- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Orbit (2 Oct 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841495093
- ISBN-13: 978-1841495095
- Product Dimensions: 13.6 x 21.1 x 3.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 766,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Company
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Skilful plotting and rich scene-setting . . . leaves the reader wanting more (The Guardian )
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
From the author of the acclaimed Engineer Trilogy comes a breathtaking novel of war, friendship, and betrayal.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a Fantasy novel in very little but name. Yes it is not set in out `world' but this is about a group of individuals and is more about hidden secrets and relationships.
A group of retired elite soldiers decide to move to an Island (with new wives and some `workers') to set up a new life and society. What initially seems a good idea starts to come unstuck as gold is discovered on the island and past secrets start to catch up with them.
In essence the author takes the scenario of a group who were tight knit during a war, but then puts them in a different situation. Suddenly people on whom your life used to depend are seen in a different light...
I was looking forward to this, the premise and characters looked interesting, but in the end I found it a struggle, often picking up something else instead. I feel bad about that because this is a worthy and well written book but it just didn't grab me and the motivations of some of the characters were not overly clear and it became hard to engage with them. So, three stars. Just.
A group of retired elite soldiers decide to move to an Island (with new wives and some `workers') to set up a new life and society. What initially seems a good idea starts to come unstuck as gold is discovered on the island and past secrets start to catch up with them.
In essence the author takes the scenario of a group who were tight knit during a war, but then puts them in a different situation. Suddenly people on whom your life used to depend are seen in a different light...
I was looking forward to this, the premise and characters looked interesting, but in the end I found it a struggle, often picking up something else instead. I feel bad about that because this is a worthy and well written book but it just didn't grab me and the motivations of some of the characters were not overly clear and it became hard to engage with them. So, three stars. Just.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
KJ Parker is a favorite - a terrific author proving that proper fantasy is about characters and themes, and not merely elaborate world-building.
Parker combines gritty philosophy with extraordinarily well-developed characters to create disturbing, existential stories. Amongst other things, Parker is also a proper horror writer - eschewing cheap, graphic reveals and instead building unbearably tense situations 'off-camera'.
Whomever he or she is, Parker is a hell of a writer.
Happily, The Company, newly released in the UK, is up to Parker's standard level of brilliance.
The Company is a tightly-plotted thriller about a handful of ex-army men trying to found their own escapist, Utopian paradise. Think J.G. Ballard crossed with Joe Abercrombie - extraordinarily flawed and angry men trying to build a perfect world (for them).
The existentialist connections go much further than Ballard as well. The veterans are forced to confront Kafkaesque bureaucracy, Camusian internal struggles and, eventually, the discovery that, as Sartre put it, "hell is other people".
Literary name-dropping aside, there's something pleasantly surprisingly about a book about fantasy warriors that features neither fantasy nor warfare. The Company is about the lingering effects of war - physical, mental and moral. This book could easily have been set in the present day, but by abstracting it from the 'real world', Parker has made it more about the people than the politics. The reader has connection with the war that these soldiers fought - instead, we're forced to draw our own conclusions, shed our prejudice and treat them like real people. An impressive task for a "fantasy" novel.
The Company is a beautiful, sad, difficult novel - and one that shows the full value of fantasy when it comes to exploring difficult themes.
Parker combines gritty philosophy with extraordinarily well-developed characters to create disturbing, existential stories. Amongst other things, Parker is also a proper horror writer - eschewing cheap, graphic reveals and instead building unbearably tense situations 'off-camera'.
Whomever he or she is, Parker is a hell of a writer.
Happily, The Company, newly released in the UK, is up to Parker's standard level of brilliance.
The Company is a tightly-plotted thriller about a handful of ex-army men trying to found their own escapist, Utopian paradise. Think J.G. Ballard crossed with Joe Abercrombie - extraordinarily flawed and angry men trying to build a perfect world (for them).
The existentialist connections go much further than Ballard as well. The veterans are forced to confront Kafkaesque bureaucracy, Camusian internal struggles and, eventually, the discovery that, as Sartre put it, "hell is other people".
Literary name-dropping aside, there's something pleasantly surprisingly about a book about fantasy warriors that features neither fantasy nor warfare. The Company is about the lingering effects of war - physical, mental and moral. This book could easily have been set in the present day, but by abstracting it from the 'real world', Parker has made it more about the people than the politics. The reader has connection with the war that these soldiers fought - instead, we're forced to draw our own conclusions, shed our prejudice and treat them like real people. An impressive task for a "fantasy" novel.
The Company is a beautiful, sad, difficult novel - and one that shows the full value of fantasy when it comes to exploring difficult themes.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first fantasy book I've had time to read in a while and I'm a bit 'so so' on whether I should have chosen something else. I didn't want dragons and wizards, which juvenile fantasy you certainly do not get with this. However, it seems to go too far the other way and deals too much with the hardships of life and relationships. I read fantasy for the escapist aspect, not to be dragged back down to reality. At one point Parker goes back in time to when the group were at Military College. This small section read much better and if the novel were set when the group were starting out and included some of their actual military career then I would be much more interested.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Many lost hours
I find KJ Parker is an author who consistently turns out a good read. I want to be entertained as well as having the brain exercised. KJP really writes a good battle.
Published 9 months ago by wickiwizard
Twisted and entertaining.
This is unusually straight-forward for Parker, it doesn't have his normal enormously complicated plots and intricate manoeuvring. Read more
Published 11 months ago by plot hound
Not this time :(
I am a big fan of K.J Parker, I have read all his books. I especially loved the Scavenger Trilogy, great story, great books. Read more
Published 22 months ago by David, Oxford
Not as good as the Engineer or Fencer Trilogy
I was a huge fan of Devices and Desires when it came out. The combination of wit, murky real politik, solid engineering detail and the downright English Gentleman politeness and... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by J. P. B. Webster
Simple Classic
Having been a little disappointed with the Engineer Trilogy, I found this book to be a wonderful return to form. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2010 by M. Lee
Ideally a short story
The Company is a simple tale, best presented as a short story rather than a drawn out novel. The premise is simple enough, the start of a new colony and the political and social... Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2010 by Mr. G. Battle
Gritty, witty but ultimately unrewarding
There's much to love about the way The Company is written, and a couple of the characters are well-rounded, interesting people. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2010 by Rowena Hoseason
Too long for what it is
I liked how the story slowly unravelled and K. J. Parker used "flashback" chapters to introduce the reader to the main characters one by one. Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2009 by Y. Bebnev
Cracker
If you haven't heard of KJ Parker, then you've missed a treat. After all the Engineer Trilogy has been vastly popular with the fans and whils some would say it was long winded,... Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2009 by Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog
Ignore anyone who gives this less than five stars
there's one problem with this book, so i may as well get it out the way first. it's a 400-page stand-alone, whereas parker's previous work (for example) was a c. 1700 page trilogy. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2008 by faustus sulla
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