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The Hammer
Gignomai is the youngest brother in the current generation of met'Oc, a once-noble family exiled on an island for their role in a vaguely remembered civil war.
On this island, a colony was founded seventy years ago. The plan was originally for the colonists to mine silver, but there turned out not to be any.
Now, an uneasy peace exists on the island, between the colonists and the met'Oc. The met'Oc are tolerated, in spite of occasional cattle stealing raids, since they alone possess the weapons considered necessary protection against the island's savages.
Gignomai is about to discover exactly what it is expected of him, and what it means to defy his family. He is the hammer who will provide the spark that will ignite a brutal and bloody war.
On this island, a colony was founded seventy years ago. The plan was originally for the colonists to mine silver, but there turned out not to be any.
Now, an uneasy peace exists on the island, between the colonists and the met'Oc. The met'Oc are tolerated, in spite of occasional cattle stealing raids, since they alone possess the weapons considered necessary protection against the island's savages.
Gignomai is about to discover exactly what it is expected of him, and what it means to defy his family. He is the hammer who will provide the spark that will ignite a brutal and bloody war.
404 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2011
About the author
K.J. Parker
130 books1,535 followersK.J. Parker is a pseudonym for Tom Holt.
According to the biographical notes in some of Parker's books, Parker has previously worked in law, journalism, and numismatics, and now writes and makes things out of wood and metal. It is also claimed that Parker is married to a solicitor and now lives in southern England. According to an autobiographical note, Parker was raised in rural Vermont, a lifestyle which influenced Parker's work.
According to the biographical notes in some of Parker's books, Parker has previously worked in law, journalism, and numismatics, and now writes and makes things out of wood and metal. It is also claimed that Parker is married to a solicitor and now lives in southern England. According to an autobiographical note, Parker was raised in rural Vermont, a lifestyle which influenced Parker's work.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
March 3, 2012
ohhh my God!
I was more than half way through thinking what the hell, nothing's happening, wondering why the hell this has such great reviews. The writing was great and all but still the plot wasn't getting anywhere.
Then Parker drove a blade right through my heart which I never saw coming and then kept twisting till the end. Damn but I'll be forced to write a full review too!
If Parker's a woman damn me but I'd like to meet a woman who writes stuff like this, I wouldn't have thought it was possible! Vengeance and justice with the lines blurred and served cold enough to make your blood freeze in your very veins.
EDIT: My reference to her being a woman does not in anyway call into question women's writing skills. I was merely commenting about the cold brutality which I had not expected.
I was more than half way through thinking what the hell, nothing's happening, wondering why the hell this has such great reviews. The writing was great and all but still the plot wasn't getting anywhere.
Then Parker drove a blade right through my heart which I never saw coming and then kept twisting till the end. Damn but I'll be forced to write a full review too!
If Parker's a woman damn me but I'd like to meet a woman who writes stuff like this, I wouldn't have thought it was possible! Vengeance and justice with the lines blurred and served cold enough to make your blood freeze in your very veins.
EDIT: My reference to her being a woman does not in anyway call into question women's writing skills. I was merely commenting about the cold brutality which I had not expected.
July 7, 2023
Absolutely brilliant.
April 17, 2011
I wish there were more books like this: fantasy only because it’s set in a secondary world, with complex characters and unpredictable plots and moral ambiguity and solid writing and dialogue. This book is not for everyone—while it’s apparently less dark than much of Parker’s previous work, the main character is not altogether likeable and the plot is driven by a couple of atrocities that the reader won’t soon forget. Still, it’s so well-crafted that I would certainly recommend to anyone looking for a serious, thought-provoking, gritty fantasy novel.
It’s hard to say much about the plot without spoiling part of the fun, so I’ll just describe the set-up: in a poor, remote colony of a distant empire, an exiled noble family lives in uneasy peace with the colonists and the indigenous people; Gignomai, the noble family’s youngest son, rebels against his father’s leadership, and a host of complications result. (Is that vague enough?) While the plot isn’t necessarily fast-moving, there’s a lot packed into 400 pages, and I wound up reading it compulsively.
There are a lot of great things about this book. It’s very well-constructed. The author uses foreshadowing excellently, which sounds silly, but rarely do I see it done so well: while the climax was not predictable, looking back it was so well set up as to be inevitable. Gignomai is both a fascinating and a frustrating protagonist; he keeps secrets from the reader, and he’s not a “good” guy, but he’s complicated and driven and gets things done. The other major characters are equally complex and interesting.
I also loved the world this story is set in: rather than another generic quasi-medieval setting, we have a small, backwater colony, mostly devoted to cattle-ranching, with somewhat more advanced technology (there are guns, although they’re not very accurate). I enjoyed reading about the everyday problems of the colony, meeting the local characters and seeing how the place changed during the story. Parker has a very precise, down-to-earth writing style and pays attention to things like economics, making the story feel so much more real and believable than the vast majority of fantasy out there.
The one thing I didn’t much like about this book (other than a few continuity errors) was that the women in it exist either to be love interests or to be murdered horribly and spark off other events. There are only a couple of women who get any real characterization, and both are married off for contrived reasons. But at least their characterization is decent for their minor roles in the story.
At any rate, Parker’s books certainly deserve a wider audience than they seem to have. This one raises a lot of hard questions (about morality, and the relative importance of justice vs. peace, and the way people respond to authority, and more) that I expect I’ll be thinking about for awhile. Additionally, it’s enjoyable and just an all-around high-quality book.
It’s hard to say much about the plot without spoiling part of the fun, so I’ll just describe the set-up: in a poor, remote colony of a distant empire, an exiled noble family lives in uneasy peace with the colonists and the indigenous people; Gignomai, the noble family’s youngest son, rebels against his father’s leadership, and a host of complications result. (Is that vague enough?) While the plot isn’t necessarily fast-moving, there’s a lot packed into 400 pages, and I wound up reading it compulsively.
There are a lot of great things about this book. It’s very well-constructed. The author uses foreshadowing excellently, which sounds silly, but rarely do I see it done so well: while the climax was not predictable, looking back it was so well set up as to be inevitable. Gignomai is both a fascinating and a frustrating protagonist; he keeps secrets from the reader, and he’s not a “good” guy, but he’s complicated and driven and gets things done. The other major characters are equally complex and interesting.
I also loved the world this story is set in: rather than another generic quasi-medieval setting, we have a small, backwater colony, mostly devoted to cattle-ranching, with somewhat more advanced technology (there are guns, although they’re not very accurate). I enjoyed reading about the everyday problems of the colony, meeting the local characters and seeing how the place changed during the story. Parker has a very precise, down-to-earth writing style and pays attention to things like economics, making the story feel so much more real and believable than the vast majority of fantasy out there.
The one thing I didn’t much like about this book (other than a few continuity errors) was that the women in it exist either to be love interests or to be murdered horribly and spark off other events. There are only a couple of women who get any real characterization, and both are married off for contrived reasons. But at least their characterization is decent for their minor roles in the story.
At any rate, Parker’s books certainly deserve a wider audience than they seem to have. This one raises a lot of hard questions (about morality, and the relative importance of justice vs. peace, and the way people respond to authority, and more) that I expect I’ll be thinking about for awhile. Additionally, it’s enjoyable and just an all-around high-quality book.
December 30, 2010
For readers familiar with KJ Parker's work, The Hammer can be summarized as the family drama of The Fencer series, the driven hero of The Folding Knife and the setup of The Company.
As a big fan of the author's work, I had the highest expectations for The Hammer - it should top my 2011 Anticipated Fantasy list, though having had the book for a while makes that a bit moot - and it was as good as I expected and it's an early candidate for my best of 2011.
So, on a big island, a small subsistence (70 year old) colony of farmers and shopkeepers mostly indentured, taxed and generally kept at that level by Home on the mainland through a charter to The Company which brings them the needed goods in return for large amounts of beef and animal skins/pelts; the colonists are allowed no weapons and no ships
But on a nearby plateau - The Tabletop - impregnable from 3 parts and walled on the 4th - an exiled noble family from Home, the met'Ocs made their (illegal as far as Home is concerned but nobody bothers since they still have friends) estate/fortress and they are armed and pretend to keep Home's traditions, though they are poorer than the colonists in many respects, except in books, some more advanced stuff from Home and weapons; and of course dreaming of being recalled and reinstated if their allies manage to gain power
The current generation (third since their exile) consists of 3 brothers and a sister, while their father is the patriarch with absolute powers - including life or death - and their mother (imported from Home) is negligible.
