How to Rule a City by KJ Parker

This is the story of how the City was saved, by Notker the professional liar, written down because eventually the truth always seeps through.

The City may be under siege, but everyone still has to make a living. Take Notker, the acclaimed playwright, actor and impresario. Nobody works harder, even when he's not working. Thankfully, the good citizens of Classis appreciate an evening at the theatre even when there are large rocks falling out of the sky.

But Notker is a man of many talents, and all the world is, apparently, a stage. It seems that the Empire needs him - or someone who looks a lot like him - for a role that will call for the performance of a lifetime. At least it will guarantee fame, fortune and immortality. If it doesn't kill him first.

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KJ Parker is a pseudonym Tom Holt, a well known comic author. Although Tom Holt sounds familiar to me, I can't pinpoint anything by him I've read, so I'm coming at this fairly fresh. How to Rule is a semi sequel to a novel called How to Defend a Walled City, set seven years apart in the same besieged city. I haven't read How to Defend, and I kind of wish I had, because I think things would make more sense if I had.

For instance, although this is set in a city under siege, apparently they still move ships in and out of the harbour as they please. And apparently the besieging army hasn't tried to take advantage of this, which is really jolly sportsmanlike of them, what ho. Presumably there are checks and so on, but it's never specified anywhere in the book.

For the first part of the book, I thought that Notker, our 'hero', was like Rincewind from Terry Pratchett's novels; extraordinary things happen around him and he holds on tight. As I kept reading, though, I realised he's actually Moist von Lipwig; he's playing a very dangerous game of speed chess, making things happen in unexpected ways, not just reacting. (These are both compliments, by the way. Tiffany Aching all the way, but I love all PTerry's characters and I don't compare just anyone to them.)

There's a lot of discussion of theatre terms, which I sort of mostly followed, and the war itself is largely glossed over. Notker causes horrific things to happen and justifies it, alternately, with 'they did bad things first' and 'I'm not actually doing things myself'. Flimsy justifications that never seem to bother him.

Overall, it's a interesting read, and he certainly comes up with some very, very clever solutions to things. I'm not sure I'll reread, unless I get my hands on the first one some time, but I did enjoy reading this one.

How to Rule an Empire publishes on the 18th of August, 2020.