I'm torn between a 4 and a 5 on this book, but ultimately I've decided to give it a 5 for a few reasons.

First off, K J Parker's writing style is unique in a good way. Parker blends sardonic and cynical beautifully, and his chosen style, first person with multiple perspectives, carries it off perfectly (while also being my favorite as a reader). Secondly, his characters are excellent in that they are believable. No one is truly good or evil, and all the characters are generally fleshed out enough that their motives are interesting and understandable, yet their future actions are not always predictable. Meil Ducas (a.k.a. "the Ducas") was my favorite. However, more important than both of these facets, Devices and Desires is an excellent "tale," and for me that is important. It's page turning without being action driven. You learn the characters and their lives, and you genuinely begin to care about what happens next as you read the book. I feel this way about very few novels, and I think this is what separates the best from the good.

I would consider giving this 4 stars for one major reason - the lack of a map. Apparently Parker doesn't see fit to include a map in any books, which I am sure will frustrate me greatly in the future as I plan on reading many more of them. I felt like this really did detract significantly from the book, as there were many times when geography played a huge role both in the setting and the events of the novel, and I was simply left taking the authors word for things without being able to visually understand the situation.

Overall, worth reading, and I'll be recommending it to fans of good literature. ( )

I'm a big fan of K.J.Parker. I can prove it, too. According to Goodreads, this is my 11th book by him. I don't think I would recommend "Devices and Desires" as a starting point for those who have never read anything by K.J. Parker. (I got hooked by his short stories and novellas.) It's dark and cynical, rather than dark, cynical, snarky and sarcastic, like his other books. No chuckles to be had here, so now you've been warned.
- Great characters, as usual.
- I did not really notice that the book was ca 700 pages long. If you like this kind of style (dry, academic, yet engaging), then you won't either.
- This is a geeky book. I've learned everything I ever wanted to know but was afraid to ask about boar hunting and building siege engines and artillery machines.
- Now I also know what kind of person NOT to be if you happen to be a Duke of a smallish country. (HONESTLY!) I'm sure it'll be extremely useful to me at some point.

Yes, yes, yes, I'll be reading the rest of the trilogy :-) ( )

Somewhere there, buried under endless layers of useless boredom, lies an excellent story, with good, all-rounded characters. Unfortunately, as I struggled with the book, the slag grew ever thicker and I gave up at about 80%. Definitely will not read the sequels or anything else from KJ Parker. ( )

This is a really well written and extremely readable book, but ultimately disappointing.

I've really enjoyed Mr Holt's short stories, this novel shows the same cleverness, intricate layering and detailed world building. Sadly, stretched out to 700 pages this all gets a bit bland and repetitive. The whole story rests on the infallible omnipotent genius of Ziani Vaatzes, with some support from a secondary infallible genius Valens Vadani. It's just not really believable, and the characters all remain the same as their initial portraits with no development or changes to character as a result of the events of the book. Whilst this is okay in a short story, it is too simplistic for this length of novel which ends up reading as a list of things happening.

I won't be bothering with the rest of the trilogy. ( )

There's a lot of engineering and complex politics that I found quite believable. Three countries hold a tentative truce but things are getting more complicated when an engineer from a very regimented country commits a minor transgression that means that he is condemned to death he escapes and goes to another country. The other country doesn't realise that this will not be good and will lead to being wiped out.
Theres a fair amount of engineering in here and I liked the different attitudes of all the characters, many of them I wanted to know about and I really want to read the next book in the series. ( )