Stheno(mai) the elder and a huge man is the "farmer" in charge with feeding and clothing them and is continually harried by this or that
Luso(mai) the second son is the hunter/warrior who keeps the peace and leads a "gang" recruited from the no-gooders of the colony with occasional cattle raids - the colonists do not mind that since all cattle is Company's - but sometimes for other stuff like pigs or chickens about which the colonists care but can do little not having guns...
Gignomai the youngest is more or less surplus so he has no definite role which allows him to "break out" often to the colony where his best friend Furio Opello is the son and nephew of the most important men there by some accounts since they run the monopoly store that sells Company's goods.
We see Gig at 7 (Seven Years Before) when he solves a problem with an animal eating the chickens, at 14 in the Year When when he is in charge of some pigs, his "first command" and finally from 21 (Seven Years After) on, when he decides to leave Tabletop and make a living for himself away from his weird family; or maybe he has different and more momentous plans...
And there are the "savages", the original nomadic inhabitants of the island who had so far left the colony in peace
And things will never be the same.
Just awesome stuff; more personal and intimate than the author's earlier books, the novel also asks some of the questions that the author has been exploring in his fiction: how far does one go for "justice", how far does one go for a "noble cause", can a "bad" person do considerably more "general good" than a "good" person, what is civilization?
While in The Folding Knife, the knife was clear, here The Hammer is more ambiguous since there are a bunch of them, literal in several incarnations (usual hammer for nails, huge hammer in a forge, hammer of a gun) and figurative that play important roles...
Full Fbc Review;
INTRODUCTION:Pseudonymous author KJ Parker has made a name in fantasy with 12 novels, 2 long novellas/short novels and 2 short stories of which you can read Amor Vincit Omnia free online at the Subterranean site and get a flavor of the author's work.
I have talked about The Scavenger trilogy, while the standalone The Folding Knife is one of my top five novels of 2010. The author's books share some characteristics: setting in a generic pre-industrial society with Roman/Byzantine overtones and naming conventions, dark humor, detached narration, love of details especially about metal working, sword fighting and pre-industrial engineering, themes of betrayal, civilization versus "barbarians", group of extraordinary friends and family feuds that spill into the larger picture.
The Hammer expresses some of these themes to perfection, using a far-off colony island of an unnamed aristocratic republic whose population is rigidly divided into three: an isolated exiled noble family, the met'Ocs and their patriarch whose shadow looms over the novel, though we mostly see his three sons in action, the subsistence-level farmer colonists who regard the met'Ocs with a mixture of fear, resentment and jealousy and the enigmatic and remote natives who seem to be incomprehensible to the mainlanders and with whom the colonists thinks they have an unspoken truce. Crossing the implied and sometimes formal boundaries, Gignomai, the youngest met'Oc tries to fulfill what he perceives to be his destiny...
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: For readers familiar with KJ Parker's work, The Hammer can be summarized as the family drama of The Fencer series, the driven hero of The Folding Knife and the setup of The Company.
On a big island, there is a small subsistence 70 year old colony of farmers and shopkeepers mostly indentured, taxed and generally kept at that level by Home on the mainland through a charter to The Company which brings them the needed goods in return for large amounts of beef and animal skins/pelts; the colonists are allowed no weapons and no ships.
But on a nearby plateau - The Tabletop - impregnable from 3 parts and walled on the 4th - an exiled noble family from Home, the met'Ocs made their - illegal as far as Home is concerned but nobody bothers since they still have friends in power - estate/fortress and they are armed and pretend to keep Home's traditions, though they are poorer than the colonists in many respects, except in books, some more advanced stuff from Home and weapons; of course most of them are dreaming of being recalled and reinstated if their allies manage to gain control Home. The current generation, third since their exile, consists of 3 brothers and a sister, while their father is the patriarch with absolute powers - including life or death - and their mother imported from Home is negligible.
Stheno(mai) the elder and a huge man is the "farmer" in charge with feeding and clothing them and is continually harried by this or that. Luso(mai) the second son is the hunter/warrior who keeps the peace and leads a "gang" recruited from the no-gooders of the colony with occasional cattle raids - the colonists do not mind that since all cattle is Company's - but sometimes for other stuff like pigs or chickens about which the colonists care but can do little not having guns...
Gignomai the youngest is more or less surplus so he has no definite role which allows him to "break out" often to the colony where his best friend Furio Opello is the son and nephew of the most important men there by some accounts since they run the monopoly store that sells Company's goods.
We see Gig at age 7, mysteriously called "Seven Years Before" when he solves a problem with an animal eating the chickens, at 14 in the "Year When", in charge of some pigs, his "first command" and finally from age 21 on - "Seven Years After" - when he decides to leave Tabletop and make a living for himself away from his weird family; or maybe he has different and more momentous plans...
Then there are the "savages", the original nomadic inhabitants of the island who had so far left the colony in peace. And of course things will never be the same...
The Hammer is more personal and intimate than the author's earlier books and in some sense it is the "cheeriest" of all, though of course the term is relative. The novel also asks some of the questions that the author has been exploring in his fiction: how far does one go for "justice", how far does one go for a "noble cause", can a "bad" person do considerably more "general good" than a "good" person, what is civilization?
The Folding Knife treated the same themes at a more impersonal, state politics level, but here everything is close and personal with no quarter given. The dark humor and superb style of the author are on display continually through the novel, while the twists, turns, jaw dropping moments characteristic of a KJ Parker novel materialize often, sometimes in ways familiar from other novels though with enough of a change to read anew, sometimes in ways that confounded my expectations as a "veteran" KJ Parker reader.
We also have the occasion to meet a remarkable set of characters including a mainland aristo cousin of the met'Ocs who is on a "temporary" trip to avoid trial for "sort-of murdering" her husband as she charmingly puts it to Gig, all for his or at least his family's own good by the way, though understandably said family does not quite see it that way, a shopkeeper who finds himself in charge of more than his store and tries to "do good", an elderly native who is quite weird to say the least and a girl shipped from Home to her uncles on the Island and who dreams to become a doctor in a staunch patriarchal society, though the always enigmatic Gignomai, the good natured Furio and the other two met'Oc brothers are center stage throughout.
While in The Folding Knife, "the knife" was clear from page one though of course its true significance had to wait a little to be uncovered, here "the hammer" is more ambiguous since there are a bunch of them, literal in several incarnations - usual hammer for nails, huge hammer in a forge, hammer of a gun - and figurative that play important roles...
As a big fan of the author's work, I had the highest expectations for The Hammer (A++ and provisional top novel of 2011) and they were surpassed because in addition to the usual great stuff I expected and got - characters, memorable moments, prose style, twists and turns - the novel has great balance and offers a truly complete and satisfying experience you want to revisit often.
As a big fan of the author's work, I had the highest expectations for The Hammer - it should top my 2011 Anticipated Fantasy list, though having had the book for a while makes that a bit moot - and it was as good as I expected and it's an early candidate for my best of 2011.
So, on a big island, a small subsistence (70 year old) colony of farmers and shopkeepers mostly indentured, taxed and generally kept at that level by Home on the mainland through a charter to The Company which brings them the needed goods in return for large amounts of beef and animal skins/pelts; the colonists are allowed no weapons and no ships
But on a nearby plateau - The Tabletop - impregnable from 3 parts and walled on the 4th - an exiled noble family from Home, the met'Ocs made their (illegal as far as Home is concerned but nobody bothers since they still have friends) estate/fortress and they are armed and pretend to keep Home's traditions, though they are poorer than the colonists in many respects, except in books, some more advanced stuff from Home and weapons; and of course dreaming of being recalled and reinstated if their allies manage to gain power
The current generation (third since their exile) consists of 3 brothers and a sister, while their father is the patriarch with absolute powers - including life or death - and their mother (imported from Home) is negligible.
Stheno(mai) the elder and a huge man is the "farmer" in charge with feeding and clothing them and is continually harried by this or that
Luso(mai) the second son is the hunter/warrior who keeps the peace and leads a "gang" recruited from the no-gooders of the colony with occasional cattle raids - the colonists do not mind that since all cattle is Company's - but sometimes for other stuff like pigs or chickens about which the colonists care but can do little not having guns...
Gignomai the youngest is more or less surplus so he has no definite role which allows him to "break out" often to the colony where his best friend Furio Opello is the son and nephew of the most important men there by some accounts since they run the monopoly store that sells Company's goods.
