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Making History
History isn't truth; it's propaganda.
Seeking war with his neighbor, the tyrannical ruler of Aelia convenes several of his kingdom's professors for a chat. First Citizen Gyges only just invaded Aelia a few years back, and naturally, his public image can't take the hit of another unjustified assault.
His totally sane solution? Simple, really. These scholars must construct a fake ancient city from scratch to verify Gyges's apocryphal claims.
Now these academics must put their heads together to make history. Because if they don't, they'll lose their heads altogether.
Seeking war with his neighbor, the tyrannical ruler of Aelia convenes several of his kingdom's professors for a chat. First Citizen Gyges only just invaded Aelia a few years back, and naturally, his public image can't take the hit of another unjustified assault.
His totally sane solution? Simple, really. These scholars must construct a fake ancient city from scratch to verify Gyges's apocryphal claims.
Now these academics must put their heads together to make history. Because if they don't, they'll lose their heads altogether.
128 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2025
111 people are currently reading
2667 people want to read
About the author
K.J. Parker
132 books1,713 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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September 20, 2025This is the most KJ Parkerish novella ever to have KJ Parkered, basically. Alt-ancient setting with interesting technology and a dictator and a scheming amoral academic and a scheming sex-working woman and plot twists aplenty. I think if it's the first of his you read it'll knock your socks off but... I dunno, I wonder if he's planning another pivot, as when he turned from Tom Holt to KJ Parker, because he'd done as much as he could in that area.
June 11, 2025
I loved the premise of this novella: a group of scholars at the top of their field are 'asked' to create an ancient civilzation from scratch so that it can be 'discovered' by the ruler and used to justify another war. Our MC is a linguist and I found the details on language (as well as the other disciplines) fascinating, as this is what Parker chooses to go in-depth into in this story. How a language is born and evolves, how the culture of a society changes over time, what kind of artifacts one would find during this supposed time period, etc. I was glued to the pages.
Then, things happen. It's a fascinating twist and I was wracking my brain trying to unravel the mystery.
Then, the story becomes something slightly different and I didn't care for it, so the last quarter of the novella or so was not my favorite. Still, among Parker's novellas--especially among his 1st person works--this is good stuff.
Then, things happen. It's a fascinating twist and I was wracking my brain trying to unravel the mystery.
Then, the story becomes something slightly different and I didn't care for it, so the last quarter of the novella or so was not my favorite. Still, among Parker's novellas--especially among his 1st person works--this is good stuff.
March 20, 2026
The Hugos reading continues until morale improves.
This is my first KJ Parker novel, and I love the way he writes the main character. No one is as smart as he thinks he is. I’m also partial to any book which sticks a toe into linguistics and archival work. Not all of the linguistics here is correct and I don’t think it was meant to be, but it was still fun to read about!
I’m going to agree with the other reviews here saying that the ending took a less interesting turn than it seemed to be teasing; it doesn’t break immersion, exactly, but it overcompensates with neatness when a bit of ambiguity might’ve been more effective?
A charming book that reflects on how fascism attempts to reclaim history, making it the second book I’ve read recently circling around that theme. I’d ask what’s up with that? but I think we know
Please note I work for Macmillan but opinions are my own. I am not involved in book production
This is my first KJ Parker novel, and I love the way he writes the main character. No one is as smart as he thinks he is. I’m also partial to any book which sticks a toe into linguistics and archival work. Not all of the linguistics here is correct and I don’t think it was meant to be, but it was still fun to read about!
I’m going to agree with the other reviews here saying that the ending took a less interesting turn than it seemed to be teasing; it doesn’t break immersion, exactly, but it overcompensates with neatness when a bit of ambiguity might’ve been more effective?
A charming book that reflects on how fascism attempts to reclaim history, making it the second book I’ve read recently circling around that theme. I’d ask what’s up with that? but I think we know
Please note I work for Macmillan but opinions are my own. I am not involved in book production
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2025
loved the writing and the concept, especially the linguistics portions because they reminded me of Babel, but I think this book was way too short for what the characters were trying to do.
January 19, 2026
Such a great premise with some good humor and a fast pace. While this is shelved as fantasy and Tor certainly calls it a dark fantasy, I wouldn't go into this expecting typical genre conceits. In my mind, this is kind of a historical novella taking place in another world that may or may not be fantastical.
