Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City Audiobook By K. J. Parker cover art

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

The Siege, Book 1

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Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

By: K. J. Parker
Narrated by: Ray Sawyer
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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 UK
Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Siege Funny Witty
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Critic reviews

"Full of invention and ingenuity...Great fun." (SFX)

"Parker's settings and characterisations never miss a beat." (Library Journal)

Clever Storytelling • Engaging Plot Twists • Excellent Narration • Witty Dark Humor • Complex Protagonist • Perfect Tone
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I had trouble knowing who was who at times but that often happens in audiobooks when you cant read the names and they're made-up and unfamiliar.
This is quite the story.

excellent book

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Why? Because it in fact is Tom Holt who wrote it.
That should be all one needs to know.

If you like Tom Holt's work you will love this

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A wonderful pseudo historical fantasy work that makes me think of Douglas Adams collaborating with Umberto Eco. “The Name of the Rose”, but cheeky and funny, absolutely entertaining, and narrated to perfection.
If there’s an audiobook term for a “page turner”, this is it. The “unreliable narrator” Orhan is so full of shit but he presents it with humble sincerity: “I just build bridges”

Very, very entertaining

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I really enjoyed the story and the performance. Very well done, the narrator nailed the personna.

great performance

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The story takes place in notConstantinople and the main character is as charming as he is irritating (in a good way, mind you). The schemes the author comes up with are legitimately genius and the prose is nothing short of excellent.

Top quality first person narrative

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loved it, laughed with it. enjoyed it. I'm not a fan of these type of books (the fantasy type that is), I prefer science fiction, but this one I loved

original fun, not a common thing now a days

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Best fantasy novel I have read in years! Voice in the protagonist counts for so much and the narrator captures this excellently.

Our imperial hero Orhan is quality assurance engineer (hah!) but, this siege story is not one of meeting the specs and clever engineering tricks, but of lies, forgery and faking it.

Engineer as conman (the 15rh way)

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This was a good book except for some unnecessary explicit content. In addition, the ending was very unsatisfying. Admittedly, the ending fit the book, but it still felt like the story was incomplete.

Good book with some unfortunate content

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the writing was hard to follow at first but it was a crude enjoyable story. A story full of wit and just enough tragedy.

This book is my current 3rd favorite book.

fun

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I enjoyed this presentation and the readers efforts to bring to life an interesting story and characters.

Excellent!

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