We see Gig at 7 (Seven Years Before) when he solves a problem with an animal eating the chickens, at 14 in the Year When when he is in charge of some pigs, his "first command" and finally from 21 (Seven Years After) on, when he decides to leave Tabletop and make a living for himself away from his weird family; or maybe he has different and more momentous plans...
And there are the "savages", the original nomadic inhabitants of the island who had so far left the colony in peace
And things will never be the same.
Just awesome stuff; more personal and intimate than the author's earlier books, the novel also asks some of the questions that the author has been exploring in his fiction: how far does one go for "justice", how far does one go for a "noble cause", can a "bad" person do considerably more "general good" than a "good" person, what is civilization?
While in The Folding Knife, the knife was clear, here The Hammer is more ambiguous since there are a bunch of them, literal in several incarnations (usual hammer for nails, huge hammer in a forge, hammer of a gun) and figurative that play important roles...
Full Fbc Review;
INTRODUCTION:Pseudonymous author KJ Parker has made a name in fantasy with 12 novels, 2 long novellas/short novels and 2 short stories of which you can read Amor Vincit Omnia free online at the Subterranean site and get a flavor of the author's work.
I have talked about The Scavenger trilogy, while the standalone The Folding Knife is one of my top five novels of 2010. The author's books share some characteristics: setting in a generic pre-industrial society with Roman/Byzantine overtones and naming conventions, dark humor, detached narration, love of details especially about metal working, sword fighting and pre-industrial engineering, themes of betrayal, civilization versus "barbarians", group of extraordinary friends and family feuds that spill into the larger picture.
The Hammer expresses some of these themes to perfection, using a far-off colony island of an unnamed aristocratic republic whose population is rigidly divided into three: an isolated exiled noble family, the met'Ocs and their patriarch whose shadow looms over the novel, though we mostly see his three sons in action, the subsistence-level farmer colonists who regard the met'Ocs with a mixture of fear, resentment and jealousy and the enigmatic and remote natives who seem to be incomprehensible to the mainlanders and with whom the colonists thinks they have an unspoken truce. Crossing the implied and sometimes formal boundaries, Gignomai, the youngest met'Oc tries to fulfill what he perceives to be his destiny...
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: For readers familiar with KJ Parker's work, The Hammer can be summarized as the family drama of The Fencer series, the driven hero of The Folding Knife and the setup of The Company.
On a big island, there is a small subsistence 70 year old colony of farmers and shopkeepers mostly indentured, taxed and generally kept at that level by Home on the mainland through a charter to The Company which brings them the needed goods in return for large amounts of beef and animal skins/pelts; the colonists are allowed no weapons and no ships.
But on a nearby plateau - The Tabletop - impregnable from 3 parts and walled on the 4th - an exiled noble family from Home, the met'Ocs made their - illegal as far as Home is concerned but nobody bothers since they still have friends in power - estate/fortress and they are armed and pretend to keep Home's traditions, though they are poorer than the colonists in many respects, except in books, some more advanced stuff from Home and weapons; of course most of them are dreaming of being recalled and reinstated if their allies manage to gain control Home. The current generation, third since their exile, consists of 3 brothers and a sister, while their father is the patriarch with absolute powers - including life or death - and their mother imported from Home is negligible.
Stheno(mai) the elder and a huge man is the "farmer" in charge with feeding and clothing them and is continually harried by this or that. Luso(mai) the second son is the hunter/warrior who keeps the peace and leads a "gang" recruited from the no-gooders of the colony with occasional cattle raids - the colonists do not mind that since all cattle is Company's - but sometimes for other stuff like pigs or chickens about which the colonists care but can do little not having guns...
Gignomai the youngest is more or less surplus so he has no definite role which allows him to "break out" often to the colony where his best friend Furio Opello is the son and nephew of the most important men there by some accounts since they run the monopoly store that sells Company's goods.
We see Gig at age 7, mysteriously called "Seven Years Before" when he solves a problem with an animal eating the chickens, at 14 in the "Year When", in charge of some pigs, his "first command" and finally from age 21 on - "Seven Years After" - when he decides to leave Tabletop and make a living for himself away from his weird family; or maybe he has different and more momentous plans...
Then there are the "savages", the original nomadic inhabitants of the island who had so far left the colony in peace. And of course things will never be the same...
The Hammer is more personal and intimate than the author's earlier books and in some sense it is the "cheeriest" of all, though of course the term is relative. The novel also asks some of the questions that the author has been exploring in his fiction: how far does one go for "justice", how far does one go for a "noble cause", can a "bad" person do considerably more "general good" than a "good" person, what is civilization?
The Folding Knife treated the same themes at a more impersonal, state politics level, but here everything is close and personal with no quarter given. The dark humor and superb style of the author are on display continually through the novel, while the twists, turns, jaw dropping moments characteristic of a KJ Parker novel materialize often, sometimes in ways familiar from other novels though with enough of a change to read anew, sometimes in ways that confounded my expectations as a "veteran" KJ Parker reader.
We also have the occasion to meet a remarkable set of characters including a mainland aristo cousin of the met'Ocs who is on a "temporary" trip to avoid trial for "sort-of murdering" her husband as she charmingly puts it to Gig, all for his or at least his family's own good by the way, though understandably said family does not quite see it that way, a shopkeeper who finds himself in charge of more than his store and tries to "do good", an elderly native who is quite weird to say the least and a girl shipped from Home to her uncles on the Island and who dreams to become a doctor in a staunch patriarchal society, though the always enigmatic Gignomai, the good natured Furio and the other two met'Oc brothers are center stage throughout.
While in The Folding Knife, "the knife" was clear from page one though of course its true significance had to wait a little to be uncovered, here "the hammer" is more ambiguous since there are a bunch of them, literal in several incarnations - usual hammer for nails, huge hammer in a forge, hammer of a gun - and figurative that play important roles...
As a big fan of the author's work, I had the highest expectations for The Hammer (A++ and provisional top novel of 2011) and they were surpassed because in addition to the usual great stuff I expected and got - characters, memorable moments, prose style, twists and turns - the novel has great balance and offers a truly complete and satisfying experience you want to revisit often.
April 20, 2013
The Hammer is formulaic. It's a very effective formula, and one that has made me a fan of KJ Parker's work, but it's a formula nonetheless. You'll find here the same characters and tropes that inhabit most of Parker's other work: good characters that turn bad, bad characters that turn good, a seemingly relentless logic that leads to extreme and brutal results, and, most of all, a metaphor hammered until it's paper thin, then folded and re-folded and hammered again.
You'll find, also, the common vocabulary and the usual tantalizing hints that all Parker's work occurs in the same world. There is a Company, a Republic, and Empire, a Colony. In this case, there is an explicit link to other books in mention of the Vesani Republic.
I like KJ Parker. I really do. I thought the first Parker book I read ( Colours in the Steel ) was excellent - despite what was then unexpected savagery. I liked other series almost as much, but felt they weren't treading very far afield. Recent standalone books continued the trend, though The Company at least offered a different setting.
The story here is about an exiled noble family, rich in tradition and pride, poor in almost everything else. They live in the vicinity of a colony working for Home, but keep their distance. The 'savages' who inhabit the rest of the peninsula are mostly in the background. As always, good intentions lead to bad results.
The Hammer sticks very close to the approach Parker has perfected. So much so, in fact, that it feels like a book she (let's say) has written before. If you've read Parker's other work, you've pretty much read this one. You know what will happen. You know where it will end. Only the details are different, and in this case, they're just not that interesting. It feels like something off a production line. That's a shame, particularly from an author whose approach and tone are so different from those of most other fantasy authors.
I'd be very disappointed to find that Parker has only one string to her bow. I'd still read her books, much as I still read Stephen Donaldson's books. But I'd hope for more.
You'll find, also, the common vocabulary and the usual tantalizing hints that all Parker's work occurs in the same world. There is a Company, a Republic, and Empire, a Colony. In this case, there is an explicit link to other books in mention of the Vesani Republic.
I like KJ Parker. I really do. I thought the first Parker book I read ( Colours in the Steel ) was excellent - despite what was then unexpected savagery. I liked other series almost as much, but felt they weren't treading very far afield. Recent standalone books continued the trend, though The Company at least offered a different setting.
The story here is about an exiled noble family, rich in tradition and pride, poor in almost everything else. They live in the vicinity of a colony working for Home, but keep their distance. The 'savages' who inhabit the rest of the peninsula are mostly in the background. As always, good intentions lead to bad results.