In this novella, a tyrant demands that the top scholars at a university create a fake ancient city as a pretext for making war upon their neighbors. Our unnamed narrator is a linguist whose part in the whole farce is to create a dead language that could have been real.
I've previously read Prosper's Demon by KJ Parker, and I think the greatest strength in his writing is that he knows how to give his characters a compelling and strong voice. That voice rings throughout this novella, especially with how obsessed with linguistics our narrator is, and as he faces such an impossible task. There's some decent world building for such a short novella, as well.
I do have to say that this was probably a bit too short for the story - the last 20% flew by at such a quick pace that I got whiplash. But, I was still satisfied with the whole story overall and enjoy KJ Parker's writing a lot.
In this novella, a tyrant demands that the top scholars at a university create a fake ancient city as a pretext for making war upon their neighbors. Our unnamed narrator is a linguist whose part in the whole farce is to create a dead language that could have been real.
I've previously read Prosper's Demon by KJ Parker, and I think the greatest strength in his writing is that he knows how to give his characters a compelling and strong voice. That voice rings throughout this novella, especially with how obsessed with linguistics our narrator is, and as he faces such an impossible task. There's some decent world building for such a short novella, as well.
I do have to say that this was probably a bit too short for the story - the last 20% flew by at such a quick pace that I got whiplash. But, I was still satisfied with the whole story overall and enjoy KJ Parker's writing a lot.
May 25, 2025
Thank you Netgalley!
This is an extremely interesting premise and the prose is beautiful. The author definitely went into this knowing the story he wanted to tell and, especially in regard to the ending, the message he wanted to send. For such a short novella, I was very impressed by the world building it was able to get across.
What I really found lacking was the actual…meat of the story. It can be hard to write a really good novella, but I do think this is a story that COULD have been told and felt fully fleshed out within 150 pages. When you’re working with that kind of page count, you really have to make everything count, and I don’t feel like that was accomplished here. I felt no real attachment to the characters, I realized by the end of it I didn’t even know the main character’s name; the first half of the book felt like it was the set up to a novel, with the latter half then remembering it’s a novella and making it all feel like a sprint to the finish line. It’s a shame because the story and the message are both genuinely compelling.
This is an extremely interesting premise and the prose is beautiful. The author definitely went into this knowing the story he wanted to tell and, especially in regard to the ending, the message he wanted to send. For such a short novella, I was very impressed by the world building it was able to get across.
What I really found lacking was the actual…meat of the story. It can be hard to write a really good novella, but I do think this is a story that COULD have been told and felt fully fleshed out within 150 pages. When you’re working with that kind of page count, you really have to make everything count, and I don’t feel like that was accomplished here. I felt no real attachment to the characters, I realized by the end of it I didn’t even know the main character’s name; the first half of the book felt like it was the set up to a novel, with the latter half then remembering it’s a novella and making it all feel like a sprint to the finish line. It’s a shame because the story and the message are both genuinely compelling.
December 15, 2025
This is a supposedly fantasy novella. I use the word ‘supposedly’ because it is a hard fit: there are no fantastic animals or magic; there are invented countries and their histories, but so is Atlantis. I read it as a part of the monthly reading for December 2025 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group.
The story is told from the POV of a professor of linguistics. Together with other top scientists from different fields from the University summoned to the palace of the First Citizen Gugu (the summons one cannot refuse and survive). There, the supreme leader hints to the scientists (but doesn’t say it plainly, for he is smart enough to ensure deniability) that they should discover an ancient civilization, of which he and his people are poor descendants, destroyed by the ancestors of people from a bordering state to create a casus belli. Of course, this sounds like a satire of “weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” or Putin’s musings about the historical inevitability of uniting Eastern Slavs under Russian rule.
You cannot say no to the First Citizen and live, so the scientists start to prepare the evidence. Our narrator, as a linguist, creates the language for this ancient civilization, which bastardized over time to their current tongue. And at that moment, strange things start to happen, like he hears the word he recently invented from a person in a city! And because it is a short work, and I outlined like the first third of it, I won’t spoil it further.
The story is well-paced with a surprising final reveal. The fantasy nature of it may lie in the fact of merging sciences as they developed in our world in the 19th and even 20th centuries in a setting that sounds like from a thousand years ago. Also, it is hard to judge whether the narrator errs or the author thinks so, when he thinks about changes of language over time, for there are quite striking theses (for me, a non-linguist) like “All languages start off complicated and get simpler.”
