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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as old standards are forgotten and cast aside - how does this effort compare to that expended using a imperfect or outdated, but otherwise workable technology?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!
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!
But you know what? I don't mind! Read more
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