The Hammer sticks very close to the approach Parker has perfected. So much so, in fact, that it feels like a book she (let's say) has written before. If you've read Parker's other work, you've pretty much read this one. You know what will happen. You know where it will end. Only the details are different, and in this case, they're just not that interesting. It feels like something off a production line. That's a shame, particularly from an author whose approach and tone are so different from those of most other fantasy authors.
I'd be very disappointed to find that Parker has only one string to her bow. I'd still read her books, much as I still read Stephen Donaldson's books. But I'd hope for more.
March 26, 2016
Malo mi je teško ocjenit ovu knjigu. Prva polovica mi je bila dosadna i naporna, sredina prosječna ali ju je zato odličan kraj izvuka iz minusa. Ovo nije neko maestralno djelo ali bih ga ipak svima preporučio a pogotovo onima koji vole sporiji razvoj radnje. U nekim stvarima je naporno filozofska s previše opisa svega i svačega a opet u drugim je brutalno jednostavna i brutalna. Iako naviknut na Martinovo i Abercrombievo nasilje ipak me je uspilo šokirat u par navrata.
Knjiga je low fantasy. U njoj nema ni magije ni magičnih bića. Jedino zbog čega bi se mogla svrstat u taj žanr je činjenica da se radnja odvija u nekakvom imaginarnom svjetu.
Iako im radnje nisu povezane već samo dijele svijet u kojem se odvijaju mislim da sam ipak prvo trebao pročitat Folding knife. Što bum ubrzo i napravil jerbo me K. J. Parker kupio ovom knjigom iako ju je bila prava terapija pročitati
Knjiga je low fantasy. U njoj nema ni magije ni magičnih bića. Jedino zbog čega bi se mogla svrstat u taj žanr je činjenica da se radnja odvija u nekakvom imaginarnom svjetu.
Iako im radnje nisu povezane već samo dijele svijet u kojem se odvijaju mislim da sam ipak prvo trebao pročitat Folding knife. Što bum ubrzo i napravil jerbo me K. J. Parker kupio ovom knjigom iako ju je bila prava terapija pročitati
April 27, 2020
Deliciously evil and cunning.
May 6, 2020
I’m a fully paid up member of this author’s fan club. This book certainly strengthened my belief in him being one of the most enjoyable story tellers I follow, usually with a poignant, cynical perspective, and just sometimes wry humour.
This is a tale set in his characteristic, late medieval Mediterranean made-up world. I hesitate to call it traditional fantasy as it contains only realistic, ordinary human beings with no magic! A sort of historical fiction, in a made up but very identifiable world? It’s the story of an agricultural colony distant from the home country, this homeland being known appropriately and simply as Home to the colonists. There is a tense truce in this colony between the farmers and small town folk, and the aristocratic family, the met’Oc family, exiled from Home for two generations and vainly dreaming of a return to favour, while they attempt to make ends meet.
In characteristic Parker style the story is full of little details on the life of the colonists and the met’Ocs, with little apparent direction to the story aside from the growing rebelliousness of the most junior met’Oc son. Also in Parker fashion you travel down side alleys, for example getting a pretty decent idea of how to set up from scratch an Ironworks, a novelty in this agrarian society.
About halfway through the book the pace changes, and serious tensions emerge. Much hinges on a dark secret of the met’Oc family. All leading to a rather dramatic climax.
Another notch on my Parker reading list tally and one of the more interesting and enjoyable ones. It’s a million miles from Sword and Sorcery, and brave heroes and wizards, but I loved the small world drama.
I do find I have almost one star rating system for the KJ Parker books and another for most other authors. Compared to many of my fantasy reads I’d feel a Parker book deserves 5* but I also find I need to rate one Parker against another so I need to discriminate to a degree. However, in this case whatever way I look at it, it’s 5* from me for such an interesting story built on apparently unpromising agrarian everyday life.
This is a tale set in his characteristic, late medieval Mediterranean made-up world. I hesitate to call it traditional fantasy as it contains only realistic, ordinary human beings with no magic! A sort of historical fiction, in a made up but very identifiable world? It’s the story of an agricultural colony distant from the home country, this homeland being known appropriately and simply as Home to the colonists. There is a tense truce in this colony between the farmers and small town folk, and the aristocratic family, the met’Oc family, exiled from Home for two generations and vainly dreaming of a return to favour, while they attempt to make ends meet.
In characteristic Parker style the story is full of little details on the life of the colonists and the met’Ocs, with little apparent direction to the story aside from the growing rebelliousness of the most junior met’Oc son. Also in Parker fashion you travel down side alleys, for example getting a pretty decent idea of how to set up from scratch an Ironworks, a novelty in this agrarian society.
About halfway through the book the pace changes, and serious tensions emerge. Much hinges on a dark secret of the met’Oc family. All leading to a rather dramatic climax.
Another notch on my Parker reading list tally and one of the more interesting and enjoyable ones. It’s a million miles from Sword and Sorcery, and brave heroes and wizards, but I loved the small world drama.
I do find I have almost one star rating system for the KJ Parker books and another for most other authors. Compared to many of my fantasy reads I’d feel a Parker book deserves 5* but I also find I need to rate one Parker against another so I need to discriminate to a degree. However, in this case whatever way I look at it, it’s 5* from me for such an interesting story built on apparently unpromising agrarian everyday life.
January 14, 2011
Gignomai met’Oc is the youngest son of a once-noble family that, decades ago, fell out of favor and was exiled from the Empire’s capital to a remote and comparably primitive colony established 70 years before the start of the novel. The met’Oc family is really twice isolated, as it lives on a plateau separate from the rest of the colony, with which it lives in an uneasy kind of not-quite-peace. While Gig’s older brothers Luso and Stheno have their own responsibilities around the house, Gig has enough free time to get into trouble, including the occasional illicit trip to the colony, where he learns more about how the colonists perceive his family and meets with his friend Furio.
The Hammer has an interesting structure, as it’s divided into 4 sections: “Seven Years Before,” “The Year When,” “Seven Years After,” and “Five Years Later.” The first two sections, while quite important, are really long prologues for “Seven Years After,” which takes up most of the book. The section titles refer to an initially mysterious event that changes Gig’s life completely and sets off the main plot of the novel, but it isn’t until late in the book that we find out what this actually was — although perceptive readers may be able to figure some of it out much earlier. As most of the motivations for Gig’s actions derive from this life-changing event, it takes a while before you really understand what’s going on, but luckily The Hammer is so well written that it’s a pleasure to read, regardless of when you pick up on the central mystery.
K.J. Parker has the same gift for smooth, easy-flowing dialogue as Lois McMaster Bujold. The characters always sound realistic and never resort to lecturing each other in full paragraphs. In fact, the rest of Parker’s prose is just as good: The Hammer is simply a blast to read, expertly paced and full of surprising and occasionally funny twists. There’s an odd contrast between the almost cheerful tone of the story and the eventual, much darker revelation about the event that sets off the main plot. K.J. Parker has also mastered the art of showing characters rather than describing them: you learn everything you need to know just by observing their actions without needing the author to spell things out for you. Sounds simple, but it’s amazing how few authors pull it off.
The setting of The Hammer is intriguing, despite — or maybe because of — its being only vaguely described. The world seems to be on the cusp of an industrial revolution (or more correctly, on the verge of re-discovering pre-industrial techniques and scientific advances that were lost in an unspecified past). While the main political intrigue, which led to the exile of the met’Oc family, happened well before the start of the novel, there are many tantalizing hints of what’s currently happening in the capital (called “Home”) and the rest of the Empire. Complicating matters, there are also some mysterious indigenous people living near the Empire’s colony. The Hammer is one of those novels that suggest there may be many more stories to be told about its world, and I for one would jump at the chance to read them.
Reinforcing this impression is the fact that several of the side characters are so fascinating, and have such an interesting story arc, that they could easily each have been main characters in another novel. The stories of Luso, Furio, Furio’s uncle, and especially Gig’s father are just as captivating as Gig’s, despite the fact that (aside from Furio and to a lesser extent his uncle) they happen mostly off-camera. It would be tremendous if K.J. Parker were to write another novel set in this fantasy universe, but focusing on the life of Gig’s father before the start of the story.
As for the main character, Gig is a great choice: he’s mischievous, driven, and has a fascinating, analytical mind. There are some sections from the points of view of his friend Furio and Furio’s uncle (the involuntary mayor-by-default of the colony), but Gig’s the real star of the story. The final sections of the novel lead to a number of difficult questions about morality and exactly to what extent the end justifies the means. You’ll end up reconsidering much of what you’ve read before (e.g. the way Gig protects some of the family’s chickens) in an entirely different light, making this a novel that very much rewards a second reading.
