, or actually a better description is that they are none of either, just people trying to live their normal everyday lives.
The main character is one of the deepest you will find in fantasy literature. He is no hero, most definitely, and shouldn't even be a likeable fellow, but somehow you end up feeling all the turns of bad luck that smack him around in this novel.
There is a disillusioned head of local religion terribly low on self-esteem, there is a clerk working for the main character, hopelessly in love with him, there is a young and prodigal chieftain of local tribes whose motivations are not what they seem, there are foreign trader siblings with more curiosity than common sense (in case of the sister), and more bluster than actual ability (in case of the brother), there is a demented girl blinded by revenge, and a scholar who is a survivor above anything. As you would expect from any novel, their seemingly unconnected lives get tangled together, but definitely not in the ways you would expect.
The writing is very good, if sometimes unorthodox, and if you are a fan of cynicism you will find this book even more enjoyable. The plot is pretty easy to follow, although a bit on the slow side. There are lots and lots of technical descriptions, which I enjoyed, and if you read this book you will get the basics of sword-making, and even more than that on production and operation of siege engines. As a non-native speaker I struggled a bit with names of numerous carpenter tools, various kinds of wood joints, and blacksmithing expressions, but I got through it.
What I found a bit lacking is worldbuilding, an important part of any fantasy book. It is OK, but I feel it could have been fleshed out even more.
To sum it up, a definitive recommendation to any fan of adult, intellectually stimulating fantasy.
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