The Folding Knife in Fantasy-Faction.com

Jan 27, 2010 Liviu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-fantasy, 2010_release_read, read_2010, top_25_2010_novels

I spent three days on this book and read it almost three times to fully appreciate and enjoy it; my top expected fantasy release of the first half of 2010 and possibly of the whole year, The Folding Knife delivered all that I expected and more; this one is a very tough book to review since so much happens that I would not want to spoil and the motives and actions of its main character Basso are hard to understand without learning some crucial things but at a first try there are some points to em I spent three days on this book and read it almost three times to fully appreciate and enjoy it; my top expected fantasy release of the first half of 2010 and possibly of the whole year, The Folding Knife delivered all that I expected and more; this one is a very tough book to review since so much happens that I would not want to spoil and the motives and actions of its main character Basso are hard to understand without learning some crucial things but at a first try there are some points to emphasize:

- the book is written almost flawlessly with the same understated, cynical voice of KJ Parker's oeuvre, though this one is arguably the most idealistic of all and Basso the author's most idealistic character who wants to do good in a "real world" way through a combination of wealth, populism and intrigue with "war is an admission of failure" as his motto

- the world building is pitch perfect; I could describe it as a modern world without religion and technology in the way we understand them, or in another way an what if no messianic religion with a message of the possibility of human betterment - which however long it took essentially led to our technological world - appeared, but the flows and ebbs of the ancient Greek/Roman/Byzantine world would have continued for another two thousand years or so; another way of thinking about it would be as a "western" Chinese/Egyptian civilization, relatively stable over thousands of years but based on the Greek/Roman templates; very similar to the world of Fencer but without any overt magic like there - lots of names carry over modified a little, while both the world of The Engineer trilogy and Purple and Black could fit in The Folding Knife universe; very different from Scavenger and The Company which are more traditional pseudo-late medieval/early modern worlds; lots of naming jokes and allusions to the classical world

- the twists and turns are superb and while we have an idea of the book ending both from the blurb and from the prologue, we really do not know the hows and whys until almost the last page

- the book is also a page turner that you do not want to put down, though I forced myself to read 100 pages, reread them, read another 100 pages, reread them, another 100 pages, another reread and then the last 150 pages, a reread of them and then a reread of the most salient parts of the novel, so in this way I could both enjoy and savor the book as well as keep the tension which ratchets through to the finale

An A++, for now this one and The Left Hand of God are the two top fantasies of 2010 and both will be very hard to dislodge from this position ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Dee rated it really liked it

Shelves: ownage, world-fantasy, grit, mannerpunk, machinations

Only KJ Parker could write a fantasy novel about the global financial crisis. (Discuss.)

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May 25, 2010 Adam Shaeffer rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I'm finding it hard to express my dissatisfaction with this novel. A lot happens, but nothing happens in the way of character growth. Basso doesn't change. Some might argue that his final letter to Bassano indicates change, that he's come full circle, but I don't believe it. His actions at the end prove this.

Now that I've finished the book, I'm more irritated than anything else. It's 400 pages of good writing and an interesting plot, followed by 40 pages of that destroy all the good that's come ...more

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