Put all of this together and you get The Hammer: an entertaining but deceptively deep fantasy novel that should win K.J. Parker many new fans. Highly recommended.
(This review was published at www.fantasyliterature.com on 1/14/2011)
The Hammer has an interesting structure, as it’s divided into 4 sections: “Seven Years Before,” “The Year When,” “Seven Years After,” and “Five Years Later.” The first two sections, while quite important, are really long prologues for “Seven Years After,” which takes up most of the book. The section titles refer to an initially mysterious event that changes Gig’s life completely and sets off the main plot of the novel, but it isn’t until late in the book that we find out what this actually was — although perceptive readers may be able to figure some of it out much earlier. As most of the motivations for Gig’s actions derive from this life-changing event, it takes a while before you really understand what’s going on, but luckily The Hammer is so well written that it’s a pleasure to read, regardless of when you pick up on the central mystery.
K.J. Parker has the same gift for smooth, easy-flowing dialogue as Lois McMaster Bujold. The characters always sound realistic and never resort to lecturing each other in full paragraphs. In fact, the rest of Parker’s prose is just as good: The Hammer is simply a blast to read, expertly paced and full of surprising and occasionally funny twists. There’s an odd contrast between the almost cheerful tone of the story and the eventual, much darker revelation about the event that sets off the main plot. K.J. Parker has also mastered the art of showing characters rather than describing them: you learn everything you need to know just by observing their actions without needing the author to spell things out for you. Sounds simple, but it’s amazing how few authors pull it off.
The setting of The Hammer is intriguing, despite — or maybe because of — its being only vaguely described. The world seems to be on the cusp of an industrial revolution (or more correctly, on the verge of re-discovering pre-industrial techniques and scientific advances that were lost in an unspecified past). While the main political intrigue, which led to the exile of the met’Oc family, happened well before the start of the novel, there are many tantalizing hints of what’s currently happening in the capital (called “Home”) and the rest of the Empire. Complicating matters, there are also some mysterious indigenous people living near the Empire’s colony. The Hammer is one of those novels that suggest there may be many more stories to be told about its world, and I for one would jump at the chance to read them.
Reinforcing this impression is the fact that several of the side characters are so fascinating, and have such an interesting story arc, that they could easily each have been main characters in another novel. The stories of Luso, Furio, Furio’s uncle, and especially Gig’s father are just as captivating as Gig’s, despite the fact that (aside from Furio and to a lesser extent his uncle) they happen mostly off-camera. It would be tremendous if K.J. Parker were to write another novel set in this fantasy universe, but focusing on the life of Gig’s father before the start of the story.
As for the main character, Gig is a great choice: he’s mischievous, driven, and has a fascinating, analytical mind. There are some sections from the points of view of his friend Furio and Furio’s uncle (the involuntary mayor-by-default of the colony), but Gig’s the real star of the story. The final sections of the novel lead to a number of difficult questions about morality and exactly to what extent the end justifies the means. You’ll end up reconsidering much of what you’ve read before (e.g. the way Gig protects some of the family’s chickens) in an entirely different light, making this a novel that very much rewards a second reading.
Put all of this together and you get The Hammer: an entertaining but deceptively deep fantasy novel that should win K.J. Parker many new fans. Highly recommended.
(This review was published at www.fantasyliterature.com on 1/14/2011)
July 27, 2014
3.5 / 5
I’m having a bit of trouble reviewing The Hammer by KJ Parker. I can’t even make myself come up with an adequate summary. So for those reasons, I will forgo my usual review format and get into something more casual and comfortable. You see, The Hammer is a very interesting book; a book that keeps you reading and wanting to find out what comes next. But at the same time, it’s also a frustrating book; a book that annoys you with some things but still makes you keep reading. I’m not making much sense now, am I? Let’s analyze a bit then.
First, and I want to get this out of the way, I don’t very much like Parker’s writing style. I can’t exactly say and pinpoint what it is but there’s something in there that jars me. Could it be the subtle changes in style and pacing from page to page? Maybe it’s the descriptions and choice of words? For sure, the names didn’t appeal to me, especially the met’Oc names because as a native Greek speaker I found them a bit off and ridiculous. Additionally, (and you probably know this if you’ve been following my reviews) as I have a pet-peeve with dialogue, I can’t say I was very satisfied with its presentation here. It often felt a bit stiff and unnatural at times. The constant facial expressions that went with it didn’t help.
The story is amazing on the other hand. A closed social environment with sub-divisions for their separate social groups is the set-up that provides so much dynamic tension for all interactions among characters. All of those groups are stuck to their traditions and way of things, all very unwilling to change but gradually being forced to. I thought that the title of the novel is symbolic for many things but mostly it represents the main character, who is the major element which forces all those changes in motion intentionally or not.
The characters are a mixed bag as well. They are interesting and realistic at their actions but at the same time they end up too “gray” eventually. What I mean is, I like it when I get “gray” characters because they are a bit good, a bit bad and a bit in-between, you know, like people usually are in real life. But when they are intentionally “gray” then that creates the same problem for me as if they were specifically white-good or black-bad.
In the end, while I liked and enjoyed this book, it also managed to frustrate me quite a bit at times. But all those little annoyances of mine are completely on a subjective basis and I’m sure not everybody will feel as I did. With a very interesting story and a lot of deeper meanings, I can see this becoming a favorite for many. It might not have worked perfectly for me but I can still recommend it for many fantasy (and not only) readers.
3.5 / 5
I’m having a bit of trouble reviewing The Hammer by KJ Parker. I can’t even make myself come up with an adequate summary. So for those reasons, I will forgo my usual review format and get into something more casual and comfortable. You see, The Hammer is a very interesting book; a book that keeps you reading and wanting to find out what comes next. But at the same time, it’s also a frustrating book; a book that annoys you with some things but still makes you keep reading. I’m not making much sense now, am I? Let’s analyze a bit then.
First, and I want to get this out of the way, I don’t very much like Parker’s writing style. I can’t exactly say and pinpoint what it is but there’s something in there that jars me. Could it be the subtle changes in style and pacing from page to page? Maybe it’s the descriptions and choice of words? For sure, the names didn’t appeal to me, especially the met’Oc names because as a native Greek speaker I found them a bit off and ridiculous. Additionally, (and you probably know this if you’ve been following my reviews) as I have a pet-peeve with dialogue, I can’t say I was very satisfied with its presentation here. It often felt a bit stiff and unnatural at times. The constant facial expressions that went with it didn’t help.
The story is amazing on the other hand. A closed social environment with sub-divisions for their separate social groups is the set-up that provides so much dynamic tension for all interactions among characters. All of those groups are stuck to their traditions and way of things, all very unwilling to change but gradually being forced to. I thought that the title of the novel is symbolic for many things but mostly it represents the main character, who is the major element which forces all those changes in motion intentionally or not.
The characters are a mixed bag as well. They are interesting and realistic at their actions but at the same time they end up too “gray” eventually. What I mean is, I like it when I get “gray” characters because they are a bit good, a bit bad and a bit in-between, you know, like people usually are in real life. But when they are intentionally “gray” then that creates the same problem for me as if they were specifically white-good or black-bad.
In the end, while I liked and enjoyed this book, it also managed to frustrate me quite a bit at times. But all those little annoyances of mine are completely on a subjective basis and I’m sure not everybody will feel as I did. With a very interesting story and a lot of deeper meanings, I can see this becoming a favorite for many. It might not have worked perfectly for me but I can still recommend it for many fantasy (and not only) readers.
3.5 / 5
July 18, 2022
My review on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IH8RlpfXSdo
Simply phenomenal.
Simply phenomenal.
June 22, 2020
All the books by Parker that I have read thusfar take place in what I will call his 'parkerverse', a world comprised of an array of cities, city states and nations seemingly locked in the early 1700s Europe for a 1000 years. The Hammer is set in a remote colony of 'Home' and revolves around a young nobleman Gignomai met'Oc. The colony operates as something akin to a penal colony, established 70 years prior via indentured servitude. It is a small colony on the edge of a vast landmass inhabited by 'savages' and was originally construed as a potential silver mine site and/or a recruitment center for the savages for the army. The silver did not pan out, and the savages what nothing whatsoever to do with the colony, so it has been sort of languishing along. The 'company' controls all access to the island, and all trade; the people in the colony raise beef for the company and must buy all their needs from the company (something like the British navigation acts and their colonies). The met'Oc were a great family in Home until (it is never made exactly clear) they became on the outs, and were ostracized to the colony for life. Gignomai (or Gig) is the youngest of the met'Ocs, and the only one in contact with the locals; the rest of the met'Ocs live on a tableland in the colony and have no contact with the locals except for periodic raids for cattle. The met'Ocs are also the only ones in the colony with weapons, including some flint lock pistols.
