How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It
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Narrated by:
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Ray Sawyer
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By:
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K. J. Parker
About this listen
This is the history of how the City was saved, by Notker the professional liar, written down because eventually the truth always seeps through.
The City may be under siege, but everyone still has to make a living. Take Notker, the acclaimed playwright, actor, and impresario. Nobody works harder, even when he's not working. Thankfully, it turns out that people enjoy the theater just as much when there are big rocks falling out of the sky.
But Notker is a man of many talents, and all the world is, apparently, a stage. It seems that the empire needs him - or someone who looks a lot like him - for a role that will call for the performance of a lifetime. At least it will guarantee fame, fortune, and immortality. If it doesn't kill him first.
In the follow up to the acclaimed Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, K. J. Parker has created one of fantasy's greatest heroes, and he might even get away with it.
For more from K. J. Parker, check out:
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City
The Two of Swords:
- The Two of Swords: Volume 1
- The Two of Swords: Volume 2
- The Two of Swords: Volume 3
The Fencer Trilogy:
- Colours in the Steel
- The Belly of the Bow
- The Proof House
The Scavenger Trilogy:
- Shadow
- Pattern
- Memory
Engineer Trilogy:
- Devices and Desires
- Evil for Evil
- The Escapement
- The Company
- The Folding Knife
- The Hammer
- Sharps
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Critic reviews
"Parker's latest epic fantasy proves that all the world is, indeed, a stage, and Parker himself is a master impresario. Readers will enjoy his comedic take on how politics are comprised of equal parts lies, incompetence, and the foolishness of humanity—with just enough flashes of brilliance to save the day. Recommended for fans of Terry Pratchett." —Library Journal
"Readers are ensured a good time and a barrel of laughs to boot."—Publishers Weekly
“An impressive work of fiction. Like all Parker books I have read, Empire is an interesting experience from start to finish—funny and fresh from page one.”—The Quill to Live
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Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
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Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
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The Hills Have Spies
- Valdemar: Family Spies, Book 1
- By: Mercedes Lackey
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In this new series, set in the bestselling world of Valdemar, Heralds Mags and Amily must continue to protect the realm of Valdemar while raising their children and preparing them to follow in their footsteps.
Mags, Herald Spy of Valdemar, and his wife, Amily, the King’s Own Herald, are happily married with three kids. The oldest, Peregrine, has the Gift of Animal Mindspeech—he can talk to animals and persuade them to act as he wishes. Perry's dream is to follow in his father's footsteps as a Herald Spy, but he has yet to be Chosen by a Companion.
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Great continuation of the series!
- By Peter on 06-28-18
By: Mercedes Lackey
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Off to Be the Wizard
- Magic 2.0, Book 1
- By: Scott Meyer
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a simple story. Boy finds proof that reality is a computer program. Boy uses program to manipulate time and space. Boy gets in trouble. Boy flees back in time to Medieval England to live as a wizard while he tries to think of a way to fix things. Boy gets in more trouble. Oh, and boy meets girl at some point.
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Hang in there
- By Kelly on 03-04-17
By: Scott Meyer
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Iron & Velvet
- Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator Series, Book 1
- By: Alexis Hall
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Name's Kane, Kate Kane. I'm a paranormal private investigator, which is like a normal private investigator except - and stop me if you're having trouble following this - more paranormal. This business comes with a few basic rules: don't start drinking before noon, don't get your partner killed, don't sleep with the woman who killed him. Last year I broke all of them.
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Vampire werewolf witch faerie soft core porn
- By Ralene on 06-01-20
By: Alexis Hall
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Big Trouble
- Small Medium, Book 1
- By: Andrew Seiple
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Chase Berrymore dreams of adventure, excitement, and getting the heck out of her pastoral halven village. But when adventure finds her, she'll be scrambling to save her family and friends from a necromancer's wrath. Outmatched in almost every way, she'll have to use her wits, charisma, and a bit of divine favor to figure out the path to victory. Even worse, she'll have to figure out ways to deal with the weird and nigh-immortal beings that call themselves "playas"...and she'll have to do it with the most powerful weapon she has available: words.
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Great continuation of threadbear-verse
- By Randall on 08-17-19
By: Andrew Seiple
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Farnham's Freehold
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugh Farnham is a practical, self-made man, and when he sees the clouds of nuclear war gathering, he builds a bomb shelter under his house, hoping for peace and preparing for war. But when the apocalypse comes, something happens that he did not expect. A thermonuclear blast tears apart the fabric of time and hurls his shelter into a world with no sign of other human beings.
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Heinlein of his time...
