Some Love from Locus for K. J. Parker's The Long Game

You can add Locus magazine to those praising K. J. Parker's new novella, The Long Game, which is filled with barbs (verbal) and trap doors (plot):

“K.J. Parker may not have invented the idea of using an exasperated, put-upon narrator to under­cut the implicit pretensions of a classic fantasy setting, but he’s certainly become its reigning virtuoso… As is often the case, the narrator’s various digres­sions and backstory anecdotes, along with the screw­ball banter with his demon pal (especially when they find themselves occupying the same hapless victim) are as spirited and entertaining as the main plot, and part of the continuing charm of this series is its ingra­tiatingly misanthropic tone. Like many of Parker’s narrators (most notably, perhaps, the Saloninus of last year’s The Big Score), this one veers between boasting of his talents and making excuses not only for his bad behavior, but for the fact that his vaunted skills have never really paid off in the way he believes he deserves. It’s no wonder a lot of fantasy readers find it easy to identify with these guys, as morally dubious and comically self-absorbed as they may be.”

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40