Gig is not happy with the status quo, and his best friend is the son of the only store in the colony. Gig defies his family and vows to set up a factory to produce things imported-- something like import substitution industrialization-- and starts building a factory on savage lands.
The thing I like best about Parker is the parkerverse and the economic set ups in his novels; this one has detailed discussion of iron work, smelting, and so forth that was fun. I also like his snarky dialogue and verbal debates. My main problem with Parker is how his characters all are seemingly devoid of empathy to a sociopathic degree. I find it hard to relate to his characters and their motivations, and that detracts from becoming vested in the story. This stated, I find I consistently give Parker's novels a 3 or 4 rating, and this one is no exception. 3.5 stars.
Gig is not happy with the status quo, and his best friend is the son of the only store in the colony. Gig defies his family and vows to set up a factory to produce things imported-- something like import substitution industrialization-- and starts building a factory on savage lands.
The thing I like best about Parker is the parkerverse and the economic set ups in his novels; this one has detailed discussion of iron work, smelting, and so forth that was fun. I also like his snarky dialogue and verbal debates. My main problem with Parker is how his characters all are seemingly devoid of empathy to a sociopathic degree. I find it hard to relate to his characters and their motivations, and that detracts from becoming vested in the story. This stated, I find I consistently give Parker's novels a 3 or 4 rating, and this one is no exception. 3.5 stars.
September 10, 2024
This was a wild ride!
I think I felt the whole range of possible human emotions for Gignomai, over the course of this book.
I'll write a longer review later, haven't had much inspiration writing those, recently... but another great book from this author. Only reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is that all KJ Parker books I have read so far were great and I'm starting to have a separate KJ Parker grading scale it seems, which is probably very unfair, so I might change that in the future too.
I think I felt the whole range of possible human emotions for Gignomai, over the course of this book.
I'll write a longer review later, haven't had much inspiration writing those, recently... but another great book from this author. Only reason I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 is that all KJ Parker books I have read so far were great and I'm starting to have a separate KJ Parker grading scale it seems, which is probably very unfair, so I might change that in the future too.
December 16, 2015
Duty, morality, guns and an engineering project.
It’s paradoxical to describe Parker’s books as fantasy. Aside from the non-Earth setting (here and elsewhere a 16th century-ish Rome analogue), they’re as real as real can be. Do you like Jules Verne, his informative descriptions of telegraphy and ballooning? You’ll like Parker’s detailed engineering passages, although these books are 21st century terse in their edification, not 19th century prolix. Also realistic are the characters, whose mental make-ups give us no goodies or baddies, instead we get the tricky journeys of very real people doing very good and very bad things.
In this standalone story, the third Parker’s done recently, Gignomai met’Oc lives with his exiled noble family in a distant land that hosts a scrappy colony, with whom the met’Ocs coexist uneasily. Until something terrible occurs, and Gignomai sets in motion a fiendish plan. To say more than that would give the game away, but let’s say that this fantasy is less about wizards (there are, in actuality, precisely none) and more about morality, family and notions of justice and duty.
The Hammer is mildly frustrating as Parker refuses to judge the characters, but in a good way. To use an overused cliché, it’ll make you think. It’s not perfect. Those readers who’ve been put off by Parker’s over-engineered plots and slightly cold style will find the same here, and the realism of the detail runs out once you hit the big picture (there’s no way such a large and potentially rich land would be left virtually untouched by so avaricious a society, come on!). In fact, The Hammer is a little parochial, but that’s a strength also, for the small size of the stage makes the enormity of Gignomai’s actions all the more powerful.
It’s paradoxical to describe Parker’s books as fantasy. Aside from the non-Earth setting (here and elsewhere a 16th century-ish Rome analogue), they’re as real as real can be. Do you like Jules Verne, his informative descriptions of telegraphy and ballooning? You’ll like Parker’s detailed engineering passages, although these books are 21st century terse in their edification, not 19th century prolix. Also realistic are the characters, whose mental make-ups give us no goodies or baddies, instead we get the tricky journeys of very real people doing very good and very bad things.
In this standalone story, the third Parker’s done recently, Gignomai met’Oc lives with his exiled noble family in a distant land that hosts a scrappy colony, with whom the met’Ocs coexist uneasily. Until something terrible occurs, and Gignomai sets in motion a fiendish plan. To say more than that would give the game away, but let’s say that this fantasy is less about wizards (there are, in actuality, precisely none) and more about morality, family and notions of justice and duty.
The Hammer is mildly frustrating as Parker refuses to judge the characters, but in a good way. To use an overused cliché, it’ll make you think. It’s not perfect. Those readers who’ve been put off by Parker’s over-engineered plots and slightly cold style will find the same here, and the realism of the detail runs out once you hit the big picture (there’s no way such a large and potentially rich land would be left virtually untouched by so avaricious a society, come on!). In fact, The Hammer is a little parochial, but that’s a strength also, for the small size of the stage makes the enormity of Gignomai’s actions all the more powerful.
January 25, 2024
This was my selection for the 'Revolutions and Rebellions' square in the r/Fantasy 2022 Bingo (Hard Mode).
This is only a fantasy book because it occurs on a remote island colony of an empire on a secondary world whose culture will remind you of the Italian Renaissance. I've come to realize, that I really like this kind of low-key fantasy book, and Parker has now been added to the list of authors, where I want to read everything that they have written. Like other books by him, this one contains characters who are not exact as they initially appear, and you can expect revenge to kick in at some point. The description of the chair related scene is going to stay with me for quite a while.
(Other 2022 Bingo squares that this would fit: Historical SFF (HM); Standalone (HM); Anti-Hero; Author Uses Initials (HM); Family Matters (HM)).
This is only a fantasy book because it occurs on a remote island colony of an empire on a secondary world whose culture will remind you of the Italian Renaissance. I've come to realize, that I really like this kind of low-key fantasy book, and Parker has now been added to the list of authors, where I want to read everything that they have written. Like other books by him, this one contains characters who are not exact as they initially appear, and you can expect revenge to kick in at some point. The description of the chair related scene is going to stay with me for quite a while.
(Other 2022 Bingo squares that this would fit: Historical SFF (HM); Standalone (HM); Anti-Hero; Author Uses Initials (HM); Family Matters (HM)).
September 9, 2011
If you've never read any KJParker stuff, treat my review as a four - but only read this one. Having read quite a few, I'm afraid it felt like a bit of a retreading of old ground.
Maybe I'm a phillistine and authors should be encouraged to explore the same themes over several novels, this felt too similar.
To reiterate: summarizes a lot of what the author has explored before in good form. Read this instead of the back catalogue - but I'd put it to the bottom of the to-read list if you've read others.
(Ironically I may appear to have made the same point three times. sorry, gone midnight, so the editing fairy has clocked off.)
Maybe I'm a phillistine and authors should be encouraged to explore the same themes over several novels, this felt too similar.
To reiterate: summarizes a lot of what the author has explored before in good form. Read this instead of the back catalogue - but I'd put it to the bottom of the to-read list if you've read others.
(Ironically I may appear to have made the same point three times. sorry, gone midnight, so the editing fairy has clocked off.)
June 29, 2015
I'm a little torn on what to rate this - it's around a 3.5 for me. First, this is only loosely fantasy - there's no magic or anything different - just set in a fictional place. I spent most of the book trying to figure out who was good and who bad. I found the ending really unsatisfying. The book wasn't boring or bad, I just didn't care for how things turned out. I will try other books by this author though.
September 8, 2023
4.25 Stars
This was my first KJP book and I'm glad I started with this one because I enjoyed it! I thought that the morally grey character work was great, that the story was interesting, and that it was easy to be immersed in the story because several aspects of it (the politics, the town etc.) felt very true to real history. While I enjoyed the plot points, I think this was paced far better for someone who is more of a character reader than I am as the vast majority of the exciting plot points happen either right at the beginning of the book or in the last 100 or so pages of it; the middle section is really a lot of setup and character work.
