The Company
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4.1 • 27 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Hoping for a better life, five war veterans colonize an abandoned island. They take with them everything they could possibly need -- food, clothes, tools, weapons, even wives.
But an unanticipated discovery shatters their dream and replaces it with a very different one. The colonists feel sure that their friendship will keep them together. Only then do they begin to realize that they've brought with them rather more than they bargained for.
For one of them, it seems, has been hiding a terrible secret from the rest of the company. And when the truth begins to emerge, it soon becomes clear that the war is far from over.
With masterful storytelling, irresistible wit, and extraordinary insight into human nature, K.J. Parker is widely acknowledged as one of the most original and exciting fantasy writers of modern times. The Company, K.J. Parker's first stand-alone novel, is a tour de force from an author who is changing the face of the fantasy genre.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This exquisitely written novel by a pseudonymous popular author blends gritty military fantasy with the 18th-century "island story" tradition. Seven years after the end of a war between unnamed countries, four friends who fought together have settled back into civilian life. Then their former leader, Kunessin, now a celebrated and embittered general, turns up and reminds them of their old pledge to retire together to a peaceful island. Better yet, he's found a suitable place and will fund the venture. A local matchmaker finds women smart and desperate enough to be colonists, and they marry the ex-soldiers in a group wedding that sets the tone of the book: humorous, grim and utterly unromantic. The would-be republicans soon reach the island and settle in, but the discovery of gold in a stream changes everything. With inexorable emotional logic and an eye for detail, deftly weaving in flashbacks to wartime, Parker carries the reader on a headlong gallop to the powerful conclusion.
Customer Reviews
100 Words or Less
I went into this with no hint of plot/characters … and was surprised at its quality. The writing was crisp and the technique of jumping from the present/past worked well to slowly unfold the deep fraternity between these veterans of war. More than half way through, I found it hard to stop – wondering how else these men could generally screw up their lives. The ending? At first, just good. But once I put the novel down and had time to breathe, I realized just how perfect it all was. Overall, I great story of pride and war and wishful thinking.
As always superb
A trip through the mind of a storyteller so gifted that at the end
of the tale coming back to reality leaves you wanting.