The story is told from the POV of a professor of linguistics. Together with other top scientists from different fields from the University summoned to the palace of the First Citizen Gugu (the summons one cannot refuse and survive). There, the supreme leader hints to the scientists (but doesn’t say it plainly, for he is smart enough to ensure deniability) that they should discover an ancient civilization, of which he and his people are poor descendants, destroyed by the ancestors of people from a bordering state to create a casus belli. Of course, this sounds like a satire of “weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” or Putin’s musings about the historical inevitability of uniting Eastern Slavs under Russian rule.
You cannot say no to the First Citizen and live, so the scientists start to prepare the evidence. Our narrator, as a linguist, creates the language for this ancient civilization, which bastardized over time to their current tongue. And at that moment, strange things start to happen, like he hears the word he recently invented from a person in a city! And because it is a short work, and I outlined like the first third of it, I won’t spoil it further.
The story is well-paced with a surprising final reveal. The fantasy nature of it may lie in the fact of merging sciences as they developed in our world in the 19th and even 20th centuries in a setting that sounds like from a thousand years ago. Also, it is hard to judge whether the narrator errs or the author thinks so, when he thinks about changes of language over time, for there are quite striking theses (for me, a non-linguist) like “All languages start off complicated and get simpler.”
September 16, 2025
This was short, entertaining, fun and makes you think at the same time. A collection of scholars are requested by the local tyrant/dictator to fabricate a realistic ancient civilization so that its "discovery" can be used as an excuse to wage war on the neighbouring region. The narrator of this story is a professor of linguistics. He has many opinions about language, history, truth and other things. The plot twist was also a bit of a surprise. This is set in a medieval pseudo-Byzatium world, which makes the story so much more entertaining when you recognize which civilizations and historical events Parker was using as inspiration.
Did not finish
August 13, 2025DNF @ 23%
This isn't grabbing my attention at all. The stream of consciousness narrative and the writing style keeps the MC at an arm's length from the reader. It felt like I was reading a philosophy and English student's first draft typed out in a night fueled by caffeine and weed.
Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for this arc.
This isn't grabbing my attention at all. The stream of consciousness narrative and the writing style keeps the MC at an arm's length from the reader. It felt like I was reading a philosophy and English student's first draft typed out in a night fueled by caffeine and weed.
Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for this arc.
September 10, 2025
In most ways typical Parker. Clever, dark, wry humour, set in his usual medieval, pseudo-Byzatiumesque world. The enjoyable, slightly disturbing, comfort reading I get from this author.
A tale involving the meaning of truth when a city dictator insists his top academics construct a false history that’ll be useful for his ambitions. Literally Making History.
No more about the story in this novella except it has an impressive number of plot twists, and no one that’s admirable, though the narrator is fairly sympathetic.
It maybe my imagination but I just felt a little more bitterness, more annoyance, in the author’s writing than I usually see. Certainly more use of ‘f**k’ than he normally uses in his writing. I have a suspicion it could be the result of seeing Truth used too flexibly as a concept by a number of modern era politicians? I might be reading too much into it, but the author is determined to hammer home how flexible truth, and an interpretation of the past too, can be in some hands.
Typical Parker enjoyment and it made me think about a hidden meaning that may not be there…
5*
A tale involving the meaning of truth when a city dictator insists his top academics construct a false history that’ll be useful for his ambitions. Literally Making History.
No more about the story in this novella except it has an impressive number of plot twists, and no one that’s admirable, though the narrator is fairly sympathetic.
It maybe my imagination but I just felt a little more bitterness, more annoyance, in the author’s writing than I usually see. Certainly more use of ‘f**k’ than he normally uses in his writing. I have a suspicion it could be the result of seeing Truth used too flexibly as a concept by a number of modern era politicians? I might be reading too much into it, but the author is determined to hammer home how flexible truth, and an interpretation of the past too, can be in some hands.
Typical Parker enjoyment and it made me think about a hidden meaning that may not be there…
5*
July 13, 2025
This was a fun novella of the “author has cool idea that won’t work for an entire novel” type. I tend to love this kind of thing; it’s fun seeing authors get experimental and run with things.