To be honest I have no idea why this was marketed as fantasy and kind of wish it was just marketed as historical fiction because I kept waiting for some kind of spin on the world, characters or story that just never came and it was slightly disappointing in that regard.
This was my first KJP book and I'm glad I started with this one because I enjoyed it! I thought that the morally grey character work was great, that the story was interesting, and that it was easy to be immersed in the story because several aspects of it (the politics, the town etc.) felt very true to real history. While I enjoyed the plot points, I think this was paced far better for someone who is more of a character reader than I am as the vast majority of the exciting plot points happen either right at the beginning of the book or in the last 100 or so pages of it; the middle section is really a lot of setup and character work.
To be honest I have no idea why this was marketed as fantasy and kind of wish it was just marketed as historical fiction because I kept waiting for some kind of spin on the world, characters or story that just never came and it was slightly disappointing in that regard.
November 27, 2019
As is usual for Parker, stuff that 99 other writers would skip over, he dedicates a significant portion of the novel to: here it's smithing and barter trade. The plot is nicely twisty and turn, and the motivation of the main character is compelling, once discovered.
January 14, 2011
http://www.rantingdragon.com/the-hamm...
Written by K. J. Parker, The Hammer is a standalone novel set on an island populated by a farming colony, a tribe of nomadic savages, and an exiled noble family, the Met’Ocs. An uneasy and unspoken arrangement exists among these three groups—the colonists allow the armed Met’Ocs to pillage their farms in exchange for protection against the savages.
The oldest Met’Oc brother, Stheno, is the strongest and runs the family farm on the Tabletop, a naturally fortressed formation enhanced to be more defensible. The second-eldest, Luso, is the most agile and hunts, protects, and raids. The youngest, Gignomai—neither as strong as Stheno nor as agile as Luso—helps around the farm but dreams of being an entrepreneur. When Gignomai’s father suggests that he study law, Gignomai runs away from home to build a factory on the savages’ land in aid of the colonists. In doing so, he sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the island and the dynamics among its people.
Engaging characters
Despite his role as protagonist, Gignomai acts with a persistent air of enigma, yet we are fed just enough facts so that the mystery fascinates rather than frustrates. Gignomai embodies a charming and sometimes ominous je ne sais quoi that keeps everyone, including the reader, guessing as to any potential secondary motives. He’s all brain, leading us to wonder about his heart. If you want a strong emotional tie to the protagonist, you may not find it here. Gignomai, like all the characters in The Hammer, is strongly goal-oriented and leaves little room in his heart for love. He certainly never places love first.
The secondary characters are not particularly sympathetic either, but I still grew to care greatly for them, in part because they are forced to live outside their comfort zones. Exiled into poverty, the Met’Ocs try to maintain a semblance of their former lives. The town merchant—who only wanted to rip people off without pissing them off—is elected mayor despite his protests. These are trying times, and the peoples’ faults and deficiencies make them real. I particularly enjoyed the thought processes of the so-called “savages” whose logic and illogic nicely contrasted with that of the more “civilized” folks.
Non-stop intrigue
Intrigue seeps into the politics of family, land, and state. As mentioned above, the characters are goal-oriented, and their machinations move the plot along at a swift pace, though it may be a while before you realize the grand scheme. Parker constructs a puzzle for those who wish to solve it, but for the rest of us, each puzzle piece is sufficiently engrossing in itself to keep us occupied as the pieces fall together on their own.
Why should you read this book?
If you just want a good story with some twists and turns, you’ll be satisfied. But if you want more from The Hammer, you’ll get plenty of ideas to stew on as well. The Hammer will have you thinking about how being born into the wrong family can stifle you or propel you forward; how what we choose to forget ceases to exist—unless someone never forgot in the first place; how staying true to one’s self can lead to the total abandonment of one’s self, and vice versa; and how people so dependent on one another nevertheless occupy entirely different planes of existence—until “the hammer” nails them all together. I absolutely recommend this book.
Written by K. J. Parker, The Hammer is a standalone novel set on an island populated by a farming colony, a tribe of nomadic savages, and an exiled noble family, the Met’Ocs. An uneasy and unspoken arrangement exists among these three groups—the colonists allow the armed Met’Ocs to pillage their farms in exchange for protection against the savages.
The oldest Met’Oc brother, Stheno, is the strongest and runs the family farm on the Tabletop, a naturally fortressed formation enhanced to be more defensible. The second-eldest, Luso, is the most agile and hunts, protects, and raids. The youngest, Gignomai—neither as strong as Stheno nor as agile as Luso—helps around the farm but dreams of being an entrepreneur. When Gignomai’s father suggests that he study law, Gignomai runs away from home to build a factory on the savages’ land in aid of the colonists. In doing so, he sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the island and the dynamics among its people.
Engaging characters
Despite his role as protagonist, Gignomai acts with a persistent air of enigma, yet we are fed just enough facts so that the mystery fascinates rather than frustrates. Gignomai embodies a charming and sometimes ominous je ne sais quoi that keeps everyone, including the reader, guessing as to any potential secondary motives. He’s all brain, leading us to wonder about his heart. If you want a strong emotional tie to the protagonist, you may not find it here. Gignomai, like all the characters in The Hammer, is strongly goal-oriented and leaves little room in his heart for love. He certainly never places love first.
The secondary characters are not particularly sympathetic either, but I still grew to care greatly for them, in part because they are forced to live outside their comfort zones. Exiled into poverty, the Met’Ocs try to maintain a semblance of their former lives. The town merchant—who only wanted to rip people off without pissing them off—is elected mayor despite his protests. These are trying times, and the peoples’ faults and deficiencies make them real. I particularly enjoyed the thought processes of the so-called “savages” whose logic and illogic nicely contrasted with that of the more “civilized” folks.
Non-stop intrigue
Intrigue seeps into the politics of family, land, and state. As mentioned above, the characters are goal-oriented, and their machinations move the plot along at a swift pace, though it may be a while before you realize the grand scheme. Parker constructs a puzzle for those who wish to solve it, but for the rest of us, each puzzle piece is sufficiently engrossing in itself to keep us occupied as the pieces fall together on their own.
Why should you read this book?
If you just want a good story with some twists and turns, you’ll be satisfied. But if you want more from The Hammer, you’ll get plenty of ideas to stew on as well. The Hammer will have you thinking about how being born into the wrong family can stifle you or propel you forward; how what we choose to forget ceases to exist—unless someone never forgot in the first place; how staying true to one’s self can lead to the total abandonment of one’s self, and vice versa; and how people so dependent on one another nevertheless occupy entirely different planes of existence—until “the hammer” nails them all together. I absolutely recommend this book.
April 26, 2018
A story of revenge, vs. revolution. Well written, but a bit verbose.
March 28, 2012
I'm finding it hard to review this book in terms other than comparisons to the rest of Parker's work. I feel as though, really, Parker has been whittling away at the extraneous requirements writing "fantasy" puts on the story - forget about magic, or creatures, or strange psychological/temporal phenomena, let's get back to the essence of story, which is one man hitting another man with a stick thus causing that man to go away and build a better stick. (Do I miss the unexpected world and system creativity of the Fencer trilogy? Heck yes. Are the stories still fascinating? Also heck yes.)
This feels, to me, like both the most emotionally complex Parker, in terms of the characters' internal compromises and contradictions. The hard line of the story (if you're at all familiar with Parker's work, you know exactly what I'm talking about) is no less hard, but it's more open to discussion within the narrative, which leaves it a lot spongier to the reader (or at least to this reader).
On the other hand, it's sort of the most simplistic Parker. The story's really quite small, and straightforward (I anticipated most of it; or maybe I'm just getting used to this), and there's an almost bedtime-story-esque quality to the way everything wraps up.
There's no world-shaking kick to the brain, but perhaps there's a more insidious sapping of grim certainties. Is it more effective? Perhaps. Is it as fun to read? Not really.
This feels, to me, like both the most emotionally complex Parker, in terms of the characters' internal compromises and contradictions. The hard line of the story (if you're at all familiar with Parker's work, you know exactly what I'm talking about) is no less hard, but it's more open to discussion within the narrative, which leaves it a lot spongier to the reader (or at least to this reader).
On the other hand, it's sort of the most simplistic Parker. The story's really quite small, and straightforward (I anticipated most of it; or maybe I'm just getting used to this), and there's an almost bedtime-story-esque quality to the way everything wraps up.
There's no world-shaking kick to the brain, but perhaps there's a more insidious sapping of grim certainties. Is it more effective? Perhaps. Is it as fun to read? Not really.