- By Lisa on 07-03-11
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Alpha and Omega
- By: Harry Turtledove
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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What would happen if the ancient prophecy of the End of Days came true? It is certainly the last thing Eric Katz, a secular archaeologist from Los Angeles, expects during what should be a routine dig in Jerusalem. But perhaps higher forces have something else in mind when a sign presaging the rising of the Third Temple is located in America, a dirty bomb is detonated in downtown Tel Aviv, and events conspire to place a team of archaeologists in the tunnels deep under the Temple Mount.
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Terribly misinformed
- By Stretchr on 09-27-20
By: Harry Turtledove
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Revolt in 2100
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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After the fall of the American Ayatollahs (as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land) there is a Second American Revolution; for the first time in human history there is a land with Liberty and Justice for All.
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Heinlein's Future History
- By ShySusan on 05-30-12
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Fifth Business
- The Deptford Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Robertson Davies
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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This first novel in The Deptford Trilogy introduces Ramsay, a man who returns from World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross but who is destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and myth collide. As we hear Ramsey tell his story, we begin to realize that, from childhood, he has influenced those around him in a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious way.
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Been waiting for this
- By Vinity on 12-10-11
By: Robertson Davies
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Worldship: Udo the Digger
- Worldship, Book 1
- By: Joshua Gayou
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Udo's biggest problem isn't being a digger (that's low class), or staying drunk (that's damn expensive), or avoiding the Dwergaz (they're monsters), or even pissing off the supposed Gods. It's that his reality...well, it isn't what he thought. And now, he can't even afford to drink because his so-called friend Nicz is cutting into his business, digging up tin, iron, and copper. So Udo forms a new plan: clay. After all, clay jars are used to store everything: meat, herbs, and, his personal favorite, ale.
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I am confused.
- By Ahkia on 06-02-20
By: Joshua Gayou
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A Bell for Adano
- By: John Hersey
- Narrated by: David Green
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1943, the American Major Victor Joppolo finds himself the civil affairs officer - the mayor - of a small town in Sicily. Equipped with the rulebook, How to Bring American Democracy to Liberated Territories, he sets about bringing choices to a people whose every recent activity had been dictated. Asking them what the town needs most, he is answered: give the town back its spirit - a bell to replace the 700-year-old one that was melted down for bullets.
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A quick little gem
- By Susan on 02-07-12
By: John Hersey
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The Colour of Magic
- Discworld, Book 1
- By: Terry Pratchett
- Narrated by: Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place that might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it’s carried though space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown). It plays by different rules. But then, some things are the same everywhere. The Disc’s very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the world’s first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land.
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TERRIBLE Narration!
- By Kayla I on 07-08-22
By: Terry Pratchett
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The Grand Dark
- By: Richard Kadrey
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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From the best-selling author of the Sandman Slim series, a lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison - a subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos. The Great War is over. The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as the war’s horrifying despair.
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Kadrey does it again!
- By Lilah Quinn on 06-14-19
By: Richard Kadrey
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Reign of Stars
- By: Tim Pratt
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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When the leader of the ruthless Technic League calls in a favor, the mild-mannered alchemist Alaeron has no choice but to face a life he thought he'd left behind long ago. Accompanied by his only friend, a street-savvy thief named Skiver, Alaeron must head north into Numeria, a land where brilliant and evil arcanists rule over the local barbarian tribes with technology looted from a crashed spaceship.
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Narrator
- By Carolyn V on 05-27-16
By: Tim Pratt
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What listeners say about How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Adrianne
- 02-11-23
Another wonderful book
KJ Parker has you not just believing but knowing once again that knowledge is power. His characters are well thought out and the story is immersive. The world of KJ Parker truly is a stage.
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- Sam
- 10-02-24
Funny with good pacing
A very entertaining read! The narration is great and the story keeps you engaged the whole time. Lots of twists and turns with a nice mix of comedy and character development.
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- Georgia Shopper
- 06-11-21
More fun than a siege warfare story should be
I enjoyed this sequel to "Sixteen Ways." Ray Sawyer does a good job of reading the book, except that he reads way too slowly for my taste. I listened to this book at 1.5x speed, and it was much better. This book has an enormous amount of detail on walled city warfare. I thought it was interesting--obviously, the references are not real, but the techniques sounded very plausible. If listening to warfare strategy sounds like torture to you, then give this one a miss. It took me a while to warm up to the main character (I missed Orhan from the first book), but I eventually did. I didn't find the book to be slapdash in the least! I thought it read as if the author had meticulously researched many details before even putting, er, finger to keyboard. The characters were detailed and iikeable, and there were some very funny moments in the book. I think anyone contemplating this book ought to listen to the sample to make sure it's something they'll enjoy. And you should first read "Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City," though it's not strictly necessary since this book stands on its own. You'll appreciate more of the references with the first book behind you though.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Morgan
- 01-03-22
Letdown from the 1st book.
Lacked the realism of '16 ways'. Scenarios, decisions, behaviors were much less believable and not rationally/satisfactorily reasoned.
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1 person found this helpful