The premise here: the local king has a bunch of top scholars from the university attend to him. He wants an excuse for war on the neighboring kingdom. Their assignment is to use their knowledge of their respective disciplines and create a ruined city that can be rediscovered, showing that thousands of years earlier the ancestors of the neighboring kingdom had savagely attacked their own ancestors. None of them are particularly enthused about this, but the threat of death is a great motivator.
But then, as these are all academics, they get *into it*. They might not want to do the project, but they nevertheless get excited by the challenge of it. Our protagonist is professor of philology/linguistics; his job is to invent a language that could have been the proto tongue of their own modern language.
Things take a turn, though, when he hears a sailor in port using a word that he only understood because he had literally just made it up. And other pieces of their creation start appearing, to all appearances thousands of years old…
This was fun on many levels. Great quick read.
My blog
The premise here: the local king has a bunch of top scholars from the university attend to him. He wants an excuse for war on the neighboring kingdom. Their assignment is to use their knowledge of their respective disciplines and create a ruined city that can be rediscovered, showing that thousands of years earlier the ancestors of the neighboring kingdom had savagely attacked their own ancestors. None of them are particularly enthused about this, but the threat of death is a great motivator.
But then, as these are all academics, they get *into it*. They might not want to do the project, but they nevertheless get excited by the challenge of it. Our protagonist is professor of philology/linguistics; his job is to invent a language that could have been the proto tongue of their own modern language.
Things take a turn, though, when he hears a sailor in port using a word that he only understood because he had literally just made it up. And other pieces of their creation start appearing, to all appearances thousands of years old…
This was fun on many levels. Great quick read.
My blog
March 6, 2026
3.25/5
I didn’t expect this fantasy novella to simulate real-life events quite so much. Basically an evil King is worried about his floundering popularity and wants to seize land he has no rights to because, as we all know, nothing garners more support for political leaders than a little war. Lesigh.
The narrator of this story is a 52-year-old career academic. Unfortunately his area of research is linguistics, which I can’t fucking stand, so I didn’t enjoy those info dumps. I did however enjoy the literature and art history discussions and general dark academia atmosphere throughout. This novella is kinda like a brief Katabasis for adults because in my opinion Katabasis read like a YA novel.
Bonus! The ending of this one caught me by surprise, perhaps naively, but I didn’t see it coming and I so love a surprise twist.
I didn’t expect this fantasy novella to simulate real-life events quite so much. Basically an evil King is worried about his floundering popularity and wants to seize land he has no rights to because, as we all know, nothing garners more support for political leaders than a little war. Lesigh.
The narrator of this story is a 52-year-old career academic. Unfortunately his area of research is linguistics, which I can’t fucking stand, so I didn’t enjoy those info dumps. I did however enjoy the literature and art history discussions and general dark academia atmosphere throughout. This novella is kinda like a brief Katabasis for adults because in my opinion Katabasis read like a YA novel.
Bonus! The ending of this one caught me by surprise, perhaps naively, but I didn’t see it coming and I so love a surprise twist.
September 4, 2025
Classic K.J.Parker historical fantasy, dripping with dry humor and philosophical musings about the meaning of truth, language, and history.
March 12, 2026
The plot might be a bit more far-fetched than average for Parker, but who cares when we get amazing characterization, pristine work on the themes (which, accessorily, could not be more relevant), ever so enthralling technical details on whatever the protagonist is a specialist in (linguistics here, though we get a glimpse at a couple other fields), edge-of-seat and fun plot twists (and meaningful too, arching back as they do to the core themes)... I simply love Parker so very much!
Favorite quotes:
Favorite quotes:
[A colleague] told me once about sharks. Interesting creatures. If they stop swimming, they die. [...]Men like Gyges [the new leader] are like that. They can't afford to let things settle down and get quiet, because then the people might start noticing how bad things have been ever since they took over. So men like Gyges are forever starting wars; or, better still, nudging and tripping their neighbours into starting wars against them, because nothing brings a nation together behind his strong leader like a threat of invasion
She looked at me as though I'd been spelt wrong.
I spend my life talking to people, but my conversations are generally either disputes or negotiations. [...] I guess that sort of goes with the territory. A career academic's function is to question, argue, debate, pick holes; only by constant assault can the citadel of unblemished truth be maintained, which is actually a pretty odd notion when you stop and think about it.
"[I]f that's not the true explanation, then what in God's name is?"
That was a question I couldn't answer, so I shook my head and tried to convey without words that the solution was obvious, but he was too stupid to see it. That, after all, is what friends are for.