November 5, 2011
Someone needs to penetrate Parker's pseudonym, I would hate to think she is writing under another name as well and I am missing some of her books.
When reading Parker you know a couple things. The world will be gritty and violent, at least one, maybe more of the characters have a nasty plan going, and a few hidden gems will make you laugh and then feel guilty about it.
The Hammer starts with a lot of time pressed into a short section. A few years before IT happened, where we get some back ground, a short time around IT, where we find a little more background, and then the rest of the book happens after IT. Of course, whatever IT is drives the whole story, but the reader won't learn until much later just what happened. It is a great setup, and it had me guessing most the book just what the hell happened.
Another completely original world set up(though there are hints that many of Parker's stories are on the same world), more great characters(as long as you realize that Parker will have a chess-master/Mary Sue trope in most of her stories, she writes them very well). And while I am hardly one to comment on prose, Parker is deceptively easy to read, while using language that I often find my self rereading only because it is particularly interesting/intellegent.
When reading Parker you know a couple things. The world will be gritty and violent, at least one, maybe more of the characters have a nasty plan going, and a few hidden gems will make you laugh and then feel guilty about it.
The Hammer starts with a lot of time pressed into a short section. A few years before IT happened, where we get some back ground, a short time around IT, where we find a little more background, and then the rest of the book happens after IT. Of course, whatever IT is drives the whole story, but the reader won't learn until much later just what happened. It is a great setup, and it had me guessing most the book just what the hell happened.
Another completely original world set up(though there are hints that many of Parker's stories are on the same world), more great characters(as long as you realize that Parker will have a chess-master/Mary Sue trope in most of her stories, she writes them very well). And while I am hardly one to comment on prose, Parker is deceptively easy to read, while using language that I often find my self rereading only because it is particularly interesting/intellegent.
September 17, 2012
K.J. Parker, whoever they are, has a theory about society. The theory is, I think, that only sociopaths can get anything done. She - yeah, I think Parker is a she, and 'she' is less cumbersome than the gender neutral - is a maker of things and I expect has a certain dispassionate view of stuff. I wonder if her previous career has also given her a jaundiced view of humanity.
So. As always, there's the obvious sociopath, the not so obvious sociopath, and the ineffectual, needy psychopath. The fantasy so low it's practically subterranean. The train wreck. Parker's fantasy is so stripped down she has reduced it to a patina of world building to prop up a story primarily about human beings and their interactions. Even if those interactions are between humans so flawed and damaged they are throughly warped from the point of view of the reader. Or at least, I don't want to meet the kind of person who doesn't find them warped.
I haven't really got much else to say. I probably could have done without the epilogue, I'm not sure what it was supposed to achieve. I actually prefer the desolation of the soul she usually leaves me with when the society of people she has been showing me is left a smoking crater of shattered lives. Maybe that makes *me* the sociopath.
So. As always, there's the obvious sociopath, the not so obvious sociopath, and the ineffectual, needy psychopath. The fantasy so low it's practically subterranean. The train wreck. Parker's fantasy is so stripped down she has reduced it to a patina of world building to prop up a story primarily about human beings and their interactions. Even if those interactions are between humans so flawed and damaged they are throughly warped from the point of view of the reader. Or at least, I don't want to meet the kind of person who doesn't find them warped.
I haven't really got much else to say. I probably could have done without the epilogue, I'm not sure what it was supposed to achieve. I actually prefer the desolation of the soul she usually leaves me with when the society of people she has been showing me is left a smoking crater of shattered lives. Maybe that makes *me* the sociopath.
July 9, 2020
This is the story of Gignomai, the youngest son of a noble family that was banished to small colony generations ago. He grows up in the family manor, living by noble traditions but without any real wealth or power to go along with it. His older brother, Luso, leads a gang who raids the local village. His father is a dark and brooding man. And there has been a great evil. One that nobody talks about.
The setting will make you think of a European colony in the Americas, back before anybody knew what the Americas were. But this is not the Americas, and things here are somewhat different. The characters are nuanced and peculiar, each with flaws and redeeming values. The plot meanders, riddled with humour, mystery, and foreshadowing. Much is not quite as it seems.
The description of this book says that there will be a brutal and bloody war. I don't think that's the case. Fortunately, by the time I realized that there wasn't a war, I had forgotten that I'd been promised one.
KJ Parker has an enjoyable writing style. It's odd, but it works. The same is true of the story he's telling. It's odd, but I enjoyed it. I'm a fan.
The setting will make you think of a European colony in the Americas, back before anybody knew what the Americas were. But this is not the Americas, and things here are somewhat different. The characters are nuanced and peculiar, each with flaws and redeeming values. The plot meanders, riddled with humour, mystery, and foreshadowing. Much is not quite as it seems.
The description of this book says that there will be a brutal and bloody war. I don't think that's the case. Fortunately, by the time I realized that there wasn't a war, I had forgotten that I'd been promised one.
KJ Parker has an enjoyable writing style. It's odd, but it works. The same is true of the story he's telling. It's odd, but I enjoyed it. I'm a fan.
June 5, 2015
KJ Parker is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors to read. If the style of KJ Parker had to be summed up as a book title I would go with "The Law of Unintended Consequences" or "A Snowball Rolling Down a Mountainside". The writing is superbly done and draws you in. I could understand complaints that on some occasions the plot does not proceed rapidly, but KJ Parker is so good at keeping you enthralled you forget that you are reading four pages on how a fence is being mended.
Coming after I had read The Folding Knife, The Hammer is somewhat a study in contrasts. The setting switches from a nation building exercise to a small colony where a family banished into exile has its share of family infighting. I won't bore you with a synopsis of the plot, but I did want to mention that the friendship between Furio and Gignomai was truly well done, and in a small way reminded me of the friendship from A Separate Peace.
If you have not yet read KJ Parker, do yourself a favour and pick up a book.
Coming after I had read The Folding Knife, The Hammer is somewhat a study in contrasts. The setting switches from a nation building exercise to a small colony where a family banished into exile has its share of family infighting. I won't bore you with a synopsis of the plot, but I did want to mention that the friendship between Furio and Gignomai was truly well done, and in a small way reminded me of the friendship from A Separate Peace.
If you have not yet read KJ Parker, do yourself a favour and pick up a book.
March 25, 2011
I found this latest book lighter in tone than previous books and also more straightforwatd in plot : the third son of a noble familiy exiled on an island is not satisfied with his decorative role imposed on him by his father and runs away from home. Gignomai is the customary brainiac always planning ahead and keeping his final goal masked. In a departure from the usual Parker style, the technological details are significantly toned down and the exploration of the theme of moral and ethic relativity is present but not so nihilistic as in previous books. I said lighter in tone, but be prepared for some wuite dark moments by the end.
Highpoint for me were some unexpected laugh out loud moments and, like I said, the less ambiguous plotting. The ending was also great, but I don't want to give spoilers.
My conclusion : this is a good starting point for a reader unfamiliar with K J Parker.
Highpoint for me were some unexpected laugh out loud moments and, like I said, the less ambiguous plotting. The ending was also great, but I don't want to give spoilers.
My conclusion : this is a good starting point for a reader unfamiliar with K J Parker.
August 3, 2015
This was powerful, gut-wrenching, and horrifying. The prose as always with Parker, is very enjoyable, or as the front of this book says "glitters with intelligence and precision." The characters I enjoyed, especially the "engineering" one who put together a forge, smelter---basically a factory, nearly single-handedly to help his colony not be dependent on imported goods. But the powerful message at the end just knocked me for a loop. Too often I see people who become abusers in the same manner in which they were abused. The abused child becomes the abusive father or something similar. In this case the character recognized what he was and felt it was necessary, and was saddened by it. Really a rather twisted but believable plot.
Do we all really have the potential for this level of depravity? Yes. I think so, and that's what scares me.
Do we all really have the potential for this level of depravity? Yes. I think so, and that's what scares me.
January 28, 2011
While parts of this reminded me a bit of The Engineer Trilogy, this book was still intense, and deep without ever straying from the morally gray area that Parker seems to enjoy so much. Flawless writing coupled with an intriguing plot is sure to please almost any reader.
Read my full review here:
http://bookwormblues.blogspot.com/201...
Read my full review here:
http://bookwormblues.blogspot.com/201...
June 4, 2015
The book starts at a sloth's pace, spending far too much time setting up its characters and setting. If you're a hardened enough reader where you can regularly get through 100+ pages of nothing, the second half is sure to please. For everyone else. pick up something quicker.
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