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‘One of the most entertaining fantasy debuts in recent years… incredibly vivid, refreshing, fun, thoughtful, absorbing.’ – SFX
‘Action-packed adventure … An intriguing tale of magic, manipulation and revenge’- STARBURST
COLOURS IN THE STEEL and THE BELLY OF THE BOW, the first two volumes of the Fencer Trilogy, introduced a remarkable new voice in fantasy fiction. THE PROOF HOUSE is the final volume in K.J. Parker’s brilliant Fencer Trilogy.
After years spent in the saps under the defences of the apparently impregnable city of Ap’ Iscatoy, Bardas Loredan, sometime fencer-at-law and the betrayed defender of the famed Triple City, is suddenly a hero of the Empire. His reward is a boring administrative job in a backwater, watching armour tested to destruction in the Proof House. But the fall of Ap’ Iscatoy has opened up unexpected possibilities for the expansion of the Empire into the land of the Plains people, and Bardas Loredan is the one man Temrai the Great, King of the Plains tribes, fears the most…
The powerful and gripping final volume in The Fencer Trilogy, now reissued with a stunning new cover style.
Books by K.J. Parker:
Fencer Trilogy
The Colours in the Steel
The Belly of the Bow
The Proof House
Scavenger Trilogy
Shadow
Pattern
Memory
Engineer Trilogy
Devices and Desires
Evil for Evil
The Escapement
Saloninus
Blue and Gold
The Devil You Know
Two of Swords
The Two of Swords: Part 1
The Two of Swords: Part 2
The Two of Swords: Part 3
Novels
The Company
The Folding Knife
The Hammer
Sharps
Savages
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
My Beautiful Life
‘Action-packed adventure … An intriguing tale of magic, manipulation and revenge’- STARBURST
COLOURS IN THE STEEL and THE BELLY OF THE BOW, the first two volumes of the Fencer Trilogy, introduced a remarkable new voice in fantasy fiction. THE PROOF HOUSE is the final volume in K.J. Parker’s brilliant Fencer Trilogy.
After years spent in the saps under the defences of the apparently impregnable city of Ap’ Iscatoy, Bardas Loredan, sometime fencer-at-law and the betrayed defender of the famed Triple City, is suddenly a hero of the Empire. His reward is a boring administrative job in a backwater, watching armour tested to destruction in the Proof House. But the fall of Ap’ Iscatoy has opened up unexpected possibilities for the expansion of the Empire into the land of the Plains people, and Bardas Loredan is the one man Temrai the Great, King of the Plains tribes, fears the most…
The powerful and gripping final volume in The Fencer Trilogy, now reissued with a stunning new cover style.
Books by K.J. Parker:
Fencer Trilogy
The Colours in the Steel
The Belly of the Bow
The Proof House
Scavenger Trilogy
Shadow
Pattern
Memory
Engineer Trilogy
Devices and Desires
Evil for Evil
The Escapement
Saloninus
Blue and Gold
The Devil You Know
Two of Swords
The Two of Swords: Part 1
The Two of Swords: Part 2
The Two of Swords: Part 3
Novels
The Company
The Folding Knife
The Hammer
Sharps
Savages
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
My Beautiful Life
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Reviews
From the first page, it has style, humour and pace all its own, and develops rapidly into one of the most entertaining fantasy debuts in recent years...Refreshing, fun, thoughtful, different, absorbing
Action-packed adventure ... An intriguing tale of magic, manipulation and revenge
From the first page, it has style, humour and pace all its own, and develops rapidly into one of the most entertaining fantasy debuts in recent years...Refreshing, fun, thoughtful, different, absorbing
Action-packed adventure ... An intriguing tale of magic, manipulation and revenge
A massively enjoyable adventure
Bardas has come a long way from the young soldier who wrought havoc in the wars with the barbarians of the plains, the swordsman who fought successful trials by combat and the commander whose attempts to save his city were dashed by last-moment treachery. He has taken several steps into madness and depravity; in The Proof House, the impressive conclusion of The Fencer Trilogy, his sanity is entirely up for grabs as an imperial posting sends him to where armour is made and souls are tested, not least by the endless din of breastplates and helmets subjected to breaking strain. It is the end-game for his friends as well--for his former secretary and the ambitious merchants she has formed a partnership with, and the half-smart magicians whose attempts to change history have consistently made things radically and disastrously worse. His family--the brothers who betrayed him and the niece whose attempts to kill him have cost her most of her hand--are out there somewhere too...Parker's is a bleak and sardonic fantasy world, where it can never be assumed that things will turn out for the best; this is a startlingly original book with a tone entirely of its own.
A massively enjoyable adventure
There's a mordant wit to the workings of Parker's mind
Parker's skilful control of pacing, expert rendering of characters, and subtle sense of humour add depth and believability