October 22, 2025
Another novella from Parker, this time about a scholar who's part of a group tasked to construct a lost city for propaganda purposes.
I didn't quite engage with this one as much as usual, but real life is very chaotic right now and it's hard to say if it was the story, or just my headspace.
I did quite like the ending, there's ambiguity, but it works. (More often than not "ambiguous" endings just make me ask why the hell I even bothered reading the damn thing.)
As always, I say whether you get on with Parker is going to be down to whether you get on with his voice. He's got a thing, and he's very good at it, but if you hate one you're probably going to hate them all. (With the caveat that there may be some difference based on length. I tend to think he's best at novella length stories, his multi volume stuff has worked less well for me.)
I didn't quite engage with this one as much as usual, but real life is very chaotic right now and it's hard to say if it was the story, or just my headspace.
I did quite like the ending, there's ambiguity, but it works. (More often than not "ambiguous" endings just make me ask why the hell I even bothered reading the damn thing.)
As always, I say whether you get on with Parker is going to be down to whether you get on with his voice. He's got a thing, and he's very good at it, but if you hate one you're probably going to hate them all. (With the caveat that there may be some difference based on length. I tend to think he's best at novella length stories, his multi volume stuff has worked less well for me.)
July 21, 2025
4.5 Stars
Loved the exploration of what is truth and how it changes based on who controls the narrative.
Loved the exploration of what is truth and how it changes based on who controls the narrative.
June 16, 2025
4⭐️
Making History by K. J. Parker is an exploration of truth, academia, war, and of course history. This is a clever little book that hooks you with its premise: 12 scholars are forcibly asked to fabricate an ancient civilization to justify a war. These scholars rush to create realistic language, art, architecture, technology, etc that would be accepted for genuine, because if they don’t, it’s their heads.
Only what happens when relics of this fictional civilization start popping up in local markets and sailors start speaking the fake language? Chaos ensues: what is the real history? What is the truth?
I think Parker asks the reader some great questions about who creates history and how it affects the present. Do we, meaning not only citizens, but people in power even need to know the truth? Is history merely clay to mold to our current ideals, or is it something more? Does real truth even exist in a world constantly changing the past?
All of these questions and themes are explored through an unnamed, unreliable narrator who is one of the scholars tasked with creating this fake civilization. It was particularly interesting to learn about language and how it evolves through this narrator, as his area of expertise was linguistics. Learning how much language shapes a civilization was fascinating.
By the end I think something was left to be desired with what the true mystery was. It was satisfying for the most part, but perhaps due to its short length, things weren’t totally fleshed out. Overall I think this novella is worth your time if you love a smidge of humor, interesting philosophical questions, and historical fantasy.
4/5⭐️
“The truth is just a jumble of broken bits, and quite often there are different ways of putting the bits together, all equally plausible and valid, all entirely contradictory.”
Thank you so much to @tordotcompub for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
Making History by K. J. Parker is an exploration of truth, academia, war, and of course history. This is a clever little book that hooks you with its premise: 12 scholars are forcibly asked to fabricate an ancient civilization to justify a war. These scholars rush to create realistic language, art, architecture, technology, etc that would be accepted for genuine, because if they don’t, it’s their heads.
Only what happens when relics of this fictional civilization start popping up in local markets and sailors start speaking the fake language? Chaos ensues: what is the real history? What is the truth?
I think Parker asks the reader some great questions about who creates history and how it affects the present. Do we, meaning not only citizens, but people in power even need to know the truth? Is history merely clay to mold to our current ideals, or is it something more? Does real truth even exist in a world constantly changing the past?
All of these questions and themes are explored through an unnamed, unreliable narrator who is one of the scholars tasked with creating this fake civilization. It was particularly interesting to learn about language and how it evolves through this narrator, as his area of expertise was linguistics. Learning how much language shapes a civilization was fascinating.
By the end I think something was left to be desired with what the true mystery was. It was satisfying for the most part, but perhaps due to its short length, things weren’t totally fleshed out. Overall I think this novella is worth your time if you love a smidge of humor, interesting philosophical questions, and historical fantasy.
4/5⭐️
“The truth is just a jumble of broken bits, and quite often there are different ways of putting the bits together, all equally plausible and valid, all entirely contradictory.”
