Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
The Siege, Book 1
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Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
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Narrated by:
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Ray Sawyer
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By:
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K. J. Parker
About this listen
K. J. Parker's new novel is the remarkable tale of the siege of a walled city and the even more remarkable man who had to defend it.
A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all.
To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge building than battles, is a cheat and a liar, and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job.
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City is the story of Orhan, son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus, and his history of the Great Siege, written down so that the deeds and sufferings of great men may never be forgotten.
©2019 K. J. Parker (P)2019 Hachette Audio UKCritic Reviews
"Full of invention and ingenuity...Great fun." (SFX)
"Parker's settings and characterisations never miss a beat." (Library Journal)
What listeners say about Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 07-02-2021
Hidden Gem
I first heard Parker in an anthology recently. I would like to read more of this story or theme.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 30-09-2020
I'm not reviewer, Just a reader
However, to make sure this book is read I must review it. You should read this book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mitchvg
- 13-04-2022
Dry as WACA pitch
Firstly, the performance is spot on, if you enjoy British humour. No jokes, just dry observation. The audio quality is great too. Secondly, as far as I’m aware it’s a pretty well researched analogy of Constantinople. Some may get hung up on the idea and accent of a British man in charge there, but I was able to go along with it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-10-2022
great listen
despite himself you grow to like orhan. he doesn't save the city so much as he has to drag it kicking and screaming despite itself.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-10-2021
Great read in the vien of Terry Pratchet
A great read! Excellent read for any fans of Terry Pratchet. Employs the unique tone and dryness you can only expect from a British author.
Narration was great too, really served to enhance and bring to life the characters.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Toby
- 29-06-2022
Very different but good
Bring a water bottle because the humour is incredibly dry. Great story, very interesting writing style
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Nathan
- 21-09-2022
Smug protagonist
This is a military fiction story set in a stylised version of Constantinople, and told as a witty personal account from the perspective of a flawed engineer.
On the surface, this should have been the recipe for a great read.... Unfortunately, I just found the protagonist (and therefore the narrator) to be far too smug and unlikable. He _was_ clever and witty, but he also knew it - so while there were smiles and laughs to be had, the humour often played as cringey, and the story took a back seat to Orhan's need to constantly explain how clever he was being.
As I grew to dislike the protagonist, I also I gradually lost interest in the actual cleverness of his solutions to the city's escalating problems. Often they were just deus-ex solutions that the reader couldn't have seen coming anyway (e.g. based on some hundred-year-old survey map that he happened to remember, etc).
I think my favourite character was Sawdust - also an engineer, deeply entwined in the city's history and faction balance, and maybe the only other character with even a hint of personal complexity beneath the surface. I wish we'd seen the whole thing from her perspective instead!
Overall, this book is more like a standup comedy than a story. The entertainment value is purely in the narration and an occasional zinger... the plot and side-characters are really just there to move you along to the next joke. Also like a standup show, it's way more enjoyable if you're drunk.
If that's what you're after in a book - this might be for you. Though, I wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for compelling fantasy, or military strategy.
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