- Mass Market Paperback: 720 pages
- Publisher: Orbit (5 Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841492760
- ISBN-13: 978-1841492766
- Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 11.4 x 17.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 320,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Devices and Desires (Engineer Trilogy)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for Shadow: 'Utterly compelling' THE ALIEN ONLINE 'This is exactly what the fantasy genre needs ... an assured, intelligent first chapter' SFX. Praise for the Fencer Trilogy: 'From the first page, it has style, humour and pace all its own, and develops rapidly into one of the most entertaining fantasy debuts in recent years ... Refreshing, fun, thoughtful, different, absorbing' SFX, 'Action-packed adventure' STARBURST on THE BELLY OF THE BOW
Book Description
The acclaimed author of The Fencer Trilogy and The Scavenger Trilogy begins a brilliant new series, pushing the boundaries of fantasy fiction with his most powerful novel to date.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As an fond science fiction / fantasy reader, I enjoyed this book immensely (I should add this is my first K J Parker novel, so I may not have sufficient experience to notice the formulaic nature mentioned by those who have read all the author's works). Parker manages the traditional problem found in such works rather well, this being the difficult task of fleshing out the new world created and explaining all the little details necessary to fully understand the plot, without simultaneously slowing the plot to a crawl in order to make room for the potted histories and observations - on those occasions where there is significant slowdown, the supplementary information is always interesting enough for this not to cause annoyance. The book is a satisfying length but sufficiently engrossing overall not to feel over-long. I also found a good balance between personal character interactions and observations on the larger interactions between whole societies, so that the reader finds himself empathising equally well with individual protagonists (on all sides), and with the political clashing of the various factions. There are no cardboard cut-out villains or heroes to be found here. Some characters can perhaps seem rather single-minded sometimes, but one must remember the nature of most of the cultures described - a non-technological society has comparatively little real need for lateral thinking or creativity, so tradition holds more sway and keeps things running the same way time and again, and for the reasons explained in the text the society of the engineers is also held rigid by tradition.
As an engineer, I found the Mezentine (engineer's) society in the novels fascinating - true engineering is rarely given proper recognition, in many English-speaking countries at least, and for many the word "engineer" is erroneously synonymous with a fellow who wears filthy blue overalls, carries a huge greasy spanner and drops his aitches. In this novel, Parker really makes the effort to show the intense mental effort & mindset necessary for the successful engineer, and how it can easily rival that of the more well known "difficult" professions - the military strategist, the politician, etc, although the book's protagonist does still have great skill in the realm of tools, stock and swarf.
To have created the notion of a society where the engineers are regarded more highly than anyone else is in itself fascinating, but more so is the apparently perverse, dogmatic opposition to innovation held by this society. At first, this would appear nonsensical to anyone, but on second thought one begins to wonder whether our own, completely unrestricted pursuit of new technology is realy the only way to go - technology sometimes seems to change so fast one ends up spending almost constantly in order to keep up with new technology as old standards are forgotten and cast aside - how does this effort compare to that expended using a imperfect or outdated, but otherwise workable technology? Many other such issues arise in the course of this book, and the more philosophically minded reader will find a whole extra level to engage with this book in addition to it being highly inventive science-fiction and an engrossing story.
Despite being the first part of a trilogy, Devices & Desires has a good ending - all plot threads that one would expect to be tied up are, but there is still plenty of open-endedness left in the story to drive the next two books forward. Upon finishing one gets the feeling one might have after completing a particular era in a history volume - the unit is discrete and satisfying in isolation, but one still feels the urge to read further, either the next day or years later. Compare this to certain other sagas where each book provides too much closure, and every succeeding volume has to work hard to reopen the story and draw the reader back in.
I look forward to the next volume in this series!
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
OK so it's the same K J Parker doing much the same sort of thing, but boy is he good at it. In the scavenger trilogy there was a master plan, but noone beleived it was there and we weren't privy to it, here you can see it all panning out as it goes along but still get left wondering what the hell will happen next.
What make Parker's writing different and such an amazingly fun read is the cynical commentry from the characters on how ridiculous life, war and politics are. This make it very easy to identify with all the main character because they realise that life is a joke, a truly rare thing in fantasy.
So prepare to laugh and prepare to think because K J Parker is like noone you've ever read before. And if you think that it's much the same as the first two trilogies, then consider how similar all the rest of fantasy is and you may find that there is still plenty of room for Parker to explore before this library of intelligent farces gets boring!
What make Parker's writing different and such an amazingly fun read is the cynical commentry from the characters on how ridiculous life, war and politics are. This make it very easy to identify with all the main character because they realise that life is a joke, a truly rare thing in fantasy.
So prepare to laugh and prepare to think because K J Parker is like noone you've ever read before. And if you think that it's much the same as the first two trilogies, then consider how similar all the rest of fantasy is and you may find that there is still plenty of room for Parker to explore before this library of intelligent farces gets boring!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It's a great love story with very well drawn characters in a historically believable alternative reality to our own. Oddly (for a female writer) the male characters are far more interesting than the female ones, but then in the various civilisations interplaying all are patriachies with traditional ideas of romantic love so its a realistic presentation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A different fantasy
I found Devices and Desires to be a very refeshing read, having read many fantasy books, I can honestly say this one is like no other. Read more
Published 3 months ago by mizusan
Lots of filler...
This book is LONG, and it really lets you know it. 706 pages, but you could probably skip through the pages that list all the different types of nut or bolt (or whatever) the... Read more
Published on 10 May 2010 by simon211175
Parket review part 2
Part 2 of a trilogy: a well crafted and engrossing story and a brilliant read.
Published on 26 April 2010 by J Andrew Clarke
the mechanisms of revenge
the first volume in a trilogy of fantasy novels. This runs for seven hundred pages. and ends on some big cliffhangers.
But you know what? I don't mind! Read more
But you know what? I don't mind! Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2007 by Paul Tapner
Lets get away from deliberate trilogies
I enjoyed this book for the first 500 pages, but as i got closer to the end i began to realise that i wasn't going to get an ending, as it is clearly writen as the first part of a... Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2006 by R. H. W. Gower
More of the same - but good with it!
OK - anyone who's read the Fencer or Shadow books will immediately feel at home here. KJ Parker lays out the different factions deftly and sets up the protagonists in her usual... Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2005 by Mr Christie
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