Thank you so much to @tordotcompub for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
October 7, 2025
Twelve scholars are called upon by their new king who slaughtered the previous ruling class to create a pretext to invade a neighboring country. He wants them to create a previously unknown ancient civilization that will serve as justification to have his countrymen die for his ambition. The king means this literally, as in building it in the world, not just as a fictional work. If they fail to do so, they will all be put to death.
What follows is a novella length exercise in worldbuilding, or in this case, city building. Everything has to be perfect, so they have to think of everything. A linguist creates a language for them, a historian writes their history, and the other scholars fabricate every other aspect of their society. A static, singular time, isn't enough though, so they have to develop it from its beginning to its end. No question is too trivial and no detail can be overlooked. Some of the scholars enjoy creating the fictional civilization so much that they temporarily forget their original goal, deadline, and punishment.
I've tried reading Parker a lot, but I've never been able to finish any of his novels and I didn't like the short fiction I read, until now. I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. Making History is amusing, informative, and fun.
What follows is a novella length exercise in worldbuilding, or in this case, city building. Everything has to be perfect, so they have to think of everything. A linguist creates a language for them, a historian writes their history, and the other scholars fabricate every other aspect of their society. A static, singular time, isn't enough though, so they have to develop it from its beginning to its end. No question is too trivial and no detail can be overlooked. Some of the scholars enjoy creating the fictional civilization so much that they temporarily forget their original goal, deadline, and punishment.
I've tried reading Parker a lot, but I've never been able to finish any of his novels and I didn't like the short fiction I read, until now. I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. Making History is amusing, informative, and fun.
October 12, 2025
até que gostei do conceito que foi explorado no livro, mas eu tinha chegado na metade dele e eu achava que ia acontecer uma coisa que parecia ser interessante só que no final não foi isso e deixou de ser interessante
o livro que existiu na minha mente era mais legal do que o livro que eu acabei lendo
"Maybe history can only take so much of our shit, and now and then feels the unsuppressable need to find its own true level, even if it means eruptions, tidal waves, and city walls tumbling down. Maybe truth always seeps through eventually."
o livro que existiu na minha mente era mais legal do que o livro que eu acabei lendo
"Maybe history can only take so much of our shit, and now and then feels the unsuppressable need to find its own true level, even if it means eruptions, tidal waves, and city walls tumbling down. Maybe truth always seeps through eventually."
September 4, 2025
I don't really know what happened in this book but I think I fw it.
October 27, 2025
K. J. Parker is favorite among favorites. This novella is the perfect introduction to his work, and a treat for those who already know it.
November 7, 2025
3.5 stars
January 10, 2026
O nuvelă simpatică și inteligentă despre un despot care își obligă supușii să reinventeze istoria ținutului său de dragul intrigilor politice. O proză care vorbește descrie un ținut medieval, dar descrie mai degrabă prezentul istoriei noastre recente:
https://vderevlean.wordpress.com/2026...
https://vderevlean.wordpress.com/2026...
Want to read
April 14, 2025“darkly witty— a group of scholars are asked to do something by the king—“
yes. definitely yes.
yes. definitely yes.
August 16, 2025
I found K.J. Parker's Making History absolutely delightful. Because the novel is historical fantasy, readers can't comfortably place it on their own timeline, but my guess would be 1600s-ish. Universities exist, but many structures of more recent times haven't yet appeared.
The premise is utterly absurd. A group of academics is called in for a meeting with Gyges, who has recently conquered their country. He wants to stabilize his power and has decided that the best way to do this is by creating an alternative history of the region. (Remind you of anyone?) The academics are ordered to create (and then bury) an archaeological ruin that can be discovered and unearthed and that will show the government before Gyges' arrival was illegitimate—the left overs from a barbarian horde who conquered and destroyed an earlier, more advanced society. In other words, Gyges wants to present himself as restoring civilization.
Almost immediately one can see the complications. How to dig down to an appropriate depth and create a city just to bury it again? How to create a new language that can be understood so that stellae can be read—only to reveal the illegitimacy of the society Gyges has just conquered?
Our narrator is a linguist who's been assigned to the team working on this project. He can go on endlessly about grammatical forms and the ways languages become increasingly complex as new, somewhat random rules of pronunciation and syntax take the place of older, more stable grammar.
So we "listen" to our narrator as he puzzles over how to create a fake ancient language and worries, along with the other academics assigned to this project, whether he'll still be alive at the end of it all. (One colleague killed himself at the start of the project, so he could at least be assured a swift death.)
If you enjoy playful intellectualism, you're in for a treat with this title. If you aren't, it may not hold your attention, but those who enjoy such play will find themselves reading cover-to-cover just to keep the pacing and the absurdity of the tale hurtling to almost certain disaster.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
The premise is utterly absurd. A group of academics is called in for a meeting with Gyges, who has recently conquered their country. He wants to stabilize his power and has decided that the best way to do this is by creating an alternative history of the region. (Remind you of anyone?) The academics are ordered to create (and then bury) an archaeological ruin that can be discovered and unearthed and that will show the government before Gyges' arrival was illegitimate—the left overs from a barbarian horde who conquered and destroyed an earlier, more advanced society. In other words, Gyges wants to present himself as restoring civilization.
Almost immediately one can see the complications. How to dig down to an appropriate depth and create a city just to bury it again? How to create a new language that can be understood so that stellae can be read—only to reveal the illegitimacy of the society Gyges has just conquered?
Our narrator is a linguist who's been assigned to the team working on this project. He can go on endlessly about grammatical forms and the ways languages become increasingly complex as new, somewhat random rules of pronunciation and syntax take the place of older, more stable grammar.
So we "listen" to our narrator as he puzzles over how to create a fake ancient language and worries, along with the other academics assigned to this project, whether he'll still be alive at the end of it all. (One colleague killed himself at the start of the project, so he could at least be assured a swift death.)
If you enjoy playful intellectualism, you're in for a treat with this title. If you aren't, it may not hold your attention, but those who enjoy such play will find themselves reading cover-to-cover just to keep the pacing and the absurdity of the tale hurtling to almost certain disaster.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
November 21, 2025
i decided I wanted a quick read and just my luck this book was a short story that was read very quickly and with great delight. the premise - something which i've been thinking about ever since i read the blurb of the book, is so funky and interesting; who doesn't want to read about academics trying to reconstruct history?
where this story succeeded (in my opinion) has much to do with parker's super charming writing style, which made this feel like something akin to the dispossessed and fahrenheit 451 in terms of narrative tone. plot was very interesting and because of the length of the book, it moves relatively quickly and keeps a very good pace, which i enjoyed.
where i think there was some missed potential was the overall brevity of the story; i feel like it could have been the basis of a much longer story with a much more intensive plot. albeit, i did enjoy the fact that it was a short story and did really like the story as is but there is a part of me that feels like there was just a little something missing and that there could have been a wow factor. nonetheless, this was a very fun read, and i would like to now go check out parker's other books.
where this story succeeded (in my opinion) has much to do with parker's super charming writing style, which made this feel like something akin to the dispossessed and fahrenheit 451 in terms of narrative tone. plot was very interesting and because of the length of the book, it moves relatively quickly and keeps a very good pace, which i enjoyed.
where i think there was some missed potential was the overall brevity of the story; i feel like it could have been the basis of a much longer story with a much more intensive plot. albeit, i did enjoy the fact that it was a short story and did really like the story as is but there is a part of me that feels like there was just a little something missing and that there could have been a wow factor. nonetheless, this was a very fun read, and i would like to now go check out parker's other books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2025
A standard (namely, very good) KJ Parker up until the last quarter, when a critical character is abruptly introduced with a strong whiff of retconning.
This is very silly because if KJ Parker had only conceived of this character after writing most of the book, he could have just rewritten it to add the character in from the start. I have no idea what happened here, but someone got lazy.
This is very silly because if KJ Parker had only conceived of this character after writing most of the book, he could have just rewritten it to add the character in from the start. I have no idea what happened here, but someone got lazy.
September 16, 2025
Read this in one sitting! It’s got some interesting ideas on academia and truth. Isn’t everything political? Therefore how we document history can be warped?
I really liked the length and setting! But the story lacks the staying power for a real memorable read.
I really liked the length and setting! But the story lacks the staying power for a real memorable read.
January 13, 2026
It's not as good as some of his other novellas (the turns in Purple and Black and The Devil You Know are hard to top), but it's better than others. The turn here felt a little pedestrian and basic, but the story did keep me on my toes as it delved into the history of both language and truth, so that definitely earns it some points.
October 20, 2025
It's a love letter to history. A succinct representation of